Celica Forums General Discussion General driving a stick...

hey.. i was wondering how long it took you guys to perfect the art of a manual??? the hardest part for me was going from a stopping position into first gear smoothly or without stalling... you?

i haven driven a manual yet

takes days to perfect it, mybe months, perfection is limitless!

ya your telling me lol every now n then ill stall it out still!!

to perfect it, it takes lots of practice...

to just know how to do it without messing up..couple days...hours to learn...days to get it down.

I pretty much learned on my GTS so it took me a month or two to perfect it.

yea took me couples weeks...i have quads and stuff same concept...so i caught on easy

first time i drove stick was at the shop, was a saab and stalled as fuck cz clutch was fucked. adding up all the times together, i would say an hour. you can really work it, function it, but to be an expert will take experience. the hardest part was letting go the clutch and punching gas the same amount. once you practice that though, and try it again itll take you a second to get used to it.

the first day i got my celica my mom drives me in it to a big parking lot, and teaches me. 15 min later i drove home, in 2 weeks i was real good, and a month after i have never stalled since

No longer than a month.

When I was younger I had a dirtbike, but was never good at started off, but once I got going I never had problems. Then a month before I had my license I took up driving a forklift at work. 2 speed Toyota beast. No suspension, solid tires, and a high center of gravity makes it fun if you can keep your cool and ride it on 2 wheels around a corner. After my license I got a truck and had that down after a week and found my love for a manual in that week. After a few months I had it down pat, I could've doubled clutch a downshift smoother than any upshift. Now, after going to the celica, which was even harder to start from a stop, I'd say with a short chance to feel a vehicle out I could probably drive anything standard.

haha the first stick car i drove was a porsche carrera...i remeber driving up the street with my paps and i pulled out of this drive way and he tells me to floor it so im in 1st gear and i step on it and i go to throw it into second and i put in to neutral thinking it was second(yea first time dribing i kno) so i let off the clutch and pressed the gas haha...hit redline i felt like a tool

yea thats the same with me man...i bought my car in cali..and i only drove stick like 2 times before it...and my dads like a truck driver(yea i kno but he moves like famous people) but anyways he drove his truck home and i drove the celica right from cali to arizona...stalled like 2 times coming home...one at a light and the guy behind me was beeping his horn so i got scared and like peeled out ha it was funny but i made it

ya i hate the pressure you get when ur at a light and someone has no patience and you stall out to make matters worse lol

haha, thats funny, because when i was driving home after my first lessons i stalled at a kinda uphill 4way stop, and the guy behind me honked and i peeled out too

it tool like 4 hours in a parking lot the first day i got my permit. i stall on average of once every 4-5 months now.

the hardest part for me was to start the car on a hill

hard...

now...easy

took me years and years, got it down after one engine and one tranny

yea...i use to had problems with my first gear when i stop at the light. I always use to stall when i was learning. Now i dont stall. only a few times the hills.

Someone once said something like "its not how much you've practiced, it's how much time you've had to let it sink it".

I think that I totally proved that true.

Learned to drive stick in my brother's horrible truck. I mean you had jam the shifter into each gear as hard as you could sometimes or it wouldn't engage. Spent about two hours driving that one week. Didn't drive stick again for over six months.

Got into my friend's stickshift and was flawless... far better than I had been the last time I tried six months earlier. Go figure.

yeah. i'm still not perfect..but it took me about a month to be comfortable with it even on steep inclines

To drive a stick took me 1 second in my new but way old Hyundai? excel look alike. I wasn't going to be stuck at home 1 second more seriously. It's that easy. Too race in a strait line a little longer and all depends on the car. To race on the twisties even longer and it all depends on the car. Practice makes perfect. Thank God I had my friends convertible lowrider truck to beat on in high school.

ahh the memories...wouldnt trade in my stick for anything. Definitely makes the car that much more fun to drive.

dude i remember once when i wanted to park porsche carrera in the shop. didnt know much about stick at all back then. it was night and entering the shop is a lil downhill, so the car rolls a little down. so i push the shifter all the way to the left and up thinkin its first gear. i let go the clutch a little and punch gas, but the car is only rolling back. i get mad and gun it and let go the clutch. car flies all the way back, good thing i didnt hit a wall. then i realized left up is reverse. i remember once when i test drove a celica at the dealer, i stalled on a red light and a cop was right passing me. good ol memories. i used to hate driving it uphill or stopping at uphills when theres a car behind. i would be scared i would roll down and hit it. so much memories.

the first time i really drove stick was when i test drove my celica... i knew the basics and just rode the clutch like a b*tch because i didnt wanna stall out

I found the hardest part was reversing without stalling. Changing gears went pretty smooth.

I think it also helps to learn without someone in the car. It's pretty instinctive once you know the basics, so having someone tell you what to do only mucks it up...

