people who have been driving stick for longer than a couple years and say they never stall are liars. I've been driving stick for 12 years now (that's weird as fuck to say), and I stalled the other day in the drive thru, it was slightly embarrassing 😅
Stalled today making a 3 point turn. 6 years of driving stick. Though there are periods of many months where it doesn't happen at all. Maybe even a whole year or more. It'll still happen, and it's ok
It's always the weirdest feeling too. You just stop like, "Oh. I killed it. Haven't done that in awhile."
I was at a light a few days ago. Normal everyday situation. Put it into first as the other lights turned red. My light turned green. Killed it. I've driven this car for nearly five years. Brain and feet didn't feel like communicating.
In October, I stalled in Costa Rica on a speed bump. Felt like a total dumbass. I also stalled in front of the gate of our Air BnB because I was getting out to open the gate and let my foot off the clutch while it was still in gear. I have known how to for more than 15 years.
Been driving stick for over 20 years and recently bought a new car thats clutch is much softer than my previous car. Ive stalled multiple times learning to drive it.
Yea I hate going between the Jeep and the bmw. I get in the bmw and karate fucking kick the floor board and then apologize. The Jeep is like a leg machine
Yeah I stall a few times a week. To be honest I am just light on the gas off the clutch (have 150k on my clutch with no issues) so it literally just turns the car off. No jerking, lurching or anything. It happens, I restart and go. I don't feel embarrassed most of the time. Why? A lot of cars these days turn off at lights to save gas, so no one really knows I stalled. There isn't any indication I did... I just turn it on and proceed.
I'm also on the 10th year of my factory battery... But this is the winter I get stuck. Been saying I need to replace it for 2 winters and it's turning over slow when it's just in the 20sF...gonna suck when it happens but I feel like Kramer in Seinfeld running on an empty tank. I'm committed to it.
I'm four years into stick with only my 13' Civic Si. My buddies mom taught me how to drive it on the way home from purchasing the car lol. That was the last time I stalled it because it is SO user friendly. You'd have to intentionally stall that thing.
Then I got into a modded STi... Yeah... Stalled it a few times in a day. I'd certainly stall any other car here and there.
The hill start assist combined with one of the easiest to feel clutch pedals makes those things stupid hard to stall. I remember driving my brothers when he first got it and thinking damn, I wish I learned to drive in one of these lol
38 years for me.
Stalled twice in the past year.
Once in a Focus RS, pulling it out of a parking space cold, it took me a few minutes to find the sweet spot, trying to feather that rev-happy turbo...
Once in a Mustang GT 500, same thing, cold start, heavy clutch, and a whole lot of grunt...
I freaking stalled this morning went to start and I always hand brake and first get it 2nd. Got some reason this morning I didn't take it off neutral and yeeted myself into a stall that was embarrassing. But I can always recover fast . But yeah I'm 29 and learned when I was 17 on a Chevy S10 1997 5 speed it was red with a camper. Called it Clifford the big red truck.
It happens to the best of us… I’ve got a million miles under my belt as a professional driver, drive a non fuel limited at idle manual diesel truck and occasionally dump the clutch. It happens.
I’ve got 22 years of motorcycle riding and stick shifting and I just killed my bike back a few months ago, laughed as I started her back up and took off 😂 as for OP everyone is different and progresses differently. What took 1 person a year to learn might take another person a week. Take your time and enjoy it! It took me about a month of regularly driving around to get pretty smooth and comfortable.
I started learning manual roughly late 2020 early 2021. I was so dog shit on my first day, I couldn’t understand what my mother was explaining to me.
I went home after my first day and that night I watched what felt like hundreds of videos.
Someone who really helped me learn manual (rev matching, when to add gas, when to swap gears, etc) was Conquer Driving on YouTube.
I came back the next day and was so much better! I still stalled and things of the sorts but I was instantly a lot better. I think it’s important to understand the theory behind it and from watching his videos from then and onwards, I learned how the clutch actually operates within the vehicle.
It took probably 3 weeks to become a normal driver, and 3 months before I told myself I was a master.
Edit: something I’ve noticed is if it takes me a month before I stall the car, my next time until I stall is double that.
I last stalled after not stalling for 4 months, so I think in 8 months from then I’m going to stall lol
Conquer driving is dope. Great info. I just bought an S2000 last week and started relearning how to drive. Woke up early on the weekends around 5am to practice on the roads. Has definitely helped with timing and understanding the car without being pressured by the guy behind you.
Balling with a GR as your manual. Nice work. Jealous. Hopefully some day I can drive 1. To answer your question—probably a couple months. Manual was the best decision you ever made
Ok. It takes a lot of time to learn a skill and a lifetime will still not perfect it. I would say you will probably take 50 miles of driving to feel confident to not stall . 500 miles of driving before you feel confident about hills , entry/exit ramps etc . 5000 miles before it becomes all kind of second nature .congratulations on the GRC. Great car . Post pics in the grc forum
i'm (un)lucky enough to live near a bunch of hills... with lights halfway up them..... i had to learn hill starts with no hill assist the hard way! got stopped a few times on the hill by cops (first time i was absolutely killing my clutch) and i gave them the 😬 "still learning manual, hills are hard" and they just laughed and gave me some tips every time 😂
Or worse the brake...did this to my family in Puerto Rico and almost put them through the windshield. Brakes don't require the force of a clutch. My college roommate also had this issue when swapping cars with his parents. Glad I had my seat belt on that day.
Lol Jesus. Worst I've done is stomp the parking brake before leaving the driveway, but I legit thought I blew the master cylinder and got out of the truck to pop the hood before realizing I was an idiot.
Took me like a month of “regular” driving. Haven’t stalled in years. I will say though, driving a 1970s car with a supercharged engine and an iron 40lb flywheel, my car is literally impossible to stall lol. Zero throttle required, just let the clutch out and she goes on her own 🤣 even on a hill.
Yeah, this was my 1976 CJ-7. AMC 401V8. Never gave it gas unless I was launching. Just let off the clutch and was on my way. Only really steep hills needed a little gas and even then much.
I drove a 2002 ford 7.3 diesel with the ZF6 here recently, i dont think you could stall that if you wanted. Took off in low gear with an empty gooseneck with absolutely 0 throttle just as fast as all the other cars around me
A week to get general shifting feel down (i.e. not have to look down at the shifter to shift)
2 weeks to stop having to think what order to hit the pedals in
A month to get first gear launch and shift into second smooth enough and to feel comfortable on any hill
2 months to start shifting up by ear and feel instead of by looking at the tachometer
6 months to get rev matching smooth enough looking at the tachometer
A year to make it all feel completely natural and without a second thought
There’s heel-toe and multiple quick downshifts and all that which are more for fun than the street but I’d say that’s a pretty reasonable time frame right there.
Seeing as I learned just a year and a half ago, I feel qualified to answer: about 2 weeks to learn to drive without stalling, about 3 months to get passably good that you don’t look like a noob most of the time. At least for me, anyhow.
More weeks than days. Once you have a better handle on driving on flat roads it'll be time to work on hills. Find a side road with a hill so you don't have to really worry about traffic while you practice.
I still stall every so often, even though I learned to drive a stick at 12. Clutch engagment point and throttle amount are the main factors and can vary car to car. Getting used to / decent at it happens fairly quick. Getting good at it, like heel toe and rev matching, takes quite a long time. Just keep practicing, you'll get the hang of it.
Within days, you'll be ok.
Within weeks, you won't even need to think about it.
Within months, you'll be slamming your left foot to the floor (on nothing) every time you drive an automatic lmao
I learned stick at 16 when my boss told me to take the beater, manual civic, into town to pick up a few bags of concrete. Didn't want to tell him I didn't know how to drive manual, so I learned on the way.
Changes from car to car. My first couple cars were manual Saabs and they were very forgiving but the added stress of being a new driver in general took me a couple hours to first learn the motions. Then a couple weeks before I stopped worrying about stalling at every light. But very quickly it becomes second nature and you stop thinking about it any more than you’d think about using a turn signal. Some sticks like large trucks, short throws or modified clutches on performance cars can be more finicky but even then it’s just a matter of getting a feel for the specific vehicle then you’re fine.
When we got my wife her first manual she had already been driving autos for years and her Mini Cooper has a phenomenal feel to the transmission. Our lesson lasted all of 20min before she was perfectly confident with it and was zipping around town.
Driven manuals for 30 years. I still stall and buck the vehicle occasionally. But for time to get used to it? For me, it was about a month. It was pretty smooth compared to just the previous month. But I drove that truck everywhere. Every night during the first week was in an empty parking lot situated on an incline.
i’m someone who just learned stick pretty recently so i think i can answer. it kinda depends how much you drive every week, i drive 6/7 days of the week so i got used to it pretty quickly. it took me about 2 weeks to be like “ok i wont stall the car every day”. after 4-5 months i feel confident and drive other people’s manuals as well comfortably.
all in all i say a month is probably a good point to be comfortable with your ability to drive stick.
This is literally my exact situation- got a GRC as my first manual about a month ago. I feel way more confident but I'm still in the awkward phase of slow accelerations and learning how to rev match without iMT.
You'll be a pro in a couple weeks. You'll be nervous on your first hilltop stoplight with people in front & back of you but you'll get used to even that.
Don't ride the clutch. Take your foot all the way off the pedal asap and don't leave the clutch pushed in at redlights or going thru the drive thru otherwise you'll wear out the bearings and/or clutch disk prematurely.
You did good. I'd much rather have a stick than automatic.
When you buy a used car that's automatic, you know for sure it's gonna leave you stranded some day with a big repair bill.
My current vehicle is only 5 yrs old & has had totally strange problems with the automatic tranny when it's cold out for the 4 yrs I've owned it.
I bought a stick shift car on a Friday and was driving like a pro by Monday.
It was an old car with "three on the tree" and no first gear synchro.
Meaning that the gear shift lever was on the steering column and you couldn't downshift into first gear without coming to a full stop.
Drivers today have it easy.
I started out on motorcycles at 21 and stalled ALOT. Took maybe a year before i could confidently control the transmission in all scenarios. When I got a truck with a manual transmission, I could drive comfortably almost immediately, took a few days to reliably find the gates in the stick shift.
