is manual transmission really that hard to learn?

[eleanore77]

so, my parents were really precious about their cars back when it was time for me to learn how to drive. they both had manual transmissions, and the very first time they tried to teach me, they gave up the first time i couldn't synch the cluth and gear shift. no second chance. my brother ended up teaching me three years later, when i shelled out

Comments

[mirzu]

you'll be fine.

stay away from lights on hills at first, and don't sweat it otherwise. It's hard at first but after you start to get the hang of it it becomes easy real quick

[divsca]

There's learning to drive stick, and then there's doing it well. You could be competent by the weekend, but you'll have a tough time reacting if anything sketchy should happen when you're in real traffic. Also, it's best to learn on an old car so the owner isn't as likely to cry when you grind gears or thrash the clutch.

[thesenorita]

i learned how to drive manual because the car my parents lent me to get to my voice lessons after school was a manual. it was more a question of how badly did i want to sing opera - at the time? pretty fucking badly. it was terrifying, made me shake like crazy after i got to the lady's house, and i stalled the living crap out of the car but now i wouldn't drive anything else. that's probably because i'm ocd, but that's beside the point :P you can do it - pretty much after the first couple weeks things were pretty laxed. i devised certain scapegoat methods to prevent myself from stalling too badly, and/or a rhythm of clutch and gas so i got it right every time. i'm pretty certain if most of your driving is highway, you'll be more than well prepared by the time you head out of town.

[mabuddha]

you could totally learn it in a few days, if not a few hours. i never really learned how to drive stick. i understood the concept though... it's just timing you need to practice... practice in a parking lot... if you can get one with some inclines that'd be even better. i had to learn in about an hour when i borrowed my cousin's stickshift b/c my old tercel died... i was driving the thing to & from work the next day... in rush hour traffic...