How many like 6MT but cant drive stick?
 

Hey all. I'm still driving my 02' Civic auto. I want to get a base/sports/6MT in black (or red) but i've yet to learn how to drive stick. Anyone else here own or plan on gettin a Z as their first manual transmission car? Are you concerned you'll mess the tranny up? I'd prolly get an auto if it weren't for the syncro rev match lol. Please share your story with me. :)

right now im driving a red 05 rsx base auto and im planning to get a black or white 370z base manual with sport package sometime the end of this year. ive never driven a manual car before but i know how to do it. im not afraid of messing up the tranny. i think i heard somewhere the 370z is probably one of the easiest cars to learn manual. correct me if im wrong haha. i think i might stall out like twice haha. i have friends that let me borrow their cars so i can practice manual. but i dont want to use their cars cause that means ill have to let them use my car and i dont want that. i dont like other people driving my car. im scared they might mess something up or scratch my car or get in an accident haha.

I taught myself on a 96 240sx after years of dirtbikes and 4wheelers. Eventually I got a 350z. I thought this car was very easy to drive. So easy I made my friend who didnt drive manual ever take it out one night with me . He only stalled 2x which I thought was great. Z IMO is a good car to learn on. Dont worry about it, you will be ok.

Do not be afraid. Driving a stick is like anything else: with practice, you will get the hang of it.
Provided, you should have learned to drive a manual before even setting foot in an automatic car's driver's seat :P
I'd try to borrow someone's car (i.e. family member, friend, neighbor you don't like) and practice on their car before dropping 30-40k on something you might not enjoy or be comfortable driving.

Hmm, I'm a huge sportbike enthusiast so I know how to operate a manual transmission but I've only driven a manual transmission car a few times when I was in the desert. :S

I learned manual on my 370z. Your left foot does not have clutch skills at first. Its reflexes that you develop slowly as you go along.

Only way i can really say it is you have to learn how to "caress" the clutch with your left foot.

I have owned the car for a total of 7 Months now, only thing that bothers me still becuase i dont get much practise on is hills. The skill to start slowly up a hill with out jerking foward fast, and then being able to stop smoothly 5 feet after intial movement. I can do it all jerky and jacked up but i want to do it with out rolling or being smooth.

The last thing is, even though I learned how to drive manual, I only know syncro rev. I turn it off and all my shifts are jerky and not smooth. Part of me is saying i should learn with out it, part of me is saying why bother.

Driving a 6spd is not too difficult.I learned years ago on a 5spd, and have never forgotten since. Are you going to track the car, or modify it?

I'm going with th 7spd, because I do a lot of in town driving, and with manuals being so easy these days, its merely a choice of personal preference..

I'm still more for the 6spd for the control, but with autos these days, its getting better for the enthusiast.

I see the next upgrade being DC in future models.

Driving a manual is not difficult once you know what you're doing. Having read how to do it does NOT mean you know how though. The first time you try for real, you'll butcher your car. With time, yes, you'll figure it out. The 370Z isn't the easiest to learn on, but it's doable. An easy car would be a low HP clunker...some kind of budget priced car that comes in a manual solely because it's the cheapest option. Those types of cars will be forgiving with the clutch release and with over-revving. With the 370Z, you can get yourself into some trouble with 332hp and a clumsy pair of feet.

If I had a new 370 and didn't know how to drive manual, I'd go rent a POS manual transmission car for a day and learn on that. 1) it will be cheaper than tranny damage on your 370 and 2) you won't cringe every time you grind a gear or stall.

Learning to drive a stick is really easy IMO. You should pick it up quick. Once you understand the mechanics of it, you just have to do it. I pretty much taught myself on the fly when I borrowed a friends car in highschool lol way back when...

If you do decide to learn to drive stick on the 370z, I would advise doing it with SynchroRev off. Otherwise, its like learning half a skillset for a job...which just won't do.

Not to mention, what will you do if/when you drive a stick car that isn't a 370z? Best to leave the potential embarrassing occurences at home. :p

I learned how to drive manual on my RSX. I remember trying to drive it off the dealer's lot the day I got. Yeah that was a big fail, it was harder than I thought it would be. my dad ended up taking over and showing me the basics. I drove around the block w/ my dad and picked it up decently, or so I thought. The drive home from my dad's was the worst, out of 18 traffic lights 17 of them were red lights... just my luck. I ended up stalling 4-5 times.

Once I got to my apt complex, there's a slight incline at the gate... I stalled the car as soon as I entered in the gate code and I guess I kinda panicked cause I could not get it to move without stalling. At the time I was afraid to give it any gas while the clutch was up so I would pick up the clutch too fast and stall it out (since it would start rolling back). cars behind me started building up and honking lol. luckily my neighbor was one of the cars behind me and saw the paper plates, so he assumed i was just learning how to drive manual. I had to have him drive the car into my complex for me :facepalm:. it was pretty embarassing. that same night I went to an empty parking lot and practiced. Weeks later I had no problems, even on hills. It'll just take a while for your shifts to get smooth once you learn the coordination and feel of the clutch. be patient.

I bought my new Mustang GT without ever having driven stick before. We signed the papers and had the salesman drop me off in a parking lot with the car. I figured it out and drove home. :)

Wow thanks for all the great information guys. I'll definately go with a stick. I recently went for a test drive and brought my mom (luv my mamma!) along with me. I was too nervous to drive a stick Z so I let her take me out for a spin in it lol. First of all, I was shocked she could drive a stick. Secondly, while we took it for a spin around the block we stopped at a couple of red lights. She stalled the thing out twice lol. It made me wonder if stalling the car does any damage to it?

hmm, I been driving auto all my life up until recently bought a 2008 350z fully loaded Manual Trans. Most my friends that live near me drive auto all their life to so no help there. Well, what I did was 2 hrs prior to picking up my car at the dealership. I went on youtube learn how to drive it on there so :driving:. I don't think it really that hard, you may stall your car a few times but you get it. Now i'm driving '09 370z Fully Loaded w/ Nav. just pickup at the dealership wednesday of last week. Good Luck and Happy Manual-ing.

I also plan to buy a 6MT, but have never driven a Manual. None of my family members or friends own one so I have no way to try it.