Looking to learn manual / buy,rent a beater??

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peter330 said:
How does one roll their manual car on a hill without using gas? Some magic cars you must be driving
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Get the car rolling using the clutch (even on a hill) and then use gas to keep it going. I learned on a really crappy clutch, so it can definitely be done on other cars. The reason I reccomend this is because I find that even older drivers use way more gas than they need to just to shift or get the car rolling - it's unnecessary wear on the clutch. If you can learn the friction point, then you can make the stock clutch last for hundreds of thousands of kms. The other added benefit to learning this way is that no matter what car you drive, you can probably drive it smoother than most owners ever can.

Edit: OP, I'd offer my car up, but I've taught myself & too many people on it, so the clutch is really weak now. It can't take much more abuse...lol. Anyone who tries my car asks how it's even possible to get it rolling without using the gas
 
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knowledge said:
Get the car rolling using the clutch (even on a hill) and then use gas to keep it going. I learned on a really crappy clutch, so it can definitely be done on other cars. The reason I reccomend this is because I find that even older drivers use way more gas than they need to just to shift or get the car rolling - it's unnecessary wear on the clutch. If you can learn the friction point, then you can make the stock clutch last for hundreds of thousands of kms. The other added benefit to learning this way is that no matter what car you drive, you can probably drive it smoother than most owners ever can.
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I still think a heavy car with an underpowered engine would stall out. Maybe I'll have to find you and get you to demonstrate sometime, lol.

Manual isn't hard. I wouldn't even worry about learning it unless you have a reason to. For me the learning curve was: Go find a manual car to buy. Father drives it out to the sticks. I spend 30 minutes learning to drive it. Buy it the next day and started driving around on my own without issues. As long as you understand how it works, you'll be fine. It's the people that have no understanding of the mechanics behind it that I find have a lot of difficulty learning because they just don't get it.

OP, I'd offer up my car but the motormounts are pretty sloppy which makes it harder to be smooth with the engine bouncing around. Maybe once I get that taken care of, I'll offer it up. You ride and therefore have some knowledge of how a manual works so I bet it will be 10x better than trying to teach my sister who, even after explaining multiple times, continued to have her own version of driving stick which was push the clutch half way, gas to the floor, then ram the stick into random locations until the car moves. Ah, the smell of burning clutch a few months after paying thousands for a clutch job is a great feeling.
 
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unL33T said:
I still think a heavy car with an underpowered engine would stall out. Maybe I'll have to find you and get you to demonstrate sometime, lol.
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If I did this in my wrx it would stall out for sure haha. On some cars, the friction point is vague and weird. Hondas are awesome to learn on.
 
Why waste time on a car when u already ride?

I drive a 200hp car and its so slow compared to my bike, I won't care if its auto or standard.
 
Flashmonkey said:
If I did this in my wrx it would stall out for sure haha. On some cars, the friction point is vague and weird. Hondas are awesome to learn on.
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Yeah I think the only car I've driven that wouldn't stall if I tried to start on a hill with no gas and no rolling would be the diesel I used to have (lots of torque). My 944 might be ok. Saab would stall out for sure. Flat ground, no problem, but not a hill.
 
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I learned to properly drive standard in my first car, and I had already learned the basics from my bike. If you can handle a regular motorcycle transmission it will be a quick transition.

unL33T said:
Yeah I think the only car I've driven that wouldn't stall if I tried to start on a hill with no gas and no rolling would be the diesel I used to have. My 944 might be ok. Saab would stall out for sure. Flat ground, no problem, but not a hill.
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I think the MX-3 I had would have stalled if I tried to get it rolling facing downhill without gas. :P
 
RE: starting up a hill without using gas pedal - easiest car I have owned in this regard was my old LT1 camaro. It made something like 290 lbs ft of torque just a hair above idle when it was bone stock and would go up most inclines without any throttle input. I think the only way you could stall this car is to mistake the brake for the gas pedal when pulling away from a stop :)
 
Haha guys, I'm not saying it HAS to be done every single time that you start. I'm saying that it's a good way to learn and it's definitely possible. After you figure out the hill technique thing, you can learn to use enough gas so that the damage is negligible/every other thing in your car will break before the clutch gives out.