Plus you have to remember that everyone has their own style to some degree. Just like some people start to brake for stops sooner than others or such, people will clutch and shift at different points in everyday driving. My strong suggestion is that if you're going to learn, have someone show you the basics and do the rest yourself.

its not all about stalling, its about making the ride feel like an auto; no grudges, no jolts, no nothing, just perfectly smooooth!

yup ur right...but stalling would suck need to get that down first

best way to put it. and shift like an auto. treat your engine/car like an auto does. if ppl outside think ur driving auto, then good. except the gaps in seconds during shifts

i agree

I think everyone still stalls now and then, and every car and tranny is differant.. Celica's 00-02 have a shitty rough tranny with small gates, where as the 03-04's are nice and smooth without even trying. I know because both I and my mother own Celica's, mine being the better one in perspective.

It took me a number of months as I didn't drive that long every day and sometimes not even every day and when I learnt I was going between two differant cars (1990 Nissan Sentra Special Edition and a 2002 Mazda Proteg) so everything was differant and it made learning a bit trickier.

took me about a week of just driving around...uphillse were scary for me so i just burned out everytime, now I just roll back to scare car behind me

I learned over the summer (my celi's an auto tho). It took me a few times in the parking lot. When i finally got onto the street i passed a cop, and i was going the speed limit. He pulls out behind me and tails me for 2 miles!!! We stop at a light, and when it turned green i was freaking out and stalled 3 times before getting it going again. Then he flips the lights. My moronic friend forgot to put his license plate on in the front

Learn something new everyday. Get a TRD clutch then learn all over. Ive driven a stick since I was 12, but the celica for only like 2 months. Landing lift is the most difficult thing

I learned in my GTS. Took me about an hour to get going pretty smoothly...and about 2 weeks to get the steep incline down. I still stall out occasionally, but I've only been driving for a month. I waited 'til I was 18. I was teaching my brother to drive at one point, the moron was goin from 5th to 4th, but he decided it'd be easier to go straigh to 2nd. Luckily my clutch was the only thing that got messed up. So $500 later, I have a Centerforce in now! It was a horrible pain to learn to drive a stick though! And my ex got it in about 15 minutes. She never stalled once! So much for dumb blonde's!

I learned on a 2000 Tacoma SR5 TRD 5spd.

Hardest thing I ever drove. The GTS is a joyride compared to that thing.

I haven't stalled out in either the hyundai (Sold) or the GTS (Sold)

It's like second nature to me.

I have been driving a manual for about 4 years now and I still have not perfected it. I am really really good but you are always going to have good and bad days. But I have gotten really good in the GTS about landing in lift.

It takes practice. I've been driving a stick for over 3 years, and I still stall once in a while.

I learned in Puerto Rico-there's a lot of hills out there!!!
Hardest thing for me was taking off uphill with a car very close behind me.

for me the hardest part is getting a smooth start on a hill or when makign a sharp turn i alwasy spin my tires.

Over here in Holland you are an exception if you have an automatic gearbox. If you have a driverslicense for automatic gear you are not allowed to drive manual. So almost everybody here has a (for us normal) license, which will allow you to drive automatic as well. Only lazy and elder people drive automatic

That's weird. When I got my license I used an auto to pass the test, but ever since I got my cars, they've always been manuals. Autos are too boring and isn't fun unless their sportShift.

You know you're almost perfect when the up/down shift to each gear is smooth and the power transfer to the wheels are seamless.

Driving a stick looks prety easy my dad has a GTS and drive it real good considering he's been driving sticks for about 20 years. He once bets me like $200 if i could turn on his car and drive it around the block without stalling it or mis shifting or burning his clucth I agreed but he didnt let me. 200 down the drain
Even though i cant drive i would have at least tried

I learned manual in Pinas! with a Lite Ace Toyota. i Started driving as long as 2 hours (Manila to Pampanga) since i was 13 year old.

I think that if you drove in manila, you can drive anywhere. My first car was a stick and had to drive from Quezon City to UST, daily. 2 of my old cars where stick, here in the U.S. Now I have an AT GT. Why? dunno. Maybe at 32, I am getting old!

no dbout in my mind ma friend. Manila is the best training ground for stick.

when i first learned how to drive a five speed (6years ago)
i sucked my ex bf taught me in his 4gen celica. i caught on like a week later but hardest for me was stopping and starting on hills. Then i became a pro until i had to put a 6 puck clutch in my boosted integra-that was like learning all over again.

i bought my 6speed last month, so i would say about a month to get it smooth. launch from a standstill is tough to get it. i used to trip tires or stall, just have to get used to the car. i found uphill is actually easier than launch from a flat surface...

very interesting thread.
my uncle taught me and my cousins, with mustang ,you hard to turn the car off in at least 1st to 3rd gear without (x)gas,..clutch alone without stalling
but i was wondering how you guys stop and turn off on hills?(just curious,as to what methods is used,cause down here where there is a lot of hills, 70% at least you got to be good with a manual)maybe i can give a few tips on how to turn off more effectively esp.if traffic is behind you and you dont want to roll back.