I can honestly say, I got the hang of things quickly. Just curious as to the rest of you.

I was brought up around a car mad family and was driving when i was 14.
Picked it up real easy to learn to drive

Took me let's see 5 second to stall the car for the first time. 5 days to drive out of town. 5 years to mastered it completely. It took me ultra long time because I switch from fwd to awd and rwd.

a couple of days to learn the gears, hillstarts etc. then started practicing with skids, parking, getting the car out of a snow heap without hitting anything around you etc..

I'm still learning. It didn't take me long to get the hang of the gears and changing them and whatnot, but I'm still working on getting it smooth. My only trouble is getting in a hurry on a hill with somebody behind me. I don't drive a manual too often, but it is fun when I do.

I actually learned to drive stick by myself and without much practice. I thank UPS for the lesson. One time they asked me if I knew how to drive stick so that I could move one of the delivery trucks for them. I lied and said yes. So they gave me the keys to a truck that was parked on the roof. It took me about 15-20 mins to bring the truck down because I kept stalling. But once I got the feeling, it was on. I couldn't stop. From then on, they always asked me to move trucks around and that pretty much gave me all the practice that I needed.:D

I've driven standard once. Alex taught me a little bit one nite on his 91 VW Fox. ..which he had only for a month. I did ok. Only stalled 2 times and ground the gears once. We drove around an empty mall parking lot then he let me drive home. A few days later he traded it in for 2001 Jetta so I am not allowed to touch it :o Another friend offered to let me learn on his 2000 Celica but I didn't want to ruin it since he's getting ready to trade it in.

Originally posted by F20C
Took me let's see 5 second to stall the car for the first time. 5 days to drive out of town. 5 years to mastered it completely. It took me ultra long time because I switch from fwd to awd and rwd.

Just curious, but why would the car being FWD, AWD or RWD have anything to do with how long it took you to "master" driving a stick shift?

I basically can say that I still havent learned to drive standard. My friend tried to teach me in his S10, but it has a brand new clutch and rebult tranny, so I decided to stop the first time I ground the gears. The only real standard driving I had to do, was bring my uncle's Diesel VW Jetta to his place, from mine (about 60kms). I stalled at every stopsign and light except 1, and ground the gears 2x. I did manage to make it there with me and the car in 1 piece. I found it very hard, because the diesel does not rev up very much between gears, and I found it hard not to stall out when going from a dead stop in neutral, to moving away in first.

I think it is important that everyone learns to drive standard at one point, and I think that I would be able to do it if I had a car I could fool around with a bit, and not ruin it.

Took me about a day to learn it, and about three months to master each of my cars.

It took me one week with 3 "lessons"--once by myself. I never really had problems with stalling out... My biggest prob was letting the clutch out too quickly so that there was a jolt. It would have been so much easier if someone had just let me see where the clutch started to catch before they tried to teach me how to get things moving.

I've gotten pretty good, but obviously after 2 months I'm no expert... but practice makes perfect, and I've had 4000 miles of practice since I bought my car 2 months ago!!!!!!!! :eek:

I already knew the "theory" of driving a stick before I actually did. When I was looking for a car, I knew I wanted one, and an automatic was not an option unless I found a SL600 or something for $1000 :rolleyes:. Once I got it, I just went to the church parking lot behind my house and drove around a bit. I stalled a few times, and did a lot of rev up, let the clutch out real slow starts, but I got the hang of it really quickly. After getting that down pat, I headed for the steep hill part of the parking lot and practised hill starts. At first I would rollback about 6 feet, but I eventually got it so that I would only roll back about an inch. Later, when I started working, leaving my work, I had to stop at the top of a steep hill every time. Doing that 5 days a week every week, I got hill starts down no problem. Now when starting (on a level plane), I can almost let the clutch out smoothly as fast as I can push it in.

I learned to drive at 9 y/o. I had to sit in the edge of the seat in order to see the road where I was going, and it was a Peugeot 404, ugly car but very confortable. The gears where not in the floor, but behind the steering wheel (like the automatic cars, but it was manual). And I had a lot of fun. And curiously, I did not stall that first day. I took a lot of practice only on 1st gear (a few weeks really) before start changing.

Later, at 12, my father bought a Toyota HiLux (later know as tacoma), and it has the stick on the floor, so I was in heaven, only problem, was the emergency brake not beein between the seats, so for mastering the drive, it was a litle dificult on doing the 180 degrees turn.