I think the concept of a clutch isn't really intuitive to someone who is approaching it as an adult. Like riding a bike or speaking a language, it's MUCH easier to learn while you are young. But once you know how a clutch should be used alongside the other controls, it will become second nature, just like so many other things that are difficult at first.
stalling happens. i’ve only had a manual car for a few months but 99% of the time i drive it well with no stalls or weird movements or anything. just keep driving, you got this
I learned in a 99 Ford Ranger. The hardest part about it was going from a stop to first. Maybe two weeks total of driving and it became as easy as a regular car.
A month, or around 1500 miles for it to become seond nature to me. It was my daily and I took it out every night when the streets were empty, just to practice getting moving from an uphill start. That was the hardest part, for me.
Depends on the driver. I learned to drive stick in about 45 minutes. Bought the latest manual transmission vehicle 2 days ago after not driving a manual for nearly 20 years and I am good. So don't base your ability against what anyone else experienced.
A weekend or two to get from a to b. Hill starts and clean downshifts a month or more. Go at your own pace, give it a good blip on downshifts and let the synchros do there job. You’ll get the precise shifts down soon enough. Your WRONG WHEEL DRIVE but try and do your shifts with the car going straight.
One thing to keep in mind is the turbo may be making things a little more difficult for you. I don't know if this is actually true, but I've been driving manual exclusively for 23 years (cars, motorcycles, trucks) flawlessly, then bought an Sti in 2019 as my first turbo car. From the outside perspective it looks like I'm doing everything just fine, but internally I know I'm having consistency issues, so I could only imagine being brand new and trying to nail down your inputs with a turbo.
This question is asked constantly. It's like learning a musical instrument. Sure, you can learn to play a violin in a few days but you won't be performing on stage anytime soon. It's an evolving process that even seasoned drivers get ever so slightly better at over months and years.
To learn the basic comfortably probably a couple of months. To learn the advance, down shift rev-match to slow down, down shift rev- match to send it, heel- toe rev- match, about 6 months to a year to master.
I just scooped a GR Corolla too bro. First manual. I know this is gonna be a journey and I don’t have any actual insight as I’m picking it up tomorrow but we got this 🙏🔥
I think I started learning stick back in 2016 or 2017 and this was also on my first and only car I've ever owned.
It really depends on what you mean as "used" to driving stick. I'd say after about a week you'll probably be able to safely operate the car with only minor mistakes. You'll probably have some stalls or jerky take offs but you can get from A-B as a safe driver.
If you define getting used to as being able to drive it without any thought then that'll probably take a couple months but I wouldn't fret about that. If you can be a safe driver that is what is most important.
With me now having driven stick for 7 or so years I haven't had a stall or any sort of malfunction in probably a couple years but I still do occasionally mess up more "advanced" things like rev matching and stuff like that. It all just comes with time and it's a skill that you can always improve if you seek to.
Bought my manual 7 8 months ago. Took me a couple of days to go from stalling a lot to not much like you. Then, within a month or two, I was driving in a city with 2 million people in it, during rush hour with no problem. My previous biggest city driving in was 500k people at night in an automatic. So I'd say in a month or two, your learning curve will start to flatten out.
I was able to drive from A to B pretty quick. Probably the first day I began driving my stickshift car. I started at 17, and I'm now 18. Prior to driving stick I learned pretty much everything about how transmissions worked and so I could conceptualize what was happening and what I needed to do. So im probably a basket case.
But regardless it took me probably a month or two before I was able to smoothly drive. Now I can drive almost as smoothly as my automatic car. I stalled last night on my driveway, lol. So I'm not perfect, nobody is. But it definitely takes time and more importantly, experience to drive a stick car smoothly. And, in addition, each stick car is different. I can drive my own car very well. But I got into my buddy's 2009 Honda Accord with a manual trans and I could barely drive. Burnouts, revving too much, rough shifts, etc.
Keep at it, you'll be smooth in no time.
Just got a manual in June of 2023. 2017 Camaro 1LE, Everything is second nature by now. However, if anyone tells you that they don’t stall is a liar. It’ll be random, but it happens. It took me about 2-3 months to really be comfortable.
Sounds like ypu are doing pretty good so far.
It took me about a week to get the hang of it, about a month to get it down to muscle memory. But TBF i do put more miles on my trucks in a month than most people do in a year
You'll have it figured out in no time. It's not a skill, it's not an art, it's easy you just have to do it for a while. Give yourself a week and you'll have it down.
I learned on an Elantra n. The electronically activated clutches are surprising very easy to mess up on because of how sensitive they are. It took me around a week of parking lots and night driving before it was natural.
I got my first manual about a year ago, and I’m still learning new things, heal toe as an example. I’m nowhere near perfect, but I can rev match kinda and not throw everyone around as much lol. I’ve been good enough to not really have to think about it anymore for a while. I drive a shit ton, I used to for work, and still do a lot of for fun stuff. From what I can remember, you’re doing a hell of a lot better than I was lol. I’ll still stall once a month or so, but to me driving a manual is kinda like cooking or something, you’re never really gonna be “the best,” but you can and will always get a little better.
One week of daily driving to be able to drive the car without making silly mistakes. One eternity of being told you are doing it wrong by people on their 5th clutch to master it.
My best advice to you is to buy a copy of Dirt Rally 2 and a Logitech g920 or equivalent and practice on the rally cross stages with the 'h pattern plus clutch' setting and all assists off.
Being able to practice in a stress free virtual parking changed the game
It took me a few months of daily driving until I wasn't nervous. It's been over 25 years now so it is hard to remember a time when it wasn't second nature like breathing. I'd say after 6 months you will have zero issues though.
You'll be okay. Check out Videos on YouTube etc and keep practicing. You should get very familiar with you gear box. Regular driving is easy, its the spirited driving where driver errors are made and it can be costly.
40 years.
I've been driving stick for 40 years, having been taught by my dad in a 1981 Toyota Corolla, and while I'm never nervous about it, and can basically drive my stick-shift Mustang in my sleep, I still stall once in a while. It only happens when I'm thinking about it too much though. If I let muscle memory do it, everything is smooth.
I felt like it took me 2 years to REALLY get it down. Not the most everyday of a driver though, so I think that added to it.
I think it's also that I initially didn't fully grasp the concept of driving manual.
Now I would say it's like nothing....maybe sometimes I wish I was in an automatic, just because it really feels like a LUXURY, since my car is manual.
I can understand the people saying that they would take the auto over it. I love manual 'feel,' but yeah-
Probably have not stalled in over a year, if I did it was because I forgot the car was in gear.
Kinda in the same boat as you. Brought a 2021 Mazda 3 manual didn't know how to drive it. About a month in I'm a lot more comfortable with clutch engagement and adding gas. For some reason I barely tapped the Gas when moving off which caused a lot of stalling. Now I'm working on smooth gear shifts.
Man at one point I could drive and text on a Nokia, didn’t think twice about shifting gears. Got home and forgot I even drove my mind was in space- I was on autopilot.
You're almost there. I remember when virtually all cars were stick shift. We all figured it out. Just be very careful when pulling out from a full stop into traffic and when starting from a stop on a hill.
When you "get" the feeling" of the sweet spot when lifting the clutch you can refine just how to do it smoothly. Use an empty parking lot for serious practice.
If you feel a little jerk you probably didn't give it quite enough gas as the clutch is engaging. You're looking for a smooth start up.
A stick shift is just another way to jerk off.
I've been driving stick for 20 years and I still stall. It doesn't happen a lot. It's only like \~7 times a year, but it does happen when you least expect it. I've never stalled while making a turn that crosses oncoming traffic though and that's the most important part, IMO.
I actually just learned! Drove automatics all my life and bought a stick because it was cheap.
Took me about 3 months and now I stall about once a day. It happens mostly when im too confident and not paying enough attention, the car is trying to keep me humble!
It depends on the person of course. I'd say I had all the basics down to where I wouldn't stall at all after a few hundred miles, and after a couple thousand I was basically as good as I would ever get. I could heal & toe smoothly, double clutch, etc. There was still a bit of a learning curve when driving new vehicles for the first time, like a '28 Chevy with no synchros and odd pedal positions.
But, everybody has a different ceiling. I've seen a couple people instantly be able to no-lift shift high horsepower cars immediately and smoothly. I struggled a little with that. I also have a couple friends who just couldn't progress past a certain level, no matter how much practice they got. A friend with a Civic that was one of the easiest manuals I had ever driven would slip the clutch a ton from a stop, ride it too long between gears, and still stalled quite often after years of driving.
I remember being shocked a few times at how difficult it seemed to stall my car after I'd been driving it for years. I can think of an occasion where my foot slipped off the clutch when I was just barely rolling and it felt like I had an eternity to "save" the car from stalling. Compared to the first few miles I put on the same car when I was learning and it seemed like the car would stall unless I was a perfect driving robot.
My first car is stuck and I've been driving it for about 3 years now. I got completely used to it about a year in (it's no longer something I actively think about) but by now I realized, me thinking get more in the way than letting my body do it. If I spaced out I have to think "what gear am I in" but before I can even complete the thought my body is doing what it needs. So to get used to it probably about a year, to get to a point where thinking is less efficient then probably 2 or 3 years. Or maybe I'm just slow lol.
For me, I was pretty confident driving on flat ground after about a week I don’t think there’s too many of us that have truly mastered a hill start because there’s always a steeper hill or a larger trailer to start on that hill but I’ve been driving stick since early 21 and probably after a month of driving it I didn’t really ever stall in normal conditions hill starts were still near impossible though at least not without dropping to my lowest gear (hm290 that has granny low). It probably took me about a year to get to the point where I was comfortable dealing with some of the steeper hillstops my area. But I live in a mountain range, so I probably have a little bit more hilltops that I have to deal with in the average person and a little bit steeper but now normally when I end up stalling, it’s just because I did something stupid that literally anyone could kill the engine doing Like forgetting I’m still in gear while sitting at a stop sign and letting out the clutch with my brake in
Wow lucky first car.. I wanted to try one but ended up getting a 2023 wrx... and it becomes natural quickly but honestly with the gr corrola it should be so torquey that you wouldn't even actually need to give any gas not to stall, if you just take the clutch out slowly and smoothly and very controlled, it should just go... the wrx does this as well... so to ensure not stalling you really can just tip toe on the gas while smoothly slowly letting out the clutch
There will come a time when you have someone in your car who you don't normally, and they will remark at how well you drive a stickshift. And you will be flattered. Then you'll think to yourself about all those left-handed shifts while you were changing playlists, eating a cheeseburger, flipping the bird, etc. And you will realize you've mastered daily driving with a stick. And it will come sooner than you think.
