You can wear your clutch earlier if you do that.

 

I think this sums it up plain and simple. I was moving around and capable of driving within some hours of practice, but it was costant driving that smoothed things out to a point where I'd shift appropriate to conditions, without jerking my passenger(s) back and forth.

Also, a technical understanding of a manual setup helped me when I was learning, since I could then visualize exactly what was happening as I did it.

 

remind me of someone i hear about, who doesn't really know how to drive a stick, but decided to buy a stick. ended up the car is ALWAYS in 3rd gear. slip the hell out of the clutch to start the car, and on freeway you hear the engine reving high

imho, if get a stick shift, learn how to drive, even if that means a lot of practice to get 1st gear launch smooth

 

I don't like Honda manuals

 

Are you agreeing with me or disagreeing?
If I'm wrong by all means correct me but I'm pretty sure you never want to put on any throttle when the clutch isn't fully engaged.

 

You do if you want to launch.

 

aw naw i fully release it but i just said so it can take the fear off of stalling the motor by fully letting go of the clutch

 

oh of course i was agreeing with you, sorry for the confusion. one should always start in first and let the clutch slip as little as possible to preserve the clutch. i was just bringing up the extreme case of the story i heard

and if you need to really launch a car hard, then you need to give up clutch a little

 

I've learned to drive stick in 1 night - it does take some foot coordination but what I found works best for me is slip the clutch sloowwlllyyy out while at the same time giving it just enough gas to keep it from stalling.

Honda and Toyota ones are easy to learn and drive on, German ones are harder as the clutches tend to be "heavier".

 

Never drove a Porsche, but my Acura Legend's clutch feels too soft for my preference. I like the heavy feel of the clutch in my MR2 though...

I drove a BMW 3-Series manual and the clutch felt light too. Luxury cars clutches are made to be light and easy to depress?

 

All of my cars are manual transmission. After spending years driving nothing but manuals I absolutely HATE driving someone else's car with an automatic. This is the primary reason why I went away from owning Lexus.
BTW, while agreeing that Honda and BMW have great manuals, I'm suprised Mazda was not mentioned more often.

 

Learn on a Honda.

\thread

 

Ford uses Mazda gearboxes too along with ZF(yuck), but IMO the Mazda boxes in the F150 and the Ranger are bulletproof. The Mustang Tremec ones are a bit more temperamental from what I read, while the ZF ones in the F250 are reduced to scrap metal behind a diesel engine.

 

I still haven't driven one out yet. I'm hoping the next Lexus Event I go to has one I can take out for a spin. I took a GS out on one of their "track" courses and that was fun

And that's why I'm hoping the joint Toyota/Subaru car that's slated within the next 2 years delivers! I'd be all over that like white on rice.

 

i haven't driven the supra 6 speed. but the supra 5 speed from what i heard is pretty much the same one in the is300, which i owned. that one sux. sluggish, non-linear, and numb. my friend with the is250 manual also says he's disappointed