A few minutes to get the concept of the clutch pedal, the release point, and how to compensate with the gas pedal. Once you know that release point. The rest of it just takes a few hours to smooth it out.

Remember just enough gas is your friend. Reving while letting the clutch out is a waste.

 

On my first MT car it took me probably few days to get smooth shifts. My first real manual transmission drive was just a few months after getting my license and test driving a car at the dealership. To my suprise it never died on me but it was a jerky drive.

After you learn to shift smooth, learn double clutching, heal toe, clutchless shift(helpfull when the slave fails )

 

My shifting up through the gears has been pretty good but I found that if I have someone behind me I get sort of nervous and when I come to a stop will stall even though I can do it fine with no one behind me. I think my problem is that I just get too nervous.

I have been giving downshifting a try but alot of times I can do the first down shift pretty well if I have a lot of time and space but some times when I have to do it quickly I have to think what I am going to do and it takes too long and I just have to put it into neutral.

I really have to give race car drivers credit you really actually have to have quite a bit of skill to race and drive a MT.

 

Rememeber the main point is to know when the clutch will hold the car.

I live in SF.

I can let the clutch out up a hill and have a second or so before the car starts to bog and the car starts to roll back. That point where it starts to grab is key. Once you know that you should be less nervous.

 

Wow! never driven a manual! Do you not have a separate manual/automatic licence? In the uk, if you pass your test in an auto, you are not legally allowed to drive a manual.

The R is not the easiest manual either to be totally smooth with either.

Good advice so far - try to use verrry few revs to set off, a lot are not required. Experiment with different timings of upshift - some fast, some slow. Find the speed that the car/flywheel likes.

You will need to learn rev matching to get downchanges smooth (a blip of the throttle before re-engaging the clutch on downshifts) eventually. But dont worry about heel and toeing for a while and never bother double de clutching. Completely pointless.

 

actually I think the R is quite easy to drive for a manual- I've driven much more finicky cars/trucks. smoothness and confidence will come with a little time, just master the engage point of the clutch and understand what it's doing. Like others have said you can hold the car on hills/inclines if need be. Your nerves will settle with time if they bother you now. if you are stopping just toss the car in neutral, why downshift through the gears when unnecessary. That way you'll get use to picking the right gear if it turns out you only need to slow and not stop.

learning to drive on the R won't kill your clutch, don't worry about that. well, unless you totally suck, ride the clutch, drop it from high rpms many times in a row, and buck it like a bronco for a few weeks....

enjoy and congrats !

Wow! never driven a manual! Do you not have a separate manual/automatic licence? In the uk, if you pass your test in an auto, you are not legally allowed to drive a manual.

The R is not the easiest manual either to be totally smooth with either.

nope, our driver licensing in the states is pretty much a joke. wish proper instruction would be given, would make for better drivers on the road.

 

Go find a quiet uphill with decent incline to practice stopping and going on. Pray for your clutch.

 

learning to drive stick on an R - not sure what to think about that.

 

Sounds odd but go practice barefooted you will be able to feel the clutch engage much better once you have a feel for it that way the rest should be easy.

 

I think this is great advice, especially in our car. You've got a lot of advice to choose from here, but to combine this with something China mentioned, find a parking lot and practice doing some really low RPM starts in first. Feel the car start to engage and give it just enough gas to smoothly get into first. I think this will help you pinpoint the clutch release height (especially if barefoot) and get a really good feel for how much gas is enough without over-doing the RPMs. Then move to a slight incline, rinse, repeat.

Its not an easy clutch to master IMO, but is really nice to drive once you get it sorted out.

 

What's exactly hard about it? Be sure you're pressing the clutch all the way down.
Also, don't be afraid to use your handbrake when on a steep incline. Eventually you'll get it down to not using the handbrake, but it's not worth risking burnign the clutch

 

+1 exactly, I use the handbrake on steep inclines as well. I can get the car to launch properly, but it's tricky not to over rev and grind the clutch...

As for gear shifting, probably the most difficult for the beginner is to shift between 1st, 2nd and 3rd as it'll cause quite a bit of jerkiness on the R if you're not shifting at the right RPM or your letting go of the clutch too quickly. For 1st to 2nd gear, I usually shift right at 2000RPM, there's a soft spot there where the clutch smoothly engages the flywheel, any higher would cause some sort of hesitation and or lower the engine won't have enough power and it'll stutter or stall. For 2nd to 3rd, I usually shift just before 3K in normal city driving.

 

I learned manual first on a John Deere tractor then on a 1960 Willys jeep so when I started driving I was pretty decent
HOWEVER, I first learned that I wasn't (so hot) when I found myself on a steep hill with a redlight!
I pissed off a lot of people behind me as I did not know the handbrake trick and how to do that and I think it took me 15 minutes to finally get started again.
You learn by experience but an R is not the best car to do this on as you can fry the clutch... literally in one day!
If you can find a very large empty parking lot, say on a Sunday, go there and practice, practice, practice.

 

Awww you'll catch on. PRACTICE (on another car!) I drove a little around the farms at an early age, but I learned on an old International Scout when I was hired as a parts truck driver for NAPA. When one of the guys showed me the routes, I had a crash course in MT's. This part of Ohio is LOADED with hills.