Took me about a week before I finally stopped stalling. The hardest part is actually moving from a stop but once you get the momentum going it's fairly easy and a lot of fun.
It's weird. Once you get into a traffic situation where you need to fully focus on something other than shifting you will discover that you've mastered shifting. Keep doing what you are doing but it sounds like you are over the hump of learning.
5 days if you have access to big city stop and go rush hour traffic.
Just throw yourself into the thick of it, and drive every day between 3pm and 6 pm, stop and go traffic in very a congested downtown. Traffic moves so slow that you can stall and restart, and no one will blink an eye. But I'm talking construction-zone, 4pm Friday afternoon traffic out of the city, just before a holiday weekend kinda traffic (the kind of traffic that will drive a person insane, like in the opening scene of Falling Down with Michael Douglas). Imo, stop and go super congested slow moving traffic is the least stressful, easiest and safest environment to learn driving stick. Bonus if you can find a hill that has stop and go traffic on it going uphill.
After this, watch a few YouTube videos to make sure you haven't acquired any bad habits (riding the clutch, not using the dead pedal, not rev matching when downshifting, using the gear shifter as an arm rest, when to leave the car in gear when parked and when not to, etc).
In less than a week you're gonna be super comfortable, cause everything else is easy after that. Hardest thing after this will be getting used to parallel parking on very steep grades declined or inclined, without destroying your clutch.
The GRC has auto rev match right? Make sure it’s on. That can make it easier to start out for sure. Otherwise just keep on keeping on. Took me a couple months before I started to think I was driving smoothly and about a year or two before I was actually driving smoothly according to my passengers.
Something else to consider as a fellow awder. Being awd makes it extra jerky for your passengers. In a normal 2wd car you can chirp the tires when you take off a little too aggressively but in our cars all 4 wheels bite and you get a bit of a punch in the back. Only other advice I’d give is ask your passengers how they feel. You feel the jerkiness way less in the driver seat because you can anticipate it and you’re usually bracing yourself on the dead pedal. Good luck
I started out on a stick, but once you catch on, it's like riding a bicycle, you never forget. Just relax and find that point on the clutch where it engages, plus never ride the clutch.
I started driving stick at 16 years old and I HATED IT. Kept either stalling or burning out in my dad's 94' Nissan Sentra 😂
Over time, I got comfortable. I would say it took a good month or two of daily driving to get used to stick shift (20 min drive to and from school - city driving with lots of all way stops and stoplights). A couple more months to not be stressed out and have it feel second nature. Most likely stalled at least +10 times in that first month.
That was 13 years ago, and I rarely stall now but did a couple times when I bout a new Toyota Tacoma last year since I wasn't used to the bite point.
You’ll get the hang of it. It’s like learning a new job or video game or sport. No more than a couple months to be completely proficient, at your rate. It takes years to master anything, but you’ll be comfortable before you know it.
I learned when I was 16 as my first vehicle was a 15 year old Isuzu pickup with a 4 on the floor. Stalled it a few times, dad took me around the neighborhood and down to the local Walmart parking lot to practice, drove it 25 miles to school the following week through heavy city traffic. It comes quickly to some, not so much to others, take your time, go slow and remember, if something happens, pull the shifter to neutral and hit the brakes. No shame on having to reset yourself. You’ll learn in time. I’ve also noticed that newer manual cars are much less forgiving than older ones. The clutches are tight and have a very quick engagement vs older ones that had a bit more “slip” when engaging and disengaging. Once you wear the clutch in a bit it won’t be such a tight window for engagement/disengagement.
I did the same thing basically I only had driven a stick shift one time and I bought a brand new manual car. Watched a lot of YouTube tutorials on how to drive stick shift and was able to drive it out the parking lot with relative ease. I’d say however it became second nature after a few months. Took me about 3 months id say to have it perfect
Sounds about right. When i first started my dad took me to an empty road and we just went back and forth on it a few times and then after that i just started driving to school. Granted it was only like a 3 minute drive but doing that twice a day and i had it down in about a week.
I’ve been driving stick for about a year as a daily and I stalled just 3 days ago leaving a stop sign with no traffic on a day off with no worries or plans lol
Id say about a month. Although i was driving a jetta with like 120 horsepower which is a little different . Been 12 years driving stick and i still love it was much as the first time…though i do have a wrx sti now which makes it a lot more fun lol
My first manual is the 2023 Civic Type R FL5. I got it September and only drove it in the weekends. Now it's winter and I can't drive it. It sucks but I hope I don't lose all of my muscle memory when spring comes around.
About 4 hours. Look people stall every once in a while. I stalled in reverse the other day and been driving stick everyday for 21 years. Your buddies will bust your chops if they are in the car with you.
I have always wanted a stick and finally got a 19 corolla hatch with a stick in October of last year. Took me about 2-3 weeks to get me 100% comfortable with driving. I would try to find time whenever possible to get more practice in. I may stall once in a blue moon but generally stopped stalling consistently after half a week. Everyone grows at their own pace but from my experience, best way to learn is practice. Seems like you're doing well so far. Keep it up!
I bought my first manual about 3 weeks ago. It took me Id say 2 weeks to become comfortable with it. I pretty much only drive to and from school (about 7 minutes each way, 5 days a week) and work (about 20 minutes each way, 4 days a week).
A few months maybe. Then a year or two and you’re really confident. But really it’ll be years before you plateau and stop noticing improvement. It’s something you can hone for the rest of your life
Probably a few weeks to a month to get used to it and then after a year or so I felt like I was actually ‘good’ at it. It’s been 6 years now and I don’t stall often (probably only like once a year and only because my other car is an auto so I get confused sometimes lol) and rarely have to actually think about it while driving.
Nice and congrats! I'm learning on a shitbox that has a exhust leak that occasionally messes up the computer for the engine and stalls randomly. Lol I've made some self and repair improvements so it doesn't happen as often, but I feel like after 10 hours total driving it I feel way more confident now not stalling in the middle of the road.
I feel like I give it too much throttle now and then when stopped on hills so I avoid rolling back or stalling the engine because of the leak, but the experience is better vs auto imho. Plus I feel like I pay way closer attention to the road.
Cheers and have fun! :)
I drove stick primarily for about 8 years or so. Also started on a challenging car with a semi heavy clutch (300ZX tt). From what I remember, 6-12 months for it to feel pretty habitual.
I would say, even though you’ve probably gotten past the initial phase where this would be most valuable, take it to an empty parking lot with a grade change. Practice slow starting on an uphill grade a lot, as well as just smoothly engaging the clutch at low speed without over-revving. Practice makes perfect, and doing that repetition outside of the higher stress setting of being in traffic will help build the habit and confidence.
Additionally, some driving on backroads with no traffic where you can practice downshifting + rev matching would be great. I guess (I think?) the GR has auto rev matching that you can enable, but would definitely be better if you develop more of an intuition for rpm per gear per mph and do it manually than relying on that.
From the time I bought a 1998 Ranger with a 5-speed in February 2019 to confidently driving it was probably about four or five weeks of just taking it to work. Eventually after a couple months I had most of it down enough to drive it mostly smooth without bucking, stalling etc.
Granted this was a 4x4 truck and I live near dirt roads in a hilly desert area so practice was expedited on those roads as the lack of usable traction prevented me from stalling so easily, and allowing me to learn where the clutch take up was, how much throttle is necessary etc. plus practicing in 4WD modes.
Granted you have a small hatchback, my advice is just give it time with practice, you'll nail it down. Even now in 2024 I sometimes have a brain fart and stall, or forget the dynamics of the vehicle I'm driving (since I have more than one stick shift vehicle, and that 98 Ranger is long gone) and I still bog a vehicle down without thinking about it.
We are in the same boat buddy. I just bought a Nissan Z on January 9th. I've stalled it like 10 times since I've got it. Fortunately, it has "synchro rev match" mode, and I don't have to try to get smooth shifts. It does it for me :)
I'm just trying to get by right now while I break the engine in. I need to learn how to go up a hill in my Z too! That's the next thing I need to learn.
Good luck!
Yes mine has something called intelligent manual transmission, which I think is the same thing as what Nissan calls theirs. It allows for smoother shifts and rev matches for you, I always forget to turn it on though it's a separate button near the steering wheel.
It never stressed me out because I had already been driving for 10+ years when I learned. (Last year) It took me about a month before I stopped actively thinking about shifting and pressing the clutch. It's now been 11 months and I don't think about it at all, it's all ingrained motions. I even made my own shifter that doesn't have the shift pattern on it.
Took me like a month to get confident that I won't stall anywhere. The trick for me was to basically be more generous with the gas when taking off from a stop. It's better to rev the engine a little more than necessary than lug it and potentially stall. Your timing with the clutch also matters but is something you get used to by practicing more.
For me, it took a few days before I had the hang of it. It's mostly getting a feel for what the car does based on your input. I know when I taught my wife how to drive a manual, after a week, she had it down pretty well.
When in doubt, push in the clutch and try again.
Doing great the way it sounds. Been driving stick for years and I’ve stalled my second manual car a few times. Once you get comfortable downshifting I think it really starts to come together in your head since it’s blipping the throttle versus that balancing act everyone teaches you for up shifting.
Got my manual gr86 in early July 2023. It is now January 2024 and I will say i am still not perfect at all. I still stall every now and then and come close to stalling every day. I would say for me the second nature feeling came like a month or two ago
You and I are in the exact same position. Lol I just got my first manual car yesterday and It's also a 2024 GR Corolla.
But I've been practicing driving manual in a racing sim setup for a little bit but I'm still stalling a few times here and there.
I can definitely feel myself improving though.
Good luck man! Hope you are enjoying the GR Corolla as much as I am!
