Manual transmission lessons?

[stefan15]

So I'm trying to teach my g/f to drive manual. You can probably imagine how that's going. I feel that a third party may be more effective. Anyone teach manual or know of a place that offers a la carte lessons?

[arian_ma]

Ah man teaching manual can be a bitch...but honestly, nothing will do her better than some practice (and eventual destruction of a transmission lol)

Take her to an empty parking lot, don't say shit, let her fuck up until she understands WHY she's fucking up. Save the money for a nice date afterwards lol

[stefan15]

Originally posted by arian_ma
Ah man teaching manual can be a bitch...but honestly, nothing will do her better than some practice (and eventual destruction of a transmission lol)

Take her to an empty parking lot, don't say shit, let her fuck up until she understands WHY she's fucking up. Save the money for a nice date afterwards lol

Tried and failed. She gets too frustrated with me. "Give it gas" "I DID F*** OFF" "no.. ok you didn't.. but ok"...

[n1zm0]

Originally posted by arian_ma
Save the money for a nice date afterwards lol

or a new clutch :rofl:

teaching manual to females is a double piss off especially if youre in a relationship obviously lol but seriously OP, think about how you learnt, well most of us, trial and error until we got the technique to a functional level, then we all just refined it by learning while driving.

OR go and buy a PS3, a logitech G25 and Gran Turismo prologue, make her practice for 1 hour each day, then once in a blue moon after a bit say 'lets go for a real drive'

[arian_ma]

Originally posted by stefan15


Tried and failed. She gets too frustrated with me. "Give it gas" "I DID F*** OFF" "no.. ok you didn't.. but ok"...
Hahaha, I guess she can't yell and get frustrated at a stranger, that's a good point. It's hard on the ego to fail so hard at something that everyone else seems to be doing seamlessly :rofl:

[Mitsu3000gt]

If possible, teach her the basic mechanics of it all first. That is what helped me learn, because I could relate to what was happening and adjust my driving accordingly. If you can believe it I did not stall even once while learning to drive a manual transmission, but had I not understood how it worked beforehand I probably would have.

I've taught a few people how to drive manual before, it wasn't too bad. I usually get them to ever so gently let out the clutch with no gas until they see a change (i.e. RPMs drop slightly and car moves an inch or so), then put the clutch back to the floor (before it even comes close to stalling) and repeat. I've found that gets them used to the engagement point and then you can work on combining that with a bit of throttle. Also, go to a big parking lot or something, like Costco or a church after hours. Another thing people do all the time is they don't apply a bit of throttle while shifting up, they just let the clutch slam out to it's way more jerky than it has to be.

Some people just refuse to listen to reason though LOL, good luck!

[GQBalla]

maybe your just not a good teacher.

ive taught many people (mostly girls) and they all learned perfect.

try to explain the friction point and make motions with your hands what its suppose to be like.

having patience helps too.

but maybe its because all the girls ive taught we had things going on or your just a mean guy.

ahaha :D

[wardpr68]

I have taught people and they have all said I am an amazing teacher.... you can message me if you just want this BS to end.

[shynepho]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt
If possible, teach her the basic mechanics of it all first.

Yep thats how I learned also. I remember doing some reading on sites like howstuffworks.com and then went at it from there. Once she learns the basics, let her try it out alone and I bet ya she will learn quicker on her own.

[taemo]

I taught my gf how to drive standard in my WRX (made her drive from Banff to Sicamous), she was starting to get a hang of it but then got scared that she might be destroying my tranny/clutch so we bought a civic for her to train on.

the first thing I taught her is how to slowly release the clutch 1st-3rd, it is not like an on and off switch.
best example is on a cold start of a car, without giving any gas, slowly release the clutch until the car starts rolling.
told her it's around that spot that she should start giving gas.

we would go to an empty parking lot at night and make her stop, 1st, 2nd, stop until her left foot was getting used to the clutch.

Took her around 4 practice sessions (30min-1hr) before she became really confident with it.

She's starting to get used stopping and going uphill too.

[Tomaz]

I learned the hard way...

Buy it, try it, break it. Repeat.

That's how i taught my friends. They caught on pretty quick with that approach. I could see some people not getting it at all, nor really caring.

[Modelexis]

I taught a girl once, I gave her verbal instruction as she terrified herself and pedestrians.
We stopped when she was crying too hard to drive.

What a wimp.

It took her an hour of driving to realize that you don't have to clutch in, shift and let the clutch back out all in separate steps rather than one smooth motion.

[Phenix]

I learned on a hill. what a pain in the butt at the begging but it really helped me later. never been scared of hills

[lophilip]

Let a professional driving instructor do it - the savings on the relationship and the car is worth it.

AMA offer those lessons.

[adidas]

One tip, tell her to wear those flat shoes that all girls nowadays wear. Barefoot could work too, but that is harder.

This will let her feel the clutch much more as opposed to wearing shoes with thick soles.

[A790]

I'll teach her in 10 minutes flat. Shit is easy.

[arian_ma]

Contrary to popular belief, your dick can't teach a girl manual :rofl:

[masoncgy]

Take her to a hilly section of town after hours. It's the best place to learn to drive a manual.

If you can start from a stopped position on a hill with a manual, you can drive a manual anywhere.

That's how I taught a couple buddies to drive stick years ago in BC... worked like a charm!