So, 22 years of fun with the stick!!!! I love it, and I would never go automatic!!!!!!!!:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

I drive an auto, and have never driven anything else. All autos. You give me a standard, I will prolly never get the car to where it needs to go.:)

Originally posted by Darkwing
I drive an auto, and have never driven anything else. All autos. You give me a standard, I will prolly never get the car to where it needs to go.:)

Im an automatic fan too, but I still think that its important for everyone to know how to drive a standard, in an emergency or sumthin.

Someday i will learn to drive a standard.


But not today!!!:D

The first time I drove a stick it was my dads truck, one day I wanted to barrow it because my car was broke and he asked if I knew how to drive a stick and of course I said yes, about ten stalls and fifteen minutes later I had made it out of my apartment complex. It took me about a day or two to get going with out stalling or jolting the car and a couple of months to get real smooth at it. Now I would never buy an automatic its to much fun with a manual.

both me and my dad hate auto..... he told me that he would never buy me an auto car :D and i'm glad he won't
he taught me how to drive stick when i was 14, it took me about a day to learn.. changing gears was no problem, it's just the starting you have to master... which i did in the following days :)

I learned in about a week, then stopped driving completly for about five months, and retaught myself in about two days. I cant ever go back to auto. It's so boring. When i drive my moms car my foots always searching for a clutch (hers is an auto) and more than once i've hit the e-brake looking and... yeah, it wasnt pretty.

As a side note...since you can find practically anything on the internet, I am just wondering if anyone knows a site that outlines the proper procedure for driving / shifting a standard, and if there are any neat things like double-clutching, id love to read how this works so that when I do try to learn standard again, I will atleast know how to do it properly, even tho it may be harder putting it into practise. Most likely ill have to start driving a standard within the next couple of months (VW Jetta) cause the caprice needs an engine rebuild bad. I need to learn and soon, cause the Jetta will be the daily driver.

took me about a day. learned to drive in my moms jeep. its kinda different compared to a car but i drive my friends corrado all the time with no prob. i love it. i wish i could get rid of my car for a stick.

I love driving a manual so much b/c it gives you so much control over the car. For example, instead of wearing out the brake, you can put the car in a lower gear and let the engine slow you down. A manual can be a pain, though. Driving (or should I say parking?) in rush hour traffic can be leg numbing. :mad:

everyone always compains about driving a manual in heavy traffic.... for me it really isn't that big a deal. You just keep your foot on the clutch at the "release point" so all you really do is press the gas to inch forward, you don't even change any gears just keep it in first. It's just putting your left foot on the clutch instead of on the floor of the car, same thing just your foot in a different place. doesn't bother me much, plus it'll keep me from falling asleep in heavy traffic :)

Originally posted by Hudson


Just curious, but why would the car being FWD, AWD or RWD have anything to do with how long it took you to "master" driving a stick shift?

The cars itself behaves differently.

It took about a week to get all the details ironed out. :D

i tought my self in about 30 min when i got my new job at the subaru mazda dealer the first car they gave me to work on was a 6 speed miata (luckely still in warenty:p ) besides it needed a clutch anyways:D

I picked it up pretty quick. Like several people here, I learned young. 13 or 14 years old. Learned on my dads subaru under his supervision.

My first experience with manual came from the age of 8. I would help my dad shift to whatever gear he told me.

People that learn to drive should only be allowed to drive a stick and not a auto when they sit there licence. Gives you a good feel for the car and makes you think harder when driving

The first time I drove standard was after my parents had bought my car('95 I4 Camry) this past summer. It took me 3 or 4 45 minute sessions of driving around an empty parking lot, with uphill starts and rapid gear changes, before I could feel comfortable w/it. Stalled about a dozen times when I was beginning, but thats it. Never had any problems with grinding my gears, and only a little bit of that bumpyness you get when you release the clutch too quickly. After a few months of practice I'm pretty smooth, keeping up with traffic and keeping my rpm's below 2k w/o any bumps(except maybe a small one on the 1->2 shift).

Took me about an hour to get used to it :)

I learned at about 12 years old on an 84 silverado. i don't think i stalled my first day, and pretty much got the hang of it. then when i got my license it took me about a week to get the hang of hill starts, my whole neighborhood is on the side of a mountain...:rolleyes:

Originally posted by F20C


The cars itself behaves differently.

Very true...but not the clutch action. Driving a stick shouldn't matter if you're driving a FWD, AWD/4WD or RWD vehicle. It's never mattered to me, I'm just trying to see why it mattered to you.