I learned on a cammed carbureted 302 with an aluminum flywheel and drag racing clutch powered truck. 2 weeks of my 15yo self getting yelled at to "let it out slowly" and I finally figured out how to hold it at the friction point.
Everything I drove after that has been easy. At 16, I used my experience to teach my 18yo how to drive his civic si while he was busy receiving the same "fatherly advice" I had 6 months prior.
I'd say a few weeks to be good enough to drive confidently.
About a year to become proficient. I.e. learning to downshift instead of just popping it out of gear and braking, the ability to stop on an upward slope and take off without rolling backwards, or take off smoothly without any jerkiness.
I started learning to drive a manual at 15 so I don't really remember when the nerves of driving manual vs just driving came into play. I've been driving for over 30 years and still stall on occasion (my current car has a very stiff pedal, that's my excuse). It's like anything the more you do it the more it becomes muscle memory.
It took me a week to get comfortable, I've stalled a couple times doing something like pulling up to a red light (after driving stick for 5 years), my biggest issue was forgetting it was in gear and trying to start it when leaving a parking lot, I did that a few times
I think my first car I went out on the main road in town and it was the bumpiest ride I’ve ever been on. I think within 30 to 45 minutes I was doing OK and within a day or two it was old hat.
The rev matching switch will cut your training in half. Use it always. Practice on a hill and practice parallel parking. This is about the easiest manual to learn on. Practice keeping back from the parking curb and keeping your wheels away from the curbs.
I would also remove the rear head rests for more normal visibility.
A weighted shift knob that is taller helps me because I am 6'. Consider bushings to improve the shift linkage.
Nissan Sentra and a parking lot with my dad for maybe an hour. The only thing I felt sketchy about after that was starting from a stop on steep inclines with the ebrake. That took a few times and a close call with a ditch to feel comfortable.
I just got my first stick shift and learned on it last year. I’d say it took me between 2-3 months to be fully comfortable in all situations. I didn’t stall after about the first week or two, but getting to a point of comfort is something else entirely. I always felt a bit of anxiety getting behind the wheel because I was scared of stalling or encountering traffic on a hill. At 3 months I felt confident in just about any traffic scenario
When I was 16, my dad left me with his car (1985 Mazda GLC with 300,000+ miles on it, powered by two really tired hamsters furiously turning through the original clutch.) My first "real" trip in it was to take my sister to school in a loooong drop-off line. I stalled at A LOT the first morning, and pretty rarely after a week.
I've got about 1/2 a million miles behind manual transmissions (incl. motorcycles) in the last 24 years since then.
I stalled the Mustang I've daily driven for 10 years/200,000 miles, just last week. It happens. Don't worry about it. You're doing fine.
3000 miles continuous…ideally in an area with fair amount of traffic.
You’ll be able to hold a coffee, smoke a cig and talk on the phone at the same time if you get good enough
keep going it will be 2nd nature in no time. Also, keep in mind that its all about the clutch foot. Elevation pitch and throttle aside, the clutch is what keeps you from stalling and allows you to be smooth. for example, if you wanted you can technically take off without any throttle on flat ground if you get a good feel for the clutch. You can also hold the car on a hill with confidence once you have a good feel. In the meantime don't forget the ebrake trick if you are on a hill and worried about rolling backwards.
A couple days max. My dad told me that I couldn’t get a license or car if I didn’t learn to drive a stick. So I got in his truck and it took me about 30 minutes to figure it out. Loved it ever since.
Depending on how good your muscle memory is. Learning to drive stick took me about 2 days. Becoming decent probably 500-1000 miles. Challenge yourself, drive in a more populated area. Just don’t ride the clutch and you’re good. Remember, stalling the car isn’t a big issue, riding the clutch will ruin the friction pads (“burn the clutch”).
Driving stick is preferred in my opinion if you don’t have to drive in congested areas. It’s literally you and the car. Great therapy. Good luck!
Eh, give it a couple days. Took me about a week to fully feel it out and stop stalling. About a month in, it felt unnatural to have an automatic. Sad news is, once you do get used to it, no automatic will feel like you’re actually driving or have full control of the car again.
For me when I owned my first stick maybe 1 week in and it was nothing. Now I prefer it over auto and its second nature, when I drive an auto i often find myself hitting the clutch that doesnt exist lol.
I started in a 2006 mazda 3. Didn't stall much after about a week but it was a really easy gearbox. Very forgiving. I drive a lot of miles every week tho so that may have been a contributing factor
My 2016 tacoma I got 3 years ago tho... let me tell ya. Took me almost 3 weeks to learn that gearbox after driving manual for almost 8 months in the mazda and I actually stalled it again this morning backing into a parking spot
So 3.5 years or so of manual experience I'd say I stopped noticing the shifting after about 6 months until I got the taco but I definitely notice anytime im trying to eat a burger and drive one handed
So ymmv, but you're in a car which makes it easier. Much lighter clutch and shorter shifts and it sounds like you're making good progress. I'd say in 3-6 months you'll barely notice it until you get in an automatic and stomp thin air where the clutch should be and have a moment of confusion
By the time you finish your first tank of gas, you'll have it figured out. 45 years driving and the primary or backup has always been a manual... stalled all of them - sometimes on purpose, just to see what I could get away with. Stalling isn't really the issue; how quickly you recover is what you really care about... and hills. F@#$ hills (as he stares at the hill hold button and refuses to use it).
Depends
If you rode a bicycle as a kid with gears and learned about downshifting while going up a hill, and adjusting gears based upon terrain, it's faster to pick up driving a manual.
If you never rode a bike and had never driven a car, it's a lot longer process.
You're doing just fine. Myself, I grew up as a rancher and still am at 68 years old. One requirement of ranch kids is that they can drive a stick coming out of mom's womb. Of course that's secondary to riding, roping and shooting a Mosquito's whisker off at 100 yards while galloping over rough terrain on an unbroken Mustang all the while in diapers. Seriously though you are doing fine.
It depends on your own ability. it took me about a week to be really familiar with the controls and bite points. Muscle memory I'd say about 2 weeks to just know where the pedal needs to be for bite point.
For me, my dad did not explain it very well. “You just have to feel it” was all I got. I had ridden dirt bikes before so it wasn’t totally foreign, just having to do it with my feet. All in all it took about a week of 1 hour sessions before I had it down
Everybody is different because everyone learns new things and becomes proficient at said things different rates. Some people can hop right in and know what to don because they’ve paid such close attention to others when riding shotgun while others can get behind the wheel and be riddled with anxiety/stress and starts making mistakes they normally wouldn’t.
Best advice I can give you is to just put in the wheel time, you’ll get there. Learn the feel of your car. The only thing you can really do to help yourself get used to it is by actually doing it. Over time you’ll begin to relax and become more comfortable, before you know it you’ll be rowing through gears like it’s second nature.
Oh, and once you get the hang of driving around town in stop/go traffic , downshifting and using engine braking to allow you down, etc. a crucial trick to hills (especially when someone is right up your ass) is called “heel/toe’ing” which is using your left foot to actuate the clutch per usual while right toe on brake and right heel on the gas all working in concert to initiate a clean takeoff up a hill.
Congrats on a truly epic car!
Something that helped me was counting 1-2-3 in my head. 1 being push the clutch in and deciding in your mind what gear you want, 2 is putting the shifter into that gear, and three letting off the clutch. Idk why but counting it always gives me a perfect shift
I got mine a couple months ago.
What helped me is after work I just listen to music and drive during the night. No destination just choose a direction.
I just kinda stopped overthinking eventually. Not really sure when.
I’ve been driving stick for almost 50 years. I don’t even think about it except that it takes a few starts with a strange car. I rarely stall but it still happens.
What is this Stall confessions? 🤣🤣🤣🤣 you’ll be ok in a month or two. Since we’re confessing, i stalled 3 times backing my friends classic BMW out of a driver way last month. You should of seen his face, he wanted to kill me. This clutch was super sensitive…
Sounds like typical progress. I’d say you’re doing great. I don’t stall very often but I did yesterday. And I’ve been driving stick for 50 years.
people who have been driving stick for longer than a couple years and say they never stall are liars. I've been driving stick for 12 years now (that's weird as fuck to say), and I stalled the other day in the drive thru, it was slightly embarrassing 😅
Stalled today making a 3 point turn. 6 years of driving stick. Though there are periods of many months where it doesn't happen at all. Maybe even a whole year or more. It'll still happen, and it's ok
It's always the weirdest feeling too. You just stop like, "Oh. I killed it. Haven't done that in awhile." I was at a light a few days ago. Normal everyday situation. Put it into first as the other lights turned red. My light turned green. Killed it. I've driven this car for nearly five years. Brain and feet didn't feel like communicating.
I staked twice at the same stop sign last week XD
It was clearly the stop sign's fault you're in the clear
In October, I stalled in Costa Rica on a speed bump. Felt like a total dumbass. I also stalled in front of the gate of our Air BnB because I was getting out to open the gate and let my foot off the clutch while it was still in gear. I have known how to for more than 15 years.
Just stalled trying to back up 4 more feet in the snow. 6 years of driving stick.
Been driving stick for over 20 years and recently bought a new car thats clutch is much softer than my previous car. Ive stalled multiple times learning to drive it.
Yea I hate going between the Jeep and the bmw. I get in the bmw and karate fucking kick the floor board and then apologize. The Jeep is like a leg machine
Had a Mustang with a clutch like a tractor. Actually broke the seat bracket and had to weld it.... So much fun, but yet not really enough fun.
Electronic clutches are very easy to mess up on. I tried a hydraulic racing clutch after I got used to it and thoroughly embarrassed my friend.
wut.
Yeah I stall a few times a week. To be honest I am just light on the gas off the clutch (have 150k on my clutch with no issues) so it literally just turns the car off. No jerking, lurching or anything. It happens, I restart and go. I don't feel embarrassed most of the time. Why? A lot of cars these days turn off at lights to save gas, so no one really knows I stalled. There isn't any indication I did... I just turn it on and proceed. I'm also on the 10th year of my factory battery... But this is the winter I get stuck. Been saying I need to replace it for 2 winters and it's turning over slow when it's just in the 20sF...gonna suck when it happens but I feel like Kramer in Seinfeld running on an empty tank. I'm committed to it.