[Awd-Tsi]

Originally posted by stefan15
So I'm trying to teach my g/f to drive manual. You can probably imagine how that's going. I feel that a third party may be more effective. Anyone teach manual or know of a place that offers a la carte lessons? Ill teach her how to drive stick, pm me if you want

[lellowrx7]

If your close to the south or willing to go close to it, hit up sikome lake. Its got a wide emtpy parking lot (when its later in the day) and its got lots of small hills. get her on a small hill and just teach her to find the mid point by pulling the clutch out until the car stops rolling backwards. after she understands that learning standard is a breeze. doesnt even hurt your clutch that bad to do.

[V6-BoI]

Good thing my girl friend knew how to drive manual before I did :D .

*Flame Suit Up*

But on a serious note, it might be helpful if a girl teaches her? Girls might have a different mentality and a different way of teaching manual than a guy would, so they might have a better way of communicating with each other, :dunno: Do you know any girls that can drive stick?

[Awd-Tsi]

Originally posted by V6-BoI
Good thing my girl friend knew how to drive manual before I did :D .

*Flame Suit Up*

But on a serious note, it might be helpful if a girl teaches her? Girls might have a different mentality and a different way of teaching manual than a guy would, so they might have a better way of communicating with each other, :dunno: Do you know any girls that can drive stick without killing a clutch? fixed

[Unknown303]

My fiance has never once owned an auto vehicle and can drive stick better than most anyone I know. Her 4runner which was a manual lasted over 700,000km's and that took 2 clutches I believe.

[403Gemini]

Taught my buddy how to do it (who drives worse than any chick ive ever seen :rofl:) the night before he went to pick up his new car (which was a manual)

Taught my mom, sister, girlfriends sister - I just toss them the keys and tell them we're going for a drive and make them drive somewhere. 95% of the time they do fine, if they stall i tell them to just stay calm and if the person behind us starts honking i toss them the finger ;)

[stefan15]

Thanks all for the advice. I thought I did a good job explaining the mechanics and basics.. even read up on teaching techniques (some of which were mentioned here). But she was still getting frustrated.


Originally posted by shynepho
Once she learns the basics, let her try it out alone and I bet ya she will learn quicker on her own.
So that's what I did. I got out and told her she was ready. She stalled a few times.. but can now start flawlessly. Basically I am a shitty teacher, in general.

[derran.m]

Well I was kinda spoiled, wife is a farm girl so she had some background driving stick, her mom taught her on the old Volvo years back ... but she never did get a good technique, and she had a hell of a time trying to keep it going.
All I did was explain the mechanics of the clutch/engine/transpission. I then drove with her a couple times, so I could try to fine tune her technique, then I sent her on her own. 2 weeks later I got in the car with her and she had no problems, slight overrevving a few times, but nothing major or painful. Now she's ALMOST as good as me ... it helps I hop in her car and drive her around just so she can see my technique.

[rampagesauce]

my mom tought me how to drive when i was like 12, then i re-learned on my own when i was 17. now teaching the gf to drive manual, using some tips from this thread and she's getting better, but still scary at best. to fast off the clutch usually and she's really nervous about breaking my car.

[stefan15]

Originally posted by rampagesauce
my mom tought me how to drive when i was like 12, then i re-learned on my own when i was 17. now teaching the gf to drive manual, using some tips from this thread and she's getting better, but still scary at best. to fast off the clutch usually and she's really nervous about breaking my car.

Yeah mine does the same thing. You gotta get her to relax or she whips the clutch out the second she hits friction point. Check to see if she's breathing--seriously--my g/f holds her breath causing her to get all panicky and weird about it.

[Unknown303]

Originally posted by stefan15


Yeah mine does the same thing. You gotta get her to relax or she whips the clutch out the second she hits friction point. Check to see if she's breathing--seriously--my g/f holds her breath causing her to get all panicky and weird about it.

TO check if she's breathing; sharply jab her in the rib cage.:thumbsup:

[KuruptEX]

taught 2 people how to drive manual..

Step 1: get them to buy manual car
step 2: disappear for a week
step3:????
step 4: Profit

[bjstare]

^haha

I taught my wife how to ride a dirt bike first... much better to abuse that than a car. When it came time to driving the manual car, it took a lot less explaining (and a lot less of a toll on my tranny/clutch).

[stefan15]

Originally posted by KuruptEX
taught 2 people how to drive manual..

Step 1: get them to buy manual car
step 2: disappear for a week
step3:????
step 4: Profit
LOL.. awesome.. this is key advice..

[Skyline_Addict]

I've personally had way better experience teaching girls than guys. Girls seem to start off with lower expectations and build their confidence as they go along. They try harder to understand what is going on. Most guys start off with way too much confidence and think they already know it all, which usually ends up being bad.

[dkatwa]

I would start off my teaching them the basics about gear shifting. Train them like how an airline pilot learns the positions of the switches in the cockpit - with eyes closed. They can reach for the relevant button, lever etc in no time after a bit of practice. That takes one variable out of the equation.

For driving (engine off and car stationary!!) ask her to close her eyes, imaging she is about to move forward and then get her to go thru the relevant actions (clutch/ gear/ clutch). Then when she is up to top gear (4th or 5th) then say 'You are approaching a junction, slow down to a stop'. She should then perform clutch/ gear down/ clutch until she is stationary.

Once she has mastered the use of the gears (both to take off and to slow down, stop, overtake etc) this will become second nature and when she is driving on the road, the other things, such as observation, indicating etc, would become more important - the gear changes would be second nature, from memory...

[freshprince1]

My wife owned a manual car when we started dating. She said it only took her about 30min to learn how to drive a manual transmission comfortably enough to head out on the streets. I guess it just comes quicker for some people, like most things. It's nice that she drives so well, when car shopping we don't really care either way what type of transmission we get, though I lean towards manual.

Good luck OP, sounds like she's gettting the hang of it.