While learning to drive my new MT Fit, I came across this support site called standardshift.com which has general info on all things manual transmission, as well as a discussion forum:

How to Drive a Car with a Manual Transmission

StandardShift.com • Index page

I found it very helpful for learning my new skill, which proved to be harder than I had thought! I am cruising pretty good now, but still have trouble on hills sometimes.

There is lots of great discussion on the site even for those who aren't newbies to the MT.

 

it's like learning a new musical instrument. takes a few years to get very good at it. congrats on the new driving skillz.

been driving MT for decades. it's the only way to REALLY have fun with a car on the street imho.

 

Thanks, yes, the fun has been pretty scarce while learning the MT , but I am confident it will be along in due time. Meanwhile I am satisfied with my progress but anxious to get good on the MT. I know it will take a good while and have been burning up the gas practicing (but hopefully not my clutch)!

 

The first time I drove a manual was in my bros 99 Civic EX. I only drive liek 2 or three times. After I had the swap done in my car people got me a little nervous about actually driving a manual again, lol. I understood the basics of it and sure enough 5 minutes in a parking lot I was ready to go out on the street. Sure I was far from great at it but I only stalled it a hand full of times and have very few problems

 

Practice makes perfect.

The Fit's a good car for learning in the aspect that it doesn't have a lot of power. Bad for learning because of the stupid electronic clutch, it gives no feedback. IMO cable clutch cars are much easier to learn in.

Keep working at it, you'll be doing no lift powershifts in no time

 

i was 15 yrs old when i learned to drive stick, it took me the WHOLE DAY!!!
after 2 weeks i was hitting the highway

the hardest thing to learn is how to balance the gas pedal and the clutch when you are uphill and there is a car behind you and you know that the driver has a gun hidden inside his car....

 

My mom helped me back the car out of the drive-way, and pull it back up one time. The next day I was out practicing on my own. Been a racecar driver ever since

 

Wonder how it's going for you??

Learning to drive a manual [many, many years ago] was one of my first do-or-die experiences.
There was no alternative, a ton of early 60's peer pressure and a father that simply required it.


K_C_

 

Too bad the clutch/shifter feel is so lame in our cars or else this car would seriously be the greatest thing ever.

If I could replicate the feel from my 91 Civic Si in this car...game over. Honda Fit > *

 

God I miss my '90 CRX Si. I kind of forgot how much the clutch differed from the Fit now though. I'm rather enjoying the Fit's clutch & shifting.

It had been around 15 yrs since I last drove stick and being in SF I wasn't sure I had made the right decision with the MT. Everyone I showed the car to was telling me I was crazy for getting the MT. But after a few weeks of getting used to the car a lot of the doubt was erased.

Not to say there still aren't a few tense moments on some of the steeper hills and I had a chuckle reading at Phenoyz statement about being uphill with a driver with a gun hidden behind you.

 

Thanks Krimson, it is going great! I have gotten comfortable with the manual and it is loads of fun now, am glad I made the choice. As GTRPLYR says there are still a few tense moments on the steeper hills and I too at first wondered if I had made a mistake in choosing the MT, but now I am pleased. It will only keep getting better too as I continue to gain confidence.

 

This.

I like the shifter, I think the clutch feel is super lame, but i've gotten used to it's qwerks.

I bet when I get back into a cable clutch car i'll be dissapointed about the Fit again

afreespirit: Glad it's going well for you!

 

I have an 08 MT and an 09 MT. I drive the 08 and my wife drives the 09. The occasional times I get to drive the 09 I've stalled it out. The 08 has a clutch you can feel while the 09 is almost non-existent.

I learned to drive a stick in a '66 Beetle, on the winding roads in the Catskill mountains, while going to the Woodstock Music Festival... the original one.

 

I wasn't there, was in basic training San Antonio, but from all I've heard and seen it was might slow driving, not a bad place to learn. My break-in was on my dad's 56Ford.