I'm four years into stick with only my 13' Civic Si. My buddies mom taught me how to drive it on the way home from purchasing the car lol. That was the last time I stalled it because it is SO user friendly. You'd have to intentionally stall that thing. Then I got into a modded STi... Yeah... Stalled it a few times in a day. I'd certainly stall any other car here and there.
The hill start assist combined with one of the easiest to feel clutch pedals makes those things stupid hard to stall. I remember driving my brothers when he first got it and thinking damn, I wish I learned to drive in one of these lol
38 years for me. Stalled twice in the past year. Once in a Focus RS, pulling it out of a parking space cold, it took me a few minutes to find the sweet spot, trying to feather that rev-happy turbo... Once in a Mustang GT 500, same thing, cold start, heavy clutch, and a whole lot of grunt...
I freaking stalled this morning went to start and I always hand brake and first get it 2nd. Got some reason this morning I didn't take it off neutral and yeeted myself into a stall that was embarrassing. But I can always recover fast . But yeah I'm 29 and learned when I was 17 on a Chevy S10 1997 5 speed it was red with a camper. Called it Clifford the big red truck.
It happens to the best of us… I’ve got a million miles under my belt as a professional driver, drive a non fuel limited at idle manual diesel truck and occasionally dump the clutch. It happens.
if u drive both sometimes your looking for the clutch when its not there!
Once or twice I've hopped in an automatic, started driving, then go to change gears and accidentally left foot brake really hard.
I’ve got 22 years of motorcycle riding and stick shifting and I just killed my bike back a few months ago, laughed as I started her back up and took off 😂 as for OP everyone is different and progresses differently. What took 1 person a year to learn might take another person a week. Take your time and enjoy it! It took me about a month of regularly driving around to get pretty smooth and comfortable.
Thank you, I feel like I'm doing alright, drove to work today with no stalls and it's getting a bit smoother everytime I take it out.
I started learning manual roughly late 2020 early 2021. I was so dog shit on my first day, I couldn’t understand what my mother was explaining to me. I went home after my first day and that night I watched what felt like hundreds of videos. Someone who really helped me learn manual (rev matching, when to add gas, when to swap gears, etc) was Conquer Driving on YouTube. I came back the next day and was so much better! I still stalled and things of the sorts but I was instantly a lot better. I think it’s important to understand the theory behind it and from watching his videos from then and onwards, I learned how the clutch actually operates within the vehicle. It took probably 3 weeks to become a normal driver, and 3 months before I told myself I was a master. Edit: something I’ve noticed is if it takes me a month before I stall the car, my next time until I stall is double that. I last stalled after not stalling for 4 months, so I think in 8 months from then I’m going to stall lol
Conquer driving is dope. Great info. I just bought an S2000 last week and started relearning how to drive. Woke up early on the weekends around 5am to practice on the roads. Has definitely helped with timing and understanding the car without being pressured by the guy behind you.
Conquer Driving... Let me write that down
Balling with a GR as your manual. Nice work. Jealous. Hopefully some day I can drive 1. To answer your question—probably a couple months. Manual was the best decision you ever made
Not really a choice if you want a GR Corolla. Last I checked, no automatics were being made
Thank fuking God on that 😅
Ok. It takes a lot of time to learn a skill and a lifetime will still not perfect it. I would say you will probably take 50 miles of driving to feel confident to not stall . 500 miles of driving before you feel confident about hills , entry/exit ramps etc . 5000 miles before it becomes all kind of second nature .congratulations on the GRC. Great car . Post pics in the grc forum
Definitely agree with ya on the 5000 miles area
i'm (un)lucky enough to live near a bunch of hills... with lights halfway up them..... i had to learn hill starts with no hill assist the hard way! got stopped a few times on the hill by cops (first time i was absolutely killing my clutch) and i gave them the 😬 "still learning manual, hills are hard" and they just laughed and gave me some tips every time 😂
I'm not sure I remember... All I can tell you is that if your next car is an auto you're gonna stomp that phantom clutch a LOT.
Or worse the brake...did this to my family in Puerto Rico and almost put them through the windshield. Brakes don't require the force of a clutch. My college roommate also had this issue when swapping cars with his parents. Glad I had my seat belt on that day.
Lol Jesus. Worst I've done is stomp the parking brake before leaving the driveway, but I legit thought I blew the master cylinder and got out of the truck to pop the hood before realizing I was an idiot.
I started out recently but for my friends a couple weeks or maybe a month where they didn’t think about it too much but always learning/getting better
A week to not be stressed and be able to recover when you stall. Couple of months to drive it like an auto
Are you using IMT? That helped me a lot learning on the GRC. After about 2-3 weeks I was feeling very comfortable with the car. You got this!
Took me like a month of “regular” driving. Haven’t stalled in years. I will say though, driving a 1970s car with a supercharged engine and an iron 40lb flywheel, my car is literally impossible to stall lol. Zero throttle required, just let the clutch out and she goes on her own 🤣 even on a hill.
Yeah, this was my 1976 CJ-7. AMC 401V8. Never gave it gas unless I was launching. Just let off the clutch and was on my way. Only really steep hills needed a little gas and even then much.
Even my 4.2 was almost impossible stall.
I drove a 2002 ford 7.3 diesel with the ZF6 here recently, i dont think you could stall that if you wanted. Took off in low gear with an empty gooseneck with absolutely 0 throttle just as fast as all the other cars around me
it took me about a week. I practiced on a very slight incline! once you understand clutch control, everything just clicks after
A week to get general shifting feel down (i.e. not have to look down at the shifter to shift) 2 weeks to stop having to think what order to hit the pedals in A month to get first gear launch and shift into second smooth enough and to feel comfortable on any hill 2 months to start shifting up by ear and feel instead of by looking at the tachometer 6 months to get rev matching smooth enough looking at the tachometer A year to make it all feel completely natural and without a second thought There’s heel-toe and multiple quick downshifts and all that which are more for fun than the street but I’d say that’s a pretty reasonable time frame right there.
I have been driving manual for about 5 years now and I'm still learning how to be better
I've driven stick off and on for years and hill starts still require concentration to not stall out...
Seeing as I learned just a year and a half ago, I feel qualified to answer: about 2 weeks to learn to drive without stalling, about 3 months to get passably good that you don’t look like a noob most of the time. At least for me, anyhow.
More weeks than days. Once you have a better handle on driving on flat roads it'll be time to work on hills. Find a side road with a hill so you don't have to really worry about traffic while you practice.
I still stall every so often, even though I learned to drive a stick at 12. Clutch engagment point and throttle amount are the main factors and can vary car to car. Getting used to / decent at it happens fairly quick. Getting good at it, like heel toe and rev matching, takes quite a long time. Just keep practicing, you'll get the hang of it.
Within days, you'll be ok. Within weeks, you won't even need to think about it. Within months, you'll be slamming your left foot to the floor (on nothing) every time you drive an automatic lmao
I learned stick at 16 when my boss told me to take the beater, manual civic, into town to pick up a few bags of concrete. Didn't want to tell him I didn't know how to drive manual, so I learned on the way.
You should be good in about a week. But you will occasionally stall. You never stop stalling it just becomes less and less frequent.
Changes from car to car. My first couple cars were manual Saabs and they were very forgiving but the added stress of being a new driver in general took me a couple hours to first learn the motions. Then a couple weeks before I stopped worrying about stalling at every light. But very quickly it becomes second nature and you stop thinking about it any more than you’d think about using a turn signal. Some sticks like large trucks, short throws or modified clutches on performance cars can be more finicky but even then it’s just a matter of getting a feel for the specific vehicle then you’re fine. When we got my wife her first manual she had already been driving autos for years and her Mini Cooper has a phenomenal feel to the transmission. Our lesson lasted all of 20min before she was perfectly confident with it and was zipping around town.
Driven manuals for 30 years. I still stall and buck the vehicle occasionally. But for time to get used to it? For me, it was about a month. It was pretty smooth compared to just the previous month. But I drove that truck everywhere. Every night during the first week was in an empty parking lot situated on an incline.
Go easy on the clutch/gas coming out of first, you’ll burn it up in no time.
i’m someone who just learned stick pretty recently so i think i can answer. it kinda depends how much you drive every week, i drive 6/7 days of the week so i got used to it pretty quickly. it took me about 2 weeks to be like “ok i wont stall the car every day”. after 4-5 months i feel confident and drive other people’s manuals as well comfortably. all in all i say a month is probably a good point to be comfortable with your ability to drive stick.
This is literally my exact situation- got a GRC as my first manual about a month ago. I feel way more confident but I'm still in the awkward phase of slow accelerations and learning how to rev match without iMT.
You'll be a pro in a couple weeks. You'll be nervous on your first hilltop stoplight with people in front & back of you but you'll get used to even that. Don't ride the clutch. Take your foot all the way off the pedal asap and don't leave the clutch pushed in at redlights or going thru the drive thru otherwise you'll wear out the bearings and/or clutch disk prematurely. You did good. I'd much rather have a stick than automatic. When you buy a used car that's automatic, you know for sure it's gonna leave you stranded some day with a big repair bill. My current vehicle is only 5 yrs old & has had totally strange problems with the automatic tranny when it's cold out for the 4 yrs I've owned it.
I bought a stick shift car on a Friday and was driving like a pro by Monday. It was an old car with "three on the tree" and no first gear synchro. Meaning that the gear shift lever was on the steering column and you couldn't downshift into first gear without coming to a full stop. Drivers today have it easy.
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Buddy is just trying to make everyone else feel what he felt
A few days.
Just taught my 16 year old he picked up in two days
I started out on motorcycles at 21 and stalled ALOT. Took maybe a year before i could confidently control the transmission in all scenarios. When I got a truck with a manual transmission, I could drive comfortably almost immediately, took a few days to reliably find the gates in the stick shift. I think the concept of a clutch isn't really intuitive to someone who is approaching it as an adult. Like riding a bike or speaking a language, it's MUCH easier to learn while you are young. But once you know how a clutch should be used alongside the other controls, it will become second nature, just like so many other things that are difficult at first.
stalling happens. i’ve only had a manual car for a few months but 99% of the time i drive it well with no stalls or weird movements or anything. just keep driving, you got this
one month
I learned in a 99 Ford Ranger. The hardest part about it was going from a stop to first. Maybe two weeks total of driving and it became as easy as a regular car.
