Title says it all. Have an '09 Sport MT. Wife never learned to drive MT. How bad will teaching her be for the car? How bad are stalls? Quick/Jerky clutch releases?

If something does go wrong, what part of the car will take the beating?

Thanks for any help :P Love the car and don't want to kill it, but figure she may as well learn how to drive it!

 

Not as bad as the grief she's going to give you if she reads this thread, or for the pained expression on your face.

Seriously. Don't worry about it. It's a Honda. Wives have been learning MT for centuries on less sophisticated cars. If it bothers you get a friend of her's to teach her. Avoid the marriage counselor.

 

just teach her to go easy on the clutch. Don't let her dump it or ride it and you'll be good. Dont be those teachers that let them drive it bad then tell em later, teach it right from the start

i was fairly familiar to manual when i got my car but knowing how to do it and driving one day-to-day was completely different... I went super easy on my car in the beginning and so many people got mad cuz i took my time releasing the clutch etc but hey, at least i was easy on the car. Teach her the basics now and the fast/advanced driving later

 

In my humble opinion women are far better at manipulating a stick.

 

Steve244: yeah, this is more of a "what would happen, how bad would it be" than a "should I do it".

Cute pun, but I'm not sure whether that skill can transfer to driving MT

 

My short answer- If they're burning your clutch, then yes its bad for the car. Because you'll need a new clutch soon. I know this first hand.

 

pretty much clutch is the biggest issue as stated, watch out for grinding gears as well- not terrible if it happens a handful of times but quite nasty for the synchro's if its done quite regularly...

 

What the hell... So I've driven several MT cars, never had an issue with the clutch.. But doing a little reading on teaching this, I discover it's bad to only partially engage the clutch. Is this ALWAYS the case? I feel like it's almost required for backing up and traffic that is barely moving with occasional stops... How bad is it (low revs, just to keep things smooth in those two situations)? I'm getting paranoid!!!

 

thats essentially 'riding' the clutch, causes excessive wear over time, not a real issue when backing up but can become an issue in prolonged stop and go traffic, ever smelt the clutch afterward?

I wouldnt worry too much though, OEM clutches from Honda tend to last quite long.

 

I learned on my first car, a '92 Accord, which already had 67,000 miles on it. I taught a good friend, as well as my girlfriend, who later bought it. Last I heard, it had close to 200,000 miles, still on the original clutch plate (the clutch master cylinder had to be replaced, but that has no relation to the wear of learning to drive it.)

So, my vote is "It's a Honda, don't worry 'bout it."

 

So do people really fully disengage the clutch when reversing for short distances?

As for prolonged traffic, I mean that I use it to get started (e.g. slowwwly letting it out) to allow getting started at a very slow speed. I don't continuously partially engage it.

 

Not unless they're doing it at deliberate speed
I wouldn't worry, slowly letting it out is fine as long you do release it in the end.

In short, relax its not gonna break

 

If you smell burning diapers, stop and let things cool down. Other than that, you'll be fine. we all have to learn and look like idiots doing it sometime.

 

What I would recommend is to go to as flat of a parking lot as you can, and just have her use the clutch to gradually get the car moving, not using the gas at all. If you do this slowly enough, you can feel where the engagement begins and when you have 100% engagement without the car stalling. If she does this a number of times, she will learn where that engagement begins, and then she can learn to start adding gas when it begins to engage.

 

Exactly what i do when i teach, i have taught several people on mine with no adverse effects...

 

In my opinion the Fit's clutch engagement is a little grabby; I have stalled the car many times when trying to pull out gently in 1st gear, and I have been driving a stick for more years than most of you have been alive. But then I've been spoiled by my torque-pig Subarus of late, which won't stall unless you really, truly screw up, so I may have lost a bit of finesse. And the Fit's really not that bad, plus learning on a car that has a bit of a challenge to it will make success all that much sweeter.

On other fronts: the car is mildly powered, the shifter is a total breeze to move from one gear to another, and Hondas have been the first cars for so many new drivers over the years that durability should be a no-brainer. So overall the Fit would be a good car to use as a 'learner'. Just watch out for burning smells.

 

that's what my dad did when he taught me

 

Yes, thats how i learned.
And explain that its better to stall the car, then burn the clutch.

 

it can never be good for the car teaching MT on it, but just let her know to push the left pedal if she thought she screwed up.

ive taught my wife and a couple of my buddies to drive MT in my old protege5. no issues. except my wife hates MT and will not drive MT cars.

 

Sounds like a Motorcycle Safety Foundation class - when in doubt, grab the clutch!