With some of these cars, you'd definitely roll back, but I'm confident that you can still get it going without touching the gas (might take a while, though). Or you can use the e-brake and never roll back while still not using gas. For every day application, you WILL have to burn the clutch in certain situations (like having passengers/fragile objects/drinks/a chick in the car/zipping in/etc).

I've tried it on cars, trucks, truck trucks (lol), etc. Obviously, the heavier the vehicle, the more sensitive careful you have to be with roll backs...but I'm confident that it can be done. But for the truck trucks, you'd just be doing it to prove a point/it would be pretty stupid with the amount of roll-back that you'd have.

Sorry for the threadjack OP, but I figured it'd come in handy for when you do start learning, anyway. :D
 
sold....I'll train you...40$ per hour for me...and the car rental is 70$ per day.....and we may get into some drifting
 
Where do you guys find manual trans. equipped cars to rent? I ask for them when I travel, but have never found one.

Kudos to the OP for choosing to learn manual. My first vehicle was a manual and so is my Jeep. I love it! It's all I drive now. And you're right, there aren't a lot of manual transmission vehicles or drivers out there.

After almost three years of driving, I'm already on my second clutch. It's what happens when the throw-out bearing goes and damages the fingers on the clutch pressure plate. My fault for submerging the damn thing in hood-deep water several times.
 
EngineerJoe said:
Where do you guys find manual trans. equipped cars to rent? I ask for them when I travel, but have never found one.
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Most of the European car rentals are MT. North American rental cars are automatic because they'd be replacing clutches every other week.

A couple of exceptions come to mind, when Mini first launched their cars in NA, they had a deal with Hertz as part of the Prestige Collection program you could rent a Cooper. I went to pick one up for a week and was pleasantly surprised to find out they were all ordered as MT. Also some exotic car rental agencies still have MT Ferraris, Lambos, etc.
 
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ok I have the course set up

course.jpg


or you can bring your bike and do wheelies till its dead
 
knowledge said:
Edit: OP, I'd offer my car up, but I've taught myself & too many people on it, so the clutch is really weak now. It can't take much more abuse...lol. Anyone who tries my car asks how it's even possible to get it rolling without using the gas
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I would think it'd be easier as the clutch got weaker and started slipping. Generally to start without gas you need to slip the clutch a little anyway.

Unless it's the opposite problem that I had which was the cable was starting to break so it would never fully release so as soon as you started releasing the pedal it would engage and jerk/stall out if you sucked. Then it snapped completely on the 401. Made it down the rest of the highway (took maybe 20 minutes of driving at 50 as that's as fast as it would go in first), and the Allen, before I actually had to fully stop on Eglinton and it stalled out. Couldn't change gears. It was lame.
 
Lightcycle said:
Most of the European car rentals are MT. North American rental cars are automatic because they'd be replacing clutches every other week.

A couple of exceptions come to mind, when Mini first launched their cars in NA, they had a deal with Hertz as part of the Prestige Collection program you could rent a Cooper. I went to pick one up for a week and was pleasantly surprised to find out they were all ordered as MT. Also some exotic car rental agencies still have MT Ferraris, Lambos, etc.
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Don't most of the exotics cost upwards of $500 per day to rent? (I think when I was looking for some higher end ones it was over $1500 a day or more.)

rideitlikeyoustoleit said:
Just go test drive manual cars. You'll get a feel for a wide variety of different brands of cars.
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This is the best idea. Why didn't I think of that?
 
I drove manual only three times before deciding that my first car would be manual. I drove my car from the dealership after he took me around on side streets for 10 minutes. The last time I drove manual was 6 years prior with the owner with me. So it was a bit scary taking it home alone.

Took me a few weeks to get used to everything and stop stalling at lights and hills. lol Had a few friends give me pointers and after a few months I was driving as smooth as an automatic. Oh and what shoes you wear also plays a part in smoothness. I now only wear my pumas when I drive as they have a thin sole so I can feel the peddals better.

You can also go to one of the many driving schools and book some lessons on a manual car.
 
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