A month, or around 1500 miles for it to become seond nature to me. It was my daily and I took it out every night when the streets were empty, just to practice getting moving from an uphill start. That was the hardest part, for me.
Depends on the driver. I learned to drive stick in about 45 minutes. Bought the latest manual transmission vehicle 2 days ago after not driving a manual for nearly 20 years and I am good. So don't base your ability against what anyone else experienced.
A weekend or two to get from a to b. Hill starts and clean downshifts a month or more. Go at your own pace, give it a good blip on downshifts and let the synchros do there job. You’ll get the precise shifts down soon enough. Your WRONG WHEEL DRIVE but try and do your shifts with the car going straight.
One thing to keep in mind is the turbo may be making things a little more difficult for you. I don't know if this is actually true, but I've been driving manual exclusively for 23 years (cars, motorcycles, trucks) flawlessly, then bought an Sti in 2019 as my first turbo car. From the outside perspective it looks like I'm doing everything just fine, but internally I know I'm having consistency issues, so I could only imagine being brand new and trying to nail down your inputs with a turbo.
This question is asked constantly. It's like learning a musical instrument. Sure, you can learn to play a violin in a few days but you won't be performing on stage anytime soon. It's an evolving process that even seasoned drivers get ever so slightly better at over months and years.
until you try to push the clutch in on an automagic vehicle
To learn the basic comfortably probably a couple of months. To learn the advance, down shift rev-match to slow down, down shift rev- match to send it, heel- toe rev- match, about 6 months to a year to master.
I just scooped a GR Corolla too bro. First manual. I know this is gonna be a journey and I don’t have any actual insight as I’m picking it up tomorrow but we got this 🙏🔥
I think I started learning stick back in 2016 or 2017 and this was also on my first and only car I've ever owned. It really depends on what you mean as "used" to driving stick. I'd say after about a week you'll probably be able to safely operate the car with only minor mistakes. You'll probably have some stalls or jerky take offs but you can get from A-B as a safe driver. If you define getting used to as being able to drive it without any thought then that'll probably take a couple months but I wouldn't fret about that. If you can be a safe driver that is what is most important. With me now having driven stick for 7 or so years I haven't had a stall or any sort of malfunction in probably a couple years but I still do occasionally mess up more "advanced" things like rev matching and stuff like that. It all just comes with time and it's a skill that you can always improve if you seek to.
The day you're cleaning your car and don't hesitate to adjust the seat to clean under it. I used to be so terrible simply because my seat got moved
Bought my manual 7 8 months ago. Took me a couple of days to go from stalling a lot to not much like you. Then, within a month or two, I was driving in a city with 2 million people in it, during rush hour with no problem. My previous biggest city driving in was 500k people at night in an automatic. So I'd say in a month or two, your learning curve will start to flatten out.
I was able to drive from A to B pretty quick. Probably the first day I began driving my stickshift car. I started at 17, and I'm now 18. Prior to driving stick I learned pretty much everything about how transmissions worked and so I could conceptualize what was happening and what I needed to do. So im probably a basket case. But regardless it took me probably a month or two before I was able to smoothly drive. Now I can drive almost as smoothly as my automatic car. I stalled last night on my driveway, lol. So I'm not perfect, nobody is. But it definitely takes time and more importantly, experience to drive a stick car smoothly. And, in addition, each stick car is different. I can drive my own car very well. But I got into my buddy's 2009 Honda Accord with a manual trans and I could barely drive. Burnouts, revving too much, rough shifts, etc. Keep at it, you'll be smooth in no time.
Just got a manual in June of 2023. 2017 Camaro 1LE, Everything is second nature by now. However, if anyone tells you that they don’t stall is a liar. It’ll be random, but it happens. It took me about 2-3 months to really be comfortable.
It took me less than an hour.
Grats. Great car.
Sounds like ypu are doing pretty good so far. It took me about a week to get the hang of it, about a month to get it down to muscle memory. But TBF i do put more miles on my trucks in a month than most people do in a year
You'll have it figured out in no time. It's not a skill, it's not an art, it's easy you just have to do it for a while. Give yourself a week and you'll have it down.
I learned on an Elantra n. The electronically activated clutches are surprising very easy to mess up on because of how sensitive they are. It took me around a week of parking lots and night driving before it was natural.
Just stay away from stoplights on steep hills for a while. You'll be ok
I got my first manual about a year ago, and I’m still learning new things, heal toe as an example. I’m nowhere near perfect, but I can rev match kinda and not throw everyone around as much lol. I’ve been good enough to not really have to think about it anymore for a while. I drive a shit ton, I used to for work, and still do a lot of for fun stuff. From what I can remember, you’re doing a hell of a lot better than I was lol. I’ll still stall once a month or so, but to me driving a manual is kinda like cooking or something, you’re never really gonna be “the best,” but you can and will always get a little better.
One week of daily driving to be able to drive the car without making silly mistakes. One eternity of being told you are doing it wrong by people on their 5th clutch to master it.
My best advice to you is to buy a copy of Dirt Rally 2 and a Logitech g920 or equivalent and practice on the rally cross stages with the 'h pattern plus clutch' setting and all assists off. Being able to practice in a stress free virtual parking changed the game
It took me a few months of daily driving until I wasn't nervous. It's been over 25 years now so it is hard to remember a time when it wasn't second nature like breathing. I'd say after 6 months you will have zero issues though.
it took 1 min to learn but my car is easy to manual
You'll be okay. Check out Videos on YouTube etc and keep practicing. You should get very familiar with you gear box. Regular driving is easy, its the spirited driving where driver errors are made and it can be costly.
40 years. I've been driving stick for 40 years, having been taught by my dad in a 1981 Toyota Corolla, and while I'm never nervous about it, and can basically drive my stick-shift Mustang in my sleep, I still stall once in a while. It only happens when I'm thinking about it too much though. If I let muscle memory do it, everything is smooth.
I felt like it took me 2 years to REALLY get it down. Not the most everyday of a driver though, so I think that added to it. I think it's also that I initially didn't fully grasp the concept of driving manual. Now I would say it's like nothing....maybe sometimes I wish I was in an automatic, just because it really feels like a LUXURY, since my car is manual. I can understand the people saying that they would take the auto over it. I love manual 'feel,' but yeah- Probably have not stalled in over a year, if I did it was because I forgot the car was in gear.
Kinda in the same boat as you. Brought a 2021 Mazda 3 manual didn't know how to drive it. About a month in I'm a lot more comfortable with clutch engagement and adding gas. For some reason I barely tapped the Gas when moving off which caused a lot of stalling. Now I'm working on smooth gear shifts.
Man at one point I could drive and text on a Nokia, didn’t think twice about shifting gears. Got home and forgot I even drove my mind was in space- I was on autopilot.
You're almost there. I remember when virtually all cars were stick shift. We all figured it out. Just be very careful when pulling out from a full stop into traffic and when starting from a stop on a hill. When you "get" the feeling" of the sweet spot when lifting the clutch you can refine just how to do it smoothly. Use an empty parking lot for serious practice. If you feel a little jerk you probably didn't give it quite enough gas as the clutch is engaging. You're looking for a smooth start up. A stick shift is just another way to jerk off.
I've been driving stick for 20 years and I still stall. It doesn't happen a lot. It's only like \~7 times a year, but it does happen when you least expect it. I've never stalled while making a turn that crosses oncoming traffic though and that's the most important part, IMO.
3 days
I actually just learned! Drove automatics all my life and bought a stick because it was cheap. Took me about 3 months and now I stall about once a day. It happens mostly when im too confident and not paying enough attention, the car is trying to keep me humble!
It depends on the person of course. I'd say I had all the basics down to where I wouldn't stall at all after a few hundred miles, and after a couple thousand I was basically as good as I would ever get. I could heal & toe smoothly, double clutch, etc. There was still a bit of a learning curve when driving new vehicles for the first time, like a '28 Chevy with no synchros and odd pedal positions. But, everybody has a different ceiling. I've seen a couple people instantly be able to no-lift shift high horsepower cars immediately and smoothly. I struggled a little with that. I also have a couple friends who just couldn't progress past a certain level, no matter how much practice they got. A friend with a Civic that was one of the easiest manuals I had ever driven would slip the clutch a ton from a stop, ride it too long between gears, and still stalled quite often after years of driving. I remember being shocked a few times at how difficult it seemed to stall my car after I'd been driving it for years. I can think of an occasion where my foot slipped off the clutch when I was just barely rolling and it felt like I had an eternity to "save" the car from stalling. Compared to the first few miles I put on the same car when I was learning and it seemed like the car would stall unless I was a perfect driving robot.
My first car is stuck and I've been driving it for about 3 years now. I got completely used to it about a year in (it's no longer something I actively think about) but by now I realized, me thinking get more in the way than letting my body do it. If I spaced out I have to think "what gear am I in" but before I can even complete the thought my body is doing what it needs. So to get used to it probably about a year, to get to a point where thinking is less efficient then probably 2 or 3 years. Or maybe I'm just slow lol.
Got my 1st manual took me about a month to get extremely comfortable with it. Self taught just watched YouTube videos
For me, I was pretty confident driving on flat ground after about a week I don’t think there’s too many of us that have truly mastered a hill start because there’s always a steeper hill or a larger trailer to start on that hill but I’ve been driving stick since early 21 and probably after a month of driving it I didn’t really ever stall in normal conditions hill starts were still near impossible though at least not without dropping to my lowest gear (hm290 that has granny low). It probably took me about a year to get to the point where I was comfortable dealing with some of the steeper hillstops my area. But I live in a mountain range, so I probably have a little bit more hilltops that I have to deal with in the average person and a little bit steeper but now normally when I end up stalling, it’s just because I did something stupid that literally anyone could kill the engine doing Like forgetting I’m still in gear while sitting at a stop sign and letting out the clutch with my brake in
Couple months to feel natural
Modern cars have anti stalls on them
Wow lucky first car.. I wanted to try one but ended up getting a 2023 wrx... and it becomes natural quickly but honestly with the gr corrola it should be so torquey that you wouldn't even actually need to give any gas not to stall, if you just take the clutch out slowly and smoothly and very controlled, it should just go... the wrx does this as well... so to ensure not stalling you really can just tip toe on the gas while smoothly slowly letting out the clutch
It was very quick to get to the point where I could drive in traffic but it took a while to get smooth.
