[dSpotter]

My Indi Blue Cooper S is on the boat and will be arriving soon and this will be my first manual car. I was wondering what tips y'll could give me on driving with a manual, all my other cars have been auto's . Thanks in advanced!

Derrick

[COOPERation]

Find a friend that is willing to let you learn on their manual....you don't want to be thrashing gears on a new car...or perhaps rent a manual...good luck!

[Antranik]

Quote:

Originally posted by dSpotter
My Indi Blue Cooper S is on the boat and will be arriving soon and this will be my first manual car. I was wondering what tips y'll could give me on driving with a manual, all my other cars have been auto's . Thanks in advanced!

Derrick

I'm in the same situation as you :-) Here's a site that was a good read about it.
http://www.epinions.com/content_2037555332

There is only so much one can read about the subject though, very quickly other articles become repetitive. You can't really get it until you get in the actual driver seat and try to get the car going, but at least you can have an idea of what's happening before hand! i can't wait to practice! my friend is allowing me to practice on her car!

I second what cooperation said, learn on a crappy car. I learned on an old mazda truck. Once you stop grinding, finish learning on the mini.

-Andrew

[COOPERation]

Quote:

Originally posted by L8 Apex
I second what cooperation said, learn on a crappy car. I learned on an old mazda truck. Once you stop grinding, finish learning on the mini.
-Andrew

OK...I really didn't want to have to say it, but....find a friend with a crappy car.....

OK, I said it...

[Gas O]

I was in the same situation as you. I ordered my S before I even knew how to drive stick figuring I could learn beforehand at some course or something. However, I couldn't find a school so I just practiced in my car even though it was an automatic. I read the instructions on how to drive a stick shift and then everyday I went to work I pretended that my automatic was a manual, stepping down with my left foot and slightly moving the automatic shifter to whichever gear I wanted to be in (sometimes it would slip into neutral oops!). Granted it's not exactly the same thing, but I learned the motions so when the time came to actually drive a stickshift, my learning curve was that much greater. It's been about a month now and I hardly stall and I have never grinded the gears...yet Now I'm trying to learn heel/toe

[oldnell]

Quote:

Originally posted by Gas O
Granted it's not exactly the same thing, but I learned the motions so when the time came to actually drive a stickshift, my learning curve was that much greater.

Ummm. Are you sure you weren't trying to reduce your learning curve?

[Damo]

In my opinion (and no doubt I'll get flamed for this) If you haven't passed a test in a manual car then you shouldn't be driving one.

In England if you pass your driving test in an Auto then you aren't allowed to drive a Manual on public roads. This is for very good reasons!

Get some lessons from a qualified instructor at the least!

I know this will be an unpopular view but there are to many bad drivers on the road who can't drive auto's let aloan a Manual!

Just my opinion though.

As for tips, yes do practice in someones crappy car No use ruining a perfectly good clutch on your Cooper S when you can ruin someone elses

[Grinder]

I learned to drive on the M5, and still haven't ground the gears yet!! Thats more than I can say for my dad, who did it just the other day when we were driving!! My friend learned on his uncle's Viper, and seemed to have no problems (except with letting up on the throttle...)

Just be careful!

[Damo]

Quote:

Originally posted by Grinder
I learned to drive on the M5, and still haven't ground the gears yet!! Thats more than I can say for my dad, who did it just the other day when we were driving!! My friend learned on his uncle's Viper, and seemed to have no problems (except with letting up on the throttle...)

Just be careful!

Its not the gears so much as the clutch, and control of the vehicle (god I sound old )

[Logan5]

Here are some tips that helped me back when I was learning to drive a stick shift:

1: Don't worry about grinding gears. You'll only grind a gear if you try to shift without pushing in the clutch pedal. It's not like the old days where you have to double clutch. Don't stress out about that.

