r/stickshift

In my country, it's rare to have a female driver that is confident on the road. (don't ask my why such an outdated mentality exists but l guess you have to blame the women holding traffic and the guys who think they're top notch for that). It's even rarer for a woman to be a 'skilled ' driver much less a manual one. My mom has been driving way before l was born and she ticks all the boxes.

I remember a few years ago, in my early teens, my mum and l were coming from a church located on the hill. She was driving a manual Hiace , the low top narrow ones, and it is a relatively low van. She was turning in the middle road and got stuck in a ditch on the slope.l don't know why that happened but she probably had a lot on her mind at the time. I don't 't know how many years l have to be able to pull it off but she did. This amazing woman rocked the vehicle back and forth (think of the bouncing bmw cars but doing it with going in gear and out) and got us out there. Something like that a auto couldn't have gotten out of that if it didn't have the "bouncy" mode; probably needed something to pull it too. It also helped that it was an awd. Wasn't interested in manual back then but that there still amazed me.

Edit from draft: I made this without realizing it was mother's day lol

So I decided to get a NC miata a few weeks ago, and most people online were saying if you are going to buy a sports car you should get a manual because its so much more fun and engaging etc. I figured if literally everyone was saying it well, it must be true, so I decided to make sure the one I got was a stick shift. It ends up I don't really like driving stick shift? For context I've been driving it for around two weeks which I'm aware isnt enough time to get great with it, but so far I'm just not messing with it. I have constant anxiety about stalling and rolling back even though I'm pretty good at not stalling on takeoffs, its hard for me to get a smooth take off without over revving or being jerky, and overall it really just feels like more work to get the same result I would have with an automatic. I don't know if I'm missing something about it but so far I dont see how it's supposed to be more fun, should I just sell it and get an Auto car instead or keep it for a while and see what happens?

I’ve been wondering do I park in first neutral second whatevs? I see a lot of first gear but also second and reverse plus or without handbrake.

Recently I’m introduced to stick shift, now I’m pretty used to, but yesterday I faced issue while driving in uphill traffic. It was a stiff uphill and with so much traffic, I was overwhelmed. How shall I drive on those condition?

Drive a 2011 civic si and I've been starting in 2nd gear the last couple of days. I feel like since my car is a six speed the time I'm in 1st is only for a second or two before I switch into 2nd. Finding that it's easier/smoother to start in 2nd than 1st, but is this damaging anything or bad practice to do?

I’ve been skipping 2nd gear in my 07 civic ex. Usually only during heavy traffic, is it worth it? Am I wasting a lot of gas doing this or something even worse? I shift at 3k usually when i do this and 3rd gear then puts me around 1k

EDIT: im not trying to drag race guys. Just keep up with the way autos are able to get up to speed limit (35 mph) thanks for all the friendly ish advice though

Someone lock this thread please 😅

Got quoted 2200 for a clutch job + machining flywheel. Their labour was 1300 for both. Clutch kit about 850 (sells on eBay for 350). I am basically paying them $500 for the warranty. It is a legit transmission shop so they know what they're doing. This is for a IS250 rwd. Does it seem in line?

Fwiw, I'm in an extremely high cost of living area and their labour was the cheapest I found. They'll let me bring my own parts, but 0 warranty on the job. What would you guys do?

What are some vehicles manual being offered abroad that you wish were here?

I was surprised that the Ford Transit and Hyundai Tucson had a manual gearbox for the UK, since I don't think any of them here offered that at all. Not that I can recall at least. I don't care much for the Transit but I can take the Tucson. I know if because the demand isn't there for the manuals as much, the government regulations, etc., but it would be nice to see manuals being offered.

*Note* I'm not advertising anyone to buy the vehicle in the link, sponsoring, etc.; I'm just use it as an example out a vehicle being offered with a manual.

I’m a decent manual driver and today in bumper to bumper highway traffic I came to a stop, my brain had an oopsie and forgot I was in first. Car stalled and it actually scared me but I found it pretty funny and amusing haha. I don’t remember the last time I stalled but I do remember how stressful it was when I was learning. I would go into full panic overdrive haha, but now, or today I simply restarted the car and went on with my day.

What’s the story of when you last stalled and where? How did you react?

I started driving stick yesterday and am currently still having some trouble with starting from a stop without excessively using the bite point. I know, feel and hear the RPM drop when I reach that point, but am I supposed to manage the throttle so that it stays at that 1500 mark?

My starts with this method have been fairly reliable but also occasionally clunky and always quite slow. Not to mention the car seems to idle at ~900 rpm and while I can get the car moving with just the clutch on an even or downward surface, even with a slight upwards incline it stalls very very quickly.

I also heard a noise when I was pulling the car to an uphill park, which sounded like a hissing noise. Could this be a vaccum issue with the clutch, or the flywheel or something? I'm just worried that it may be on it's way out already.

I've had others who drive manual regularly say that it feels just fine and they're very smooth with the car, so I doubt it's anything too technical, but I figured I would ask.

2013 Jetta, 2.0 N/A with 5 speed manual. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated </3

I'm looking for car preferably sporty and under 10k it's going to be my only car I am a broke college student and it needs to handle Canadian winters so any suggestions??

Hi fellow stickheads, I need some advice about my situation. I drive a SAAB 9-3 Aero (stage 1) with 190k kms/120k miles. I recently took it to a SAAB specialist in Sweden for suspension restoration and they didn't report anything about my clutch.

Yesterday I went to another SAAB specialist for alignment and the mechanic said that my clutch is slipping badly in all gears and I must drive very carefully. He then offered a clutch kit and quoted upwards of 10k sek / 1k usd.

I have tested for clutch slip before by accelerating from 40kmph in 4th gear and the RPM wasn't shooting up. When I did full throttle in 40 & 4th nothing happens for a couple of seconds and once the turbo is spooled then the RPM goes up and my car also speeds up.

After the diagnosis I contacted the first shop for a second opinion & retested for slipping in 4th and 5th. I think it's slipping a bit in 5th but it was nothing weird in 4th. Only concerning thing is I can smell something nasty after I finish the drive when I tested the clutch.

Can anyone give some advice?

Tldr: Shop 1 didn't report bad clutch, shop 2 says clutch is slipping in all gears. RPM not shooting up when accelerating from 40kmph in 4th, speed goes up and rpm goes up after turbo is spooled. Burning smell after stopping the car. Need help!

Note : I'm going on a roadtrip tomorrow and want some affirmation that it's safe to drive..

I drive a Challenger RT manual. Still relatively new to stick, but it's coming along great. I was having a bit of fun in sport mode today and decided to do a little pull; I hit about 4500 rpm in 1st, clutched-in to shift to 2nd, but when I went back on throttle, the revs shot into the redline around 6200...

My dumbass was too gingerly with the shift and went to neutral instead of 2nd. Kind of freaked me out to hear the engine rev that high. After realizing what I did wrong, I put it back in the appropriate gear and carried on my way.

The car didn't make any other noise other than the screaming high revs, but out of ignorance I'm wonder if I may have done any damage?

Newbie here. So when I downshift by slowly releasing the clutch, it lugs. Is there a way downshift smoother without rev matching?