Im embarrased to admit
- Thread starter JoeF2661
- Start date
SofaKingSick
Active member
practice practice practice! once you're sure you understand the underlying concept, of course.
it's fun as hell to drive a stick shift (and in, say, snowy hilly roads, it can add safety) and it's just a good skill to have
it's fun as hell to drive a stick shift (and in, say, snowy hilly roads, it can add safety) and it's just a good skill to have
It comes with time.
I bought a manual wrangler in high school with my only experience driving a manual being a dump truck. The Jeep was 600 times harder to drive/not stall. I freaked and thought I had wasted a shit ton of money on this thing. But after 2-3 weeks of driving it, I got the hang of it. And like most things, your skills will develop overtime.
I would highly recommend going to an empty, maybe even an abandoned parking lot. Sloooooooooowly let off the clutch with no gas and feel where there it “grabs.” Knowing where this is located is very helpful. Generally this is the point you want to start to add gas(hitting the gas before this is just going to rev your engine and possibly do some damage). This will help you be a lot smoother and reduce stalling.
I bought a manual wrangler in high school with my only experience driving a manual being a dump truck. The Jeep was 600 times harder to drive/not stall. I freaked and thought I had wasted a shit ton of money on this thing. But after 2-3 weeks of driving it, I got the hang of it. And like most things, your skills will develop overtime.
I would highly recommend going to an empty, maybe even an abandoned parking lot. Sloooooooooowly let off the clutch with no gas and feel where there it “grabs.” Knowing where this is located is very helpful. Generally this is the point you want to start to add gas(hitting the gas before this is just going to rev your engine and possibly do some damage). This will help you be a lot smoother and reduce stalling.
13958181:SofaKingSick said:
100%. My wrangler was squirreley as hell in the snow but just hitting the clutch when things got loose 99% of the time got me back in control. Letting off the gas in an auto is okay but doesn’t take all the power from your wheels which is kind of sketch sometimes.
old.man.tibbles
Member
Pretty disappointed. I opened this thread thinking I was going to read a bunch of people's most embarrassing moments and instead I'm reading supportive comments about driving a manual transmission.
WoFIowz
Active member
13958235:old.man.tibbles said:
When I was younger my dad had one of those trucks with just one long front seat and I was sitting in the seat in between the passenger and driver seat. Basically the stick was in between my legs. He had me practice shifting while he did everything else and drove. Somehow when I shifted forward into one of the gears, I rammed the stick into my knee which cause my knee to smash into the keys and turned the car off while we were driving.... You could say that's an embarrassing manual moment.
I also don't nor have ever driven a stick shift. I understand the general concept but automatic and the fake manual works just great for me.
Rum_Ham
Active member
13958212:Mingg said:
This is terrible advice. When the back end of the car gets squirrelly the worst thing you can do is push the clutch in or slam on the brake. That will only transfer the weight further to the front and cause the back end to swing around faster.
Driving a FWD car you actually want to put more power to front wheels while countersteering to pull you out of the slide. Driving RWD you want to let off slightly but still keep your foot in it while countersteering to keep good weight balance.
**This post was edited on Nov 7th 2018 at 1:01:12am
WoFIowz
Active member
13958264:Skittle. said:
Did this the very first day I got my Subaru. Kind of sad I can't drift anymore but also a good thing is that when it starts to slides sideways the wheels auto correct and put you back in line. I used to always drift my old car into my driveway at home when it was snowy, but now it's much more difficult.
The only time I ever prefer auto is traffic jams. Specially in snow. Stick shift or bust.