2: Keep the RPMs up when starting off in 1st and reverse. Now, I'm not saying rev it up to 5000 rpms... I'm talking, keep it up between 1500 and 2000 rpms... this is when you want to ease the clutch out a little slower. This is important. If you don't give it enough gas, you stall the car as you engage the clutch and put a load on the engine. So, keep the RPMs up. You'll feel/hear it begin to starve. If you hear that, just give it a little more gas.

3: Don't ride the clutch. What this means is never, ever leave your foot on the clutch pedal when you're not actively using it. This is bad, bad, bad. You'll do more damage to your clutch by riding it then almost anything else.

4: Don't stress out about hills. Practise using your e-brake on hills. I drive the hills in Seattle, and they're STEEP! You don't have to worry about it if you know how to use your e-brake. Use your e-brake. DON'T RIDE THE CLUTCH. This is an incredibly bad habit to get into.

5: Start in a parking lot. Go to the local High School or better yet, the Mall after they close (they've usually got nice big parking lots), and they're usually flat. Practice starting and stopping, backing up, and shifting.

Anyway, good luck.

"In my opinion (and no doubt I'll get flamed for this) If you haven't passed a test in a manual car then you shouldn't be driving one."
I don't agree with this I learned on an auto, and then learned how to drive a manual. If you try to do it all at once, it is a little overwhelming. After a couple of times driving a stick, you'll be quite compitant at it and it won't matter.

Damo, I know you are just trying to prevent accidents, but I don't think learning on a stick is going to be a big source of these...now if we could only get a law passed against stupid people driving, that would save some time and frustration.

-Andrew

[chiph]

Quote:

Originally posted by L8 Apex
"In my opinion (and no doubt I'll get flamed for this) If you haven't passed a test in a manual car then you shouldn't be driving one."
I don't agree with this I learned on an auto, and then learned how to drive a manual. If you try to do it all at once, it is a little overwhelming. After a couple of times driving a stick, you'll be quite compitant at it and it won't matter.

Damo, I know you are just trying to prevent accidents, but I don't think learning on a stick is going to be a big source of these...now if we could only get a law passed against stupid people driving, that would save some time and frustration.

-Andrew

L8 Apex -
The UK has a different licensing scheme than the US. Their license is endorsed for a particular type of transmission. If they test on an auto, that's all their license allows them to drive.

Chip H.

BTW: I'm with you on the stupid people. Some idiot in a Chrysler parked 8" away from my door tonight, and I had to roll the windows down with the remote, put it in neutral and push it out of the parking spot before I could get in. I should carry a pair of wire cutters (to use on their valve stems) for situations like this.

[Antranik]

Quote:

Originally posted by Damo

As for tips, yes do practice in someones crappy car No use ruining a perfectly good clutch on your Cooper S when you can ruin someone elses

For those that are going to be learning mostly off their own cooper (probably i am too), i talked to the dealer about this and he said don't worry about the clutch, if it's wearing before the warranty is up we will replace it no problem. I don't know how good their service is down the line but at least that is available.

[Gas O]

Quote:

Originally posted by oldnell


Ummm. Are you sure you weren't trying to reduce your learning curve?

Ahh yes. Reduce the learning curve. I guess I meant I learned at a greater rate.

[BruceK]

Quote:

Originally posted by Logan5
...4: Don't stress out about hills. Practise using your e-brake on hills. I drive the hills in Seattle, and they're STEEP! You don't have to worry about it if you know how to use your e-brake. Use your e-brake. DON'T RIDE THE CLUTCH. This is an incredibly bad habit to get into....

Good advice from Logan5, but let me clarify what he means in the section above. First off, the 'e-brake' means the handbrake between the seats.

Starting off on a hill, at rest, your right foot will of course be on the brake pedal holding the car from rolling backward and your left foot will be depressing the clutch pedal to the floor, and the gear lever will be in 1st gear.