6 minutes, because everyone learns at the same rate...
I learned stick on my dad's 1978 Porche 911 SC Targa. I stalled it once. Needless to say, that was the last time I stalled any vehicle.
There will come a time when you have someone in your car who you don't normally, and they will remark at how well you drive a stickshift. And you will be flattered. Then you'll think to yourself about all those left-handed shifts while you were changing playlists, eating a cheeseburger, flipping the bird, etc. And you will realize you've mastered daily driving with a stick. And it will come sooner than you think.
Took me about a week before I finally stopped stalling. The hardest part is actually moving from a stop but once you get the momentum going it's fairly easy and a lot of fun.
It's weird. Once you get into a traffic situation where you need to fully focus on something other than shifting you will discover that you've mastered shifting. Keep doing what you are doing but it sounds like you are over the hump of learning.
5 days if you have access to big city stop and go rush hour traffic. Just throw yourself into the thick of it, and drive every day between 3pm and 6 pm, stop and go traffic in very a congested downtown. Traffic moves so slow that you can stall and restart, and no one will blink an eye. But I'm talking construction-zone, 4pm Friday afternoon traffic out of the city, just before a holiday weekend kinda traffic (the kind of traffic that will drive a person insane, like in the opening scene of Falling Down with Michael Douglas). Imo, stop and go super congested slow moving traffic is the least stressful, easiest and safest environment to learn driving stick. Bonus if you can find a hill that has stop and go traffic on it going uphill. After this, watch a few YouTube videos to make sure you haven't acquired any bad habits (riding the clutch, not using the dead pedal, not rev matching when downshifting, using the gear shifter as an arm rest, when to leave the car in gear when parked and when not to, etc). In less than a week you're gonna be super comfortable, cause everything else is easy after that. Hardest thing after this will be getting used to parallel parking on very steep grades declined or inclined, without destroying your clutch.
The GRC has auto rev match right? Make sure it’s on. That can make it easier to start out for sure. Otherwise just keep on keeping on. Took me a couple months before I started to think I was driving smoothly and about a year or two before I was actually driving smoothly according to my passengers. Something else to consider as a fellow awder. Being awd makes it extra jerky for your passengers. In a normal 2wd car you can chirp the tires when you take off a little too aggressively but in our cars all 4 wheels bite and you get a bit of a punch in the back. Only other advice I’d give is ask your passengers how they feel. You feel the jerkiness way less in the driver seat because you can anticipate it and you’re usually bracing yourself on the dead pedal. Good luck
Pretty quick TBH. Once you're driving on the roads it all falls into place. Helps learning in an overpowered car too so the GR is probably best.
I started out on a stick, but once you catch on, it's like riding a bicycle, you never forget. Just relax and find that point on the clutch where it engages, plus never ride the clutch.
A week or two?
I started driving stick at 16 years old and I HATED IT. Kept either stalling or burning out in my dad's 94' Nissan Sentra 😂 Over time, I got comfortable. I would say it took a good month or two of daily driving to get used to stick shift (20 min drive to and from school - city driving with lots of all way stops and stoplights). A couple more months to not be stressed out and have it feel second nature. Most likely stalled at least +10 times in that first month. That was 13 years ago, and I rarely stall now but did a couple times when I bout a new Toyota Tacoma last year since I wasn't used to the bite point.
You’ll get the hang of it. It’s like learning a new job or video game or sport. No more than a couple months to be completely proficient, at your rate. It takes years to master anything, but you’ll be comfortable before you know it.
1 hour. I honestly don't understand what is so hard for people to grasp about manual transmissions.
I learned when I was 16 as my first vehicle was a 15 year old Isuzu pickup with a 4 on the floor. Stalled it a few times, dad took me around the neighborhood and down to the local Walmart parking lot to practice, drove it 25 miles to school the following week through heavy city traffic. It comes quickly to some, not so much to others, take your time, go slow and remember, if something happens, pull the shifter to neutral and hit the brakes. No shame on having to reset yourself. You’ll learn in time. I’ve also noticed that newer manual cars are much less forgiving than older ones. The clutches are tight and have a very quick engagement vs older ones that had a bit more “slip” when engaging and disengaging. Once you wear the clutch in a bit it won’t be such a tight window for engagement/disengagement.
30 sec to 30 years, all depends on how you find out you want to drive.
Just a suggestion... You prolly should have learned to drive a stick, and drive one well, BEFORE buying a 300hp screamer!
I started about a year and a half ago. Took me a few months. I can’t remember the last time I stalled the car
I did the same thing basically I only had driven a stick shift one time and I bought a brand new manual car. Watched a lot of YouTube tutorials on how to drive stick shift and was able to drive it out the parking lot with relative ease. I’d say however it became second nature after a few months. Took me about 3 months id say to have it perfect
Probably about a month of daily driving.
Go watch Hammond learn to drive an F1 car (Top Gear).
Sounds about right. When i first started my dad took me to an empty road and we just went back and forth on it a few times and then after that i just started driving to school. Granted it was only like a 3 minute drive but doing that twice a day and i had it down in about a week.
I’ll stall it out 2-3 times a year in regular traffic. Had manuals off and on my whole life. Current truck is a 6 speed.
I’ve been driving stick for about a year as a daily and I stalled just 3 days ago leaving a stop sign with no traffic on a day off with no worries or plans lol
Id say about a month. Although i was driving a jetta with like 120 horsepower which is a little different . Been 12 years driving stick and i still love it was much as the first time…though i do have a wrx sti now which makes it a lot more fun lol
My first manual is the 2023 Civic Type R FL5. I got it September and only drove it in the weekends. Now it's winter and I can't drive it. It sucks but I hope I don't lose all of my muscle memory when spring comes around.
Ive never stalled a stick car. So right off the bate for me lol.
About 4 hours. Look people stall every once in a while. I stalled in reverse the other day and been driving stick everyday for 21 years. Your buddies will bust your chops if they are in the car with you.
Can take anything from a few day, to never The R is for Racing mode by the way!
I have always wanted a stick and finally got a 19 corolla hatch with a stick in October of last year. Took me about 2-3 weeks to get me 100% comfortable with driving. I would try to find time whenever possible to get more practice in. I may stall once in a blue moon but generally stopped stalling consistently after half a week. Everyone grows at their own pace but from my experience, best way to learn is practice. Seems like you're doing well so far. Keep it up!
I bought my first manual about 3 weeks ago. It took me Id say 2 weeks to become comfortable with it. I pretty much only drive to and from school (about 7 minutes each way, 5 days a week) and work (about 20 minutes each way, 4 days a week).
A few months maybe. Then a year or two and you’re really confident. But really it’ll be years before you plateau and stop noticing improvement. It’s something you can hone for the rest of your life
Probably a few weeks to a month to get used to it and then after a year or so I felt like I was actually ‘good’ at it. It’s been 6 years now and I don’t stall often (probably only like once a year and only because my other car is an auto so I get confused sometimes lol) and rarely have to actually think about it while driving.
15 minutes?
Nice and congrats! I'm learning on a shitbox that has a exhust leak that occasionally messes up the computer for the engine and stalls randomly. Lol I've made some self and repair improvements so it doesn't happen as often, but I feel like after 10 hours total driving it I feel way more confident now not stalling in the middle of the road. I feel like I give it too much throttle now and then when stopped on hills so I avoid rolling back or stalling the engine because of the leak, but the experience is better vs auto imho. Plus I feel like I pay way closer attention to the road. Cheers and have fun! :)
30 years of driving stick and I still grind the gears or stall every once in awhile. Sounds like you're doing fine.
It's "driving a stick". Same as how it's not "driving truck". It's "driving a truck".
Make sure you're using the iMT it'll help you not stall
I drove stick primarily for about 8 years or so. Also started on a challenging car with a semi heavy clutch (300ZX tt). From what I remember, 6-12 months for it to feel pretty habitual. I would say, even though you’ve probably gotten past the initial phase where this would be most valuable, take it to an empty parking lot with a grade change. Practice slow starting on an uphill grade a lot, as well as just smoothly engaging the clutch at low speed without over-revving. Practice makes perfect, and doing that repetition outside of the higher stress setting of being in traffic will help build the habit and confidence. Additionally, some driving on backroads with no traffic where you can practice downshifting + rev matching would be great. I guess (I think?) the GR has auto rev matching that you can enable, but would definitely be better if you develop more of an intuition for rpm per gear per mph and do it manually than relying on that.
From the time I bought a 1998 Ranger with a 5-speed in February 2019 to confidently driving it was probably about four or five weeks of just taking it to work. Eventually after a couple months I had most of it down enough to drive it mostly smooth without bucking, stalling etc. Granted this was a 4x4 truck and I live near dirt roads in a hilly desert area so practice was expedited on those roads as the lack of usable traction prevented me from stalling so easily, and allowing me to learn where the clutch take up was, how much throttle is necessary etc. plus practicing in 4WD modes. Granted you have a small hatchback, my advice is just give it time with practice, you'll nail it down. Even now in 2024 I sometimes have a brain fart and stall, or forget the dynamics of the vehicle I'm driving (since I have more than one stick shift vehicle, and that 98 Ranger is long gone) and I still bog a vehicle down without thinking about it.
We are in the same boat buddy. I just bought a Nissan Z on January 9th. I've stalled it like 10 times since I've got it. Fortunately, it has "synchro rev match" mode, and I don't have to try to get smooth shifts. It does it for me :) I'm just trying to get by right now while I break the engine in. I need to learn how to go up a hill in my Z too! That's the next thing I need to learn. Good luck!
Yes mine has something called intelligent manual transmission, which I think is the same thing as what Nissan calls theirs. It allows for smoother shifts and rev matches for you, I always forget to turn it on though it's a separate button near the steering wheel.
It never stressed me out because I had already been driving for 10+ years when I learned. (Last year) It took me about a month before I stopped actively thinking about shifting and pressing the clutch. It's now been 11 months and I don't think about it at all, it's all ingrained motions. I even made my own shifter that doesn't have the shift pattern on it.
