How many like 6MT but cant drive stick?

phelan

I don't see an issue learning on a 370z. I do think that the SynchroRev option is a great training wheel, as you don't have jerky downshifts ruining your confidence. So I would probably try to learn manual on the 370 with SR option on, so you get used to how the car should be responding when you downshift. Then go out to a big ol' parking lot or unused stretch of road and practice with SR off.

I wish the US required driving skills tests to be taken in manual cars...

ct63084

Learning stick is easy all you need to do is be dedicated, I learned to drive a manual with my evo and its a hard car to learn stick on. The transmission is notchy the revs goes down really fast because of the AWD and 2nd and 3rd is always jerky unless you slowly let go of the clutch. It took me about a month to get used to it. It's going to be frustrating and embarrasing at first there where days were I wish I bought an automatic, hills is going to be hard at first I suggest get use to the clutch for at least two weeks before you try it out on hills. But man once you learn it you would have so much fun and you won't wanna drive automatics anymore, also suggest that you turn off the synchro rev when you are learning to help you learn how to properly upshift and downshift with the car. Other than that goodluck and don't let anybody bring you down for being a noobie on manual cause everyone has been in your position before.

Pheonix

Stick is all I've ever driven...and what amused me is when I came back from the first test drive the sales manager (not my salesman) actually tried to talk me out of the manual and into an automatic, using the argument that "it was faster". I'm sure the fact that its also more expensive had nothing to do with it.

jakoye

Why?

__________________
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.

Alexus

It's all a matter of preference in this day and age. The automatic will consistently outperform the manual on a day-to-day basis; no one I know can shift up or down faster than the Z's 7-speed automatic. Hell, I don't think Michael Schumacher can do it as smoothly, either.

Don't let anyone talk you into getting one or the other. Get what you want, or you will not be 100% satisfied in the long run. The so-called 'fun-factor' is non-existent for me in a manual transmission car. There's only so much more fun you can get out of rowing through gears. I'd much rather have both hands on the steering wheel and the pedal to the floor.

Oh, and definitely don't listen to those who need to row through gears to justify their manhood; they've already lost. Also, don't listen to those who say that real sports car have sticks. They obviously haven't spoken to F1 racers, Le Mans racers or even the Porsche or BMW auto-x'ers.

Also, I don't understand those that say people should learn to drive in manual transmission cars (or it being required). Matter-of-factly, ten or so years from now - with the evolution of dry-clutch automated manual trannies - manual cars will be a special-order at-cost option, at best. Ford PowerShift in the $15,000 Fiesta is only the beginning. SRM is effectively the beginning of the end for conventional manual transmissions.

The primitive need to row through gears is one that dies in the mid-thirties, believe me. By then, the need for a manual transmission car will be purely economical, not fun-based.

__________________
"The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his."
-General George S. Patton Jr., 1885-1945

billydsz

I got automatic because it's got the paddle shifters behind the steering wheel and I'm sorry but that's just very cool. Also did you know that you can downshift (to help braking or to take off faster) with the auto shiftknob still in D (using the paddles)? Another really cool feature. I drove a stick for years on my two Mustang GT's, and I do love the feel, but the auto tranny in the Z along with the ability to drive it in manual mode and be able to change gears on the fly while still in auto was the better option for me.