 

I'm on par with atacamaR and JRL (skipped over a lot tho). I also learned on a John Deer tractor when I was a kid and I can tell you there is nothing left of that clutch! Other than that my R is the first stick I have not to mention I had driven various MT cars for about a combined 30 minutes over 8 years of driving. The first month I really worked on getting the kinks out, smoothing out my shifting and become more confident overall on all situations, hills, traffic, etc. Main thing I learned quickly about this car after some reading/common sense is never leave the clutch engaged at stoplights, you'll extend the life of the slave.

Every once in a while I still get slight bucking, but I think thats normal being the nature of the car. Give it some solid driving time getting comfy and slowly start working your way up the rev range in your shifts. When you can romp on it and have the ability to shift wherever you like your training will be complete my apprentice...

 

Lol, I drove my first MT ('82 Toyota 4x4) off the lot without any real prior instruction. I stalled it in the dealers lot when I went to drive off...stupid parking brake...the salesman was like "are you going to be OK? Yep, and off to the freeway and on home I went. Although my R is a GT, I've owned several other MT cars and driving them smoothly just takes time. I don't think you'll "grenade" anything by having some rough shifts as you work your way through the learning curve. FWIW

 

It took me about a week

My wife actually trained me on stick when I was 30 (God bless her) - Learned on a 5-Speed Mazda MX-3, which had a nice, smootch clutch and nice short throws on the shifter.

The R is our 3rd car with a Manual, and both my wife and I have found it to be one of the more difficult set-ups to adjust to. In particular, the clutch is non-linear (requires a lot of pedal force at first, and when you release it, it eases-out at first, and then the force gets stronger the farther you let it out). The 6-Speed "Space Ball" seems a bit stiff - but maybe there is some excess "play" in the travel. I noticed that my motor mount inserts (the rubber part) are cracked, this may make things move-around a bit, relative to the shift console.

As for learning, I found that it helped me to visualize (in simplified form) what is going-on inside the clutch mechanism. Picture two discs that can "rub" together:
-One connected to the Crank Shaft (Output) of your Engine
-One connected to the Input Shaft of your Transmission
-The Clutch Pedal controls the pressure between them
At a Stop, the disc connected to the Engine is spinning, while the other one is not moving.
When you want to start moving, you do not want to "slam" the two discs together - it will introduce a "shock" into the drivetrain.
If you let the pressure between them increase smoothly and gradually, they PURPOSELY "slip", until they both spin together at the same speed
When you shift, the discs/plates again are not at the same speed, and need to "slip" until the revs match, but the difference is not as pronounced. (It is usually easier to achieve smooth shifts between gears than when starting from a dead stop.)

With the Mazda, you could get clutch-packs that had weights built-in, where the centripetal force aided in clutch release and engagement - anybody know if similar is available for the "R"?

I'm certain that if I can get the hang of this, you can too (I'm an uncoordinated klutz)!

Hope this helps

 

Rev higher, especially in 1st gear, this will give the novice a smoother 1-2 shift (usually).

 

Definitely +1 on a Jeep. Thats what I learned on. Then I promptly forgot it. Next car I drove stick was the new M3. Surprisingly forgiving.

 

Honestly, each car has it's little quirks, so it'll take a bit getting used to each setup. When I first got the R, it was pretty nasty being a passenger, and took me about 2-3 weeks to really get used to it after driving everyday (I honestly don't drive that much per day and mostly highway, which is why it took longer)

 

I learned on my Mitsubi**** 3000GT (non turbo). My radio was broken and I think that helped a whole lot because it's easier to hear the engine and you get a better feel for how well your shifts are. I would recommend not listening to the radio when you drive alone and leaving the windows down. Another tip for learning clutch control is to, when nobody's behind you, start in 1st gear without giving it gas until it's fully into gear. Eventually, that will teach you exactly how the clutch feels and you'll know when and how to add gas for a smooth start every time.

 

For said driving with windows down, remove the resonator or get an exhaust ASAP. I could not hear my exhaust at all until I JRL'd it. With the TME now its oh so sweet.

 

I learned to drive stick on my R. Was an interesting experience to say the least. There's a LOT of info out there on the internet - most of it bad, but some good. It all came down to patience and practice - took me about 1 week to get the hang of it and about 2-3 months to get GOOD at it. Now its all second nature - I'm teaching my GF how to drive a stick. ::thumbup::

 

the 1-2 shift is a tricky one to make smooth no matter how long you have been driving manual cars.

 

Unless you're reving to 6000 rpms plus and dropping the clutch, a bit of hesitation at start up from a stop or holding the clutch on a hill won't destroy it.

 

Between the electronic throttle and lingering boost causing a delayed engine rev-down when closing the throttle I have to agree that the R is a little different and takes getting used to.

It is masterable though, you just have to get familiar with what throttle position and delays are required to get the RPMs exactly where you need them before re-engaging the clutch.

With the stock motor mounts and exhaust its pretty hard to get the feedback you need, either audibly or feel wise, to always get it right though.

Once I put the new mounts and exhaust in I find it easy as hell now because I can now better gauge everything and get the timing just right practially all the time.

 

I always blip the throttle when i switch the gears up (say from 4th to 3rd etc....) ... it sounds cool and there's no jerkiness. Besides, I figured out my car's sweet spot

 

I have usually found that when accelerating from a standstill, shifting from 1st to 2nd at 2000rpm and 2nd to 3rd at 2700rpm results in pretty smooth shifts. If you let the engine rev too high you're likely to get a lot of jerkiness. My problem is I have really big feet and my shoes sometimes get snagged up in the pedals.

 

Abosolutely incorrect
These cars shift the smoothest (lower gears) at about 4000 RPM

 

Ok I will test your theory on the way home.