The technique is to then pull up on the handbrake until it alone is holding the car on the hill. (But keep your thumb over the handbrake release button so it does not ratchet and lock as you’re going to want to be able to smoothly release this brake in a second or so) Next you test that the handbrake is holding the car on the hill by tentatively removing your right foot from the brake. Good, the car is now held in place by your right hand pulling up on the hand brake with your thumb holding the button in.

Now move your right foot to the accelerator and gently bring the revs up to, say about 2,000 or so. Then gently start lifting your left foot up until you feel the clutch starting to ‘grab’, slightly affecting the engine revs. Now here comes the somewhat tricky coordination part (you will have already practiced extensively starting from a stop on level ground before hitting the hills).

Now is when the use of the handbrake will begin making some sense. You’ll need to use your level ground starting experience of matching revs and clutch, but now you must coordinate it with the handbrake. This is because at the same time as the car wants to begin to move forward, you will begin releasing the handbrake slowly enough to prevent the car rolling backward, but quickly enough to allow the car to move forward without stalling the engine. Get it just right and you’ll have a smooth start no matter how steep the hill. Get it wrong and at worst you’ve stalled the car – but it won’t be rolling backwards due to your pull on the handbrake. Regroup and start again.

It sounds very tricky, but it really takes the stress out of starting on a hill (which is the thing that really freaks out new manual transmission drivers).

[P.Phresh]

Don't stress out with all these instructions, the car is forgiving and it really is simple to learn. I have learned to drive manual in a boxster and that's a difficult clutch. The MINI, however, is smooth and light. A few things to remember:

You'll never stall as long as your clutch is in. So, if you feel you're about to stall... you'll feel the car start to jitter... push in the clutch. No worries, just start over again.

I just taught my friend how to drive in my car, and he did really well with these instructions:

From a stop, push in the clutch, put it in first gear. Lift up on the clutch slowly. Once you feel the car begin to roll slowly. Hold the clutch at that position, don't lift up and don't push down. Then step on the gas lightly until the car begins to roll more and then slowly lift up on the clutch while pressing on the gas. At this time you should have the clutch fully released.

I learned this way, and taught three other people this way and they all say it was much easier this way than any other way they've learned. You can use these instructitons as a general rule for most manuals and the rest of teh gears.

Before you start, try to familiarize yourself with the gearbox and the clutch travel.

[Logan5]

Thanks, Bruce. You explained it way better than I could have. It's one of those things that's relatively easy to demonstrate, but very difficult to articulate. It takes some practice, but is a very useful skill to learn! Also, there's nothing that says you can't practice this in the parking lot, too. You don't have to be on a hill to get the coordination down.

The most important thing to remember is to relax. If you're hyperventilating and stressing out, you won't be at your best. I've taught several people to drive a stick shift, a few that vowed they could never learn.

Personally, I look at driving a stick shift as the closest to the true spirit of Zen that I'll ever get... definitely worth learning!

[dSpotter]

Thank you everybody for all the tips and advice!

Antranik, thanks for a great link made a great read.

I just asked a friend that has a manual, and is willing to help me How long did it take everybody to get "comfortable" driving a manual?

Luckily here in Texas (this part anyways), there are like no hills flat as board, but I'll definitely need to practice on a incline or that one time that I am on a hill I'll be rolling back down it

Ok, this is probably a stupid question, but when I looked at the gearshift knob the reverse is next to 1st gear. Is there any resistence to putting it in reverse? I know I'll find out when I learn in my friends car but was curious. I don't want to be putting it in reverse by accident

[BruceK]

Quote:

Originally posted by dSpotter
....Ok, this is probably a stupid question, but when I looked at the gearshift knob the reverse is next to 1st gear. Is there any resistence to putting it in reverse? I know I'll find out when I learn in my friends car but was curious. I don't want to be putting it in reverse by accident

Yes, reverse is spring-loaded, you have to overcome resistance to get it reverse gear, but it just slides right into 1st gear. If you are unsure how to ensure you are selecting first gear, put the lever in 2nd gear and then move straight forward (clutch pedal to the floor of course during this).