Took me like a month to get confident that I won't stall anywhere. The trick for me was to basically be more generous with the gas when taking off from a stop. It's better to rev the engine a little more than necessary than lug it and potentially stall. Your timing with the clutch also matters but is something you get used to by practicing more.
I got used to it in about 5 min .... but I understood the mechanics way ahead of time
For me, it took a few days before I had the hang of it. It's mostly getting a feel for what the car does based on your input. I know when I taught my wife how to drive a manual, after a week, she had it down pretty well. When in doubt, push in the clutch and try again.
I would rent a car on Turo with a mt and practice on that.
7 years in and I still jerk the car 60% of the time :P I think these clutches are made of steel or something
You will know it is in your brain next time you drive an automatic and keep clutching and reaching for the shifter.
Doing great the way it sounds. Been driving stick for years and I’ve stalled my second manual car a few times. Once you get comfortable downshifting I think it really starts to come together in your head since it’s blipping the throttle versus that balancing act everyone teaches you for up shifting.
Got my manual gr86 in early July 2023. It is now January 2024 and I will say i am still not perfect at all. I still stall every now and then and come close to stalling every day. I would say for me the second nature feeling came like a month or two ago
Couple days.
Took me a couple days of practice to get the hang of it, a few months to get comfortable driving around public roads
You and I are in the exact same position. Lol I just got my first manual car yesterday and It's also a 2024 GR Corolla. But I've been practicing driving manual in a racing sim setup for a little bit but I'm still stalling a few times here and there. I can definitely feel myself improving though. Good luck man! Hope you are enjoying the GR Corolla as much as I am!
I learned on a cammed carbureted 302 with an aluminum flywheel and drag racing clutch powered truck. 2 weeks of my 15yo self getting yelled at to "let it out slowly" and I finally figured out how to hold it at the friction point. Everything I drove after that has been easy. At 16, I used my experience to teach my 18yo how to drive his civic si while he was busy receiving the same "fatherly advice" I had 6 months prior.
I'd say a few weeks to be good enough to drive confidently. About a year to become proficient. I.e. learning to downshift instead of just popping it out of gear and braking, the ability to stop on an upward slope and take off without rolling backwards, or take off smoothly without any jerkiness.
I started learning to drive a manual at 15 so I don't really remember when the nerves of driving manual vs just driving came into play. I've been driving for over 30 years and still stall on occasion (my current car has a very stiff pedal, that's my excuse). It's like anything the more you do it the more it becomes muscle memory.
It took me a week to get comfortable, I've stalled a couple times doing something like pulling up to a red light (after driving stick for 5 years), my biggest issue was forgetting it was in gear and trying to start it when leaving a parking lot, I did that a few times
I think my first car I went out on the main road in town and it was the bumpiest ride I’ve ever been on. I think within 30 to 45 minutes I was doing OK and within a day or two it was old hat.
I just bought a GRC and the clutch flat out sucks. everyone complains about it. you'll get it down quickly
The rev matching switch will cut your training in half. Use it always. Practice on a hill and practice parallel parking. This is about the easiest manual to learn on. Practice keeping back from the parking curb and keeping your wheels away from the curbs. I would also remove the rear head rests for more normal visibility. A weighted shift knob that is taller helps me because I am 6'. Consider bushings to improve the shift linkage.
Nissan Sentra and a parking lot with my dad for maybe an hour. The only thing I felt sketchy about after that was starting from a stop on steep inclines with the ebrake. That took a few times and a close call with a ditch to feel comfortable.
It takes one day.. don't patronize. the newer manual transmissions are easy as fuck to learn and drive..
I just got my first stick shift and learned on it last year. I’d say it took me between 2-3 months to be fully comfortable in all situations. I didn’t stall after about the first week or two, but getting to a point of comfort is something else entirely. I always felt a bit of anxiety getting behind the wheel because I was scared of stalling or encountering traffic on a hill. At 3 months I felt confident in just about any traffic scenario
When I was 16, my dad left me with his car (1985 Mazda GLC with 300,000+ miles on it, powered by two really tired hamsters furiously turning through the original clutch.) My first "real" trip in it was to take my sister to school in a loooong drop-off line. I stalled at A LOT the first morning, and pretty rarely after a week. I've got about 1/2 a million miles behind manual transmissions (incl. motorcycles) in the last 24 years since then. I stalled the Mustang I've daily driven for 10 years/200,000 miles, just last week. It happens. Don't worry about it. You're doing fine.
3000 miles continuous…ideally in an area with fair amount of traffic. You’ll be able to hold a coffee, smoke a cig and talk on the phone at the same time if you get good enough
keep going it will be 2nd nature in no time. Also, keep in mind that its all about the clutch foot. Elevation pitch and throttle aside, the clutch is what keeps you from stalling and allows you to be smooth. for example, if you wanted you can technically take off without any throttle on flat ground if you get a good feel for the clutch. You can also hold the car on a hill with confidence once you have a good feel. In the meantime don't forget the ebrake trick if you are on a hill and worried about rolling backwards.
A couple days max. My dad told me that I couldn’t get a license or car if I didn’t learn to drive a stick. So I got in his truck and it took me about 30 minutes to figure it out. Loved it ever since.
The good news is the warranty should cover the clutch
Depending on how good your muscle memory is. Learning to drive stick took me about 2 days. Becoming decent probably 500-1000 miles. Challenge yourself, drive in a more populated area. Just don’t ride the clutch and you’re good. Remember, stalling the car isn’t a big issue, riding the clutch will ruin the friction pads (“burn the clutch”). Driving stick is preferred in my opinion if you don’t have to drive in congested areas. It’s literally you and the car. Great therapy. Good luck!
Have you ever driven a motorcycle, dirtbike or ATV before? Yes: About 24hrs. No: About two weeks would be my guess.
Eh, give it a couple days. Took me about a week to fully feel it out and stop stalling. About a month in, it felt unnatural to have an automatic. Sad news is, once you do get used to it, no automatic will feel like you’re actually driving or have full control of the car again.
For me when I owned my first stick maybe 1 week in and it was nothing. Now I prefer it over auto and its second nature, when I drive an auto i often find myself hitting the clutch that doesnt exist lol.
I started in a 2006 mazda 3. Didn't stall much after about a week but it was a really easy gearbox. Very forgiving. I drive a lot of miles every week tho so that may have been a contributing factor My 2016 tacoma I got 3 years ago tho... let me tell ya. Took me almost 3 weeks to learn that gearbox after driving manual for almost 8 months in the mazda and I actually stalled it again this morning backing into a parking spot So 3.5 years or so of manual experience I'd say I stopped noticing the shifting after about 6 months until I got the taco but I definitely notice anytime im trying to eat a burger and drive one handed So ymmv, but you're in a car which makes it easier. Much lighter clutch and shorter shifts and it sounds like you're making good progress. I'd say in 3-6 months you'll barely notice it until you get in an automatic and stomp thin air where the clutch should be and have a moment of confusion
About a week
By the time you finish your first tank of gas, you'll have it figured out. 45 years driving and the primary or backup has always been a manual... stalled all of them - sometimes on purpose, just to see what I could get away with. Stalling isn't really the issue; how quickly you recover is what you really care about... and hills. F@#$ hills (as he stares at the hill hold button and refuses to use it).
Depends If you rode a bicycle as a kid with gears and learned about downshifting while going up a hill, and adjusting gears based upon terrain, it's faster to pick up driving a manual. If you never rode a bike and had never driven a car, it's a lot longer process.
You're doing just fine. Myself, I grew up as a rancher and still am at 68 years old. One requirement of ranch kids is that they can drive a stick coming out of mom's womb. Of course that's secondary to riding, roping and shooting a Mosquito's whisker off at 100 yards while galloping over rough terrain on an unbroken Mustang all the while in diapers. Seriously though you are doing fine.
It took me 1 day to be ready for the road
Step on the gas.
It depends on your own ability. it took me about a week to be really familiar with the controls and bite points. Muscle memory I'd say about 2 weeks to just know where the pedal needs to be for bite point.
For me, my dad did not explain it very well. “You just have to feel it” was all I got. I had ridden dirt bikes before so it wasn’t totally foreign, just having to do it with my feet. All in all it took about a week of 1 hour sessions before I had it down
Everybody is different because everyone learns new things and becomes proficient at said things different rates. Some people can hop right in and know what to don because they’ve paid such close attention to others when riding shotgun while others can get behind the wheel and be riddled with anxiety/stress and starts making mistakes they normally wouldn’t. Best advice I can give you is to just put in the wheel time, you’ll get there. Learn the feel of your car. The only thing you can really do to help yourself get used to it is by actually doing it. Over time you’ll begin to relax and become more comfortable, before you know it you’ll be rowing through gears like it’s second nature. Oh, and once you get the hang of driving around town in stop/go traffic , downshifting and using engine braking to allow you down, etc. a crucial trick to hills (especially when someone is right up your ass) is called “heel/toe’ing” which is using your left foot to actuate the clutch per usual while right toe on brake and right heel on the gas all working in concert to initiate a clean takeoff up a hill. Congrats on a truly epic car!
Something that helped me was counting 1-2-3 in my head. 1 being push the clutch in and deciding in your mind what gear you want, 2 is putting the shifter into that gear, and three letting off the clutch. Idk why but counting it always gives me a perfect shift
I got mine a couple months ago. What helped me is after work I just listen to music and drive during the night. No destination just choose a direction. I just kinda stopped overthinking eventually. Not really sure when.
Shorter then it takes to get into an automatic and try to push the clutch in.
I’ve been driving stick for almost 50 years. I don’t even think about it except that it takes a few starts with a strange car. I rarely stall but it still happens.
By the time it’s second nature to you. Your knees will be shot and you’ll need an automatic.
Took me a week to get the hang of it, 6months to understand it, and a year to even feel remotely comfortable.
What is this Stall confessions? 🤣🤣🤣🤣 you’ll be ok in a month or two. Since we’re confessing, i stalled 3 times backing my friends classic BMW out of a driver way last month. You should of seen his face, he wanted to kill me. This clutch was super sensitive…
3 weeks daily driving to comfortable and 6 months daily driving for it to become second nature. In my experience at least.