Want to learn manual and want to get a manual car in the near future.
What is the cheapest way to learn it? No one from friends and family drives or knows how to drive manual… I have full licence.
Would it be better to pay for lessons? Wait until I get my own manual and learn on it (means I can't test drive and may cause damage)? Rent a manual from some where?
Thanks
I bought a bomb, $500 for a Datsun 120B. I had no licence and knew it would be hard to get other people to let me use their cars to practice. I also needed them to be around because of no licence.
I had a backyard just big enough to allow me to do a 3 point turn. This helped me work on my use of the clutch. I had to be careful to miss the hills hoist too. Also a steep driveway to my back yard helped with the hill starts.
Having this I could go out to the back yard of my share house and practice anytime I wanted, their also was no pressure of traffic. It helped with working on the clutch at slow speed and stop start which I think is the hardest part. I think I practiced on and off for two weeks, before I was able to get people to to take me for a drive on the road.
Short Version: Buy a manual and practice on a backyard or an apartment garage.
Just get someone to take you to a Bunnings carpark whilst the store is closed.
120Y or 180B?
My mistake it was the 180b
My mate had an orange 180B with a black vinyl roof for a while. I remember they used to say the 200B was a 180B with 20 more mistakes.
Mine had a vinyl roof but was maroon. The gear stick was so loose that even in gear it moved more than most cars do in neutral.
Find an arcade and play some Daytona.
I was in a similar boat to you and ended up paying for two lessons and then just bought a manual car and practiced after work every night in quiet suburban streets. Edit: I already knew how to drive auto.
I was the same as you OP about 12 years ago now. I was on full license and I knew the concept of manual in my head so decided to buy the car I wanted, asked a family member to drive it home for me then thought myself how to drive it. Took me half an hour and I was fine. It's all about the bite point of the clutch. Once you master that, the rest will follow.
I have been trying to teach a friend (who wants manual wrx..)how to drive manual recently through my car and I'll tell you the biggest difference moving from auto to manual is learning how the car behaves. A lot of people have mentioned that finding the friction point and stop starts in manual cars will be one of the hardest things to get a hold of but it is rare for anyone to become accustomed to the sound of a car engine when it needs to be in a different gear and when you can shift up and down gears after being able to read the roads. This I believe will only get into you from owning your own car sadly but you can already take notice with some auto cars with tiptronic/manumatic to force gear changes when the slope condition changes and/or using natural deceleration and acceleration of slopes.
I'm going to cop some flak about not using rev counters from sounding so hippie about feels of a car…
I have no idea if this comment helped in anyway but good luck OP in learning manual!
If your buying some brand new or expensive manual car , DONT LEARN ON IT, because you will likely do SOME damage to it while learning. Your not likely to completely destroy your vehicle from learning manual on it, but its certainly not going to be good for it.
I bought a moderarely priced manual van, and am learning on it (with the understanding, there is a good chance I will wear the clutch out and have to pay to replace/repair) .
Before I bought my van though, I had the idea (and saw the opportunities) where people were selling manual vehicles, that were almost out of rego, for just a few hundred dollars. This s certainly worth considering . It takes a bit of bargain hunting on your part. You can find extremely cheap vehicles that run OK (not perfect) on gumtree, maybe a few weeks rego left . These will usually sell quite quickly so you need to get right onto the deal, call them as soon as you see it, say you will be right over.
**The better the deal, the greater the urgency, ie. The best deals, will have 10 people calling offering to buy within 1 hour of add going up (some will even offer more then asking price to sway the seller) .
In Vic, doesn't going from P plate auto licence to full licence give you the ability to drive both transmissions?
Yes, same in NSW. Doesn't mean you have the skills to drive a manual though.
Don't forget to double clutch on the up shift and rev match on the down shift. Also it's all about that sweet spot on the clutch pedal ;)
In all seriousness…
I got my license after 25. I was such an ozbargainer, that I saved by not having a car… Cough… laziness, cough. I drove around 10hrs in total on manual only and got my p's first time on manual back then in one go. So seeing that you have your full license, you'll be right.
The hardest thing is first gear and reverse gear takes sometimes. Go to a quiet street and literally practice taking off in first gear. Come to a halt then try reverse. Do this over and over. Always remember when coming to a halt to keep your foot on the clutch. Always better to stay in gear while you're coming into stopped traffic in case you move before coming to a stop. Also if you're stopped. Leave it in first gear. Once you're quite confident, you can slow down and throw it into neutral as you'll be confident enough to get it back in gear without holding up traffic.
Also down shift through all gears at first. Later on you can skip gears. For example in 4th gear and you brake but don't down shift as you're expecting to stop, but keep moving, if the car is going slow enough, drop it to second. If you're going too slow and drop it to third, the car may shake and struggle to move when hitting the gas.
You're better off driving a slow sh*t box first. No assists like hill start and no power to sit there dumping it because of over revving. I drove my 2000 Celica which was perfect to get confident in manual. Getting a more powerful car like my 2016 wrx sti was a big learning curve after years of driving manual. Awd with front and back lsd means more gas required and shifting right when the gears finish quick is something to master. In other words, all manual cars are different.
People may give you crap for stalling and you know what, it kills my ego if I do it, but who cares. Just remember if you stall, feet straight onto the brake and clutch, start the car up, first gear, off you go. It's better to slightly over rev on take off than to under rev. Lessens the chance to stall. Don't be afraid too give it a little gas.
Manual is annoying when you have a lazy foot some days or when you're foot is heavy, which equals a lot of over revving. Though it's rewarding when you get that perfect shift. Good thing I don't drive to work.
Another thing that might take time is changing gear mid corner.
I personally can't drive auto. I struggle. Manual is great for more control and that weekend drive. I liken the 86 to my celica. While it's front wheel drive, it will be a fun manual car. Sits low and nimble around corners. That feeling when you down shift into second and corner like a boss :D
Anyways, I'll rambling on here.
Mate I'd go on for days. If you were a Sydney sider I'd give you free lessons. It's great teaching manual.
Good luck and enjoy what you've been missing for years :p
Not a bad book, some solid advice. First line triggered me till I saw the next line…
On a side note…
I liken the 86 to my celica. While it's front wheel drive…
While the 86 may be the spiritual successor to the Celica, it isn’t a front wheel drive.
I think he's talking about his Celica being FWD, compared to the 86.
Yep, I stuffed up. It's better that it's rwd for manual. Front wheel spin ain't fun!!
Find a manual Car and while parked, with handbrake on…
Push the clutch in, put it in first, and slowly release the clutch… when you can do this and stop releasing the clutch, just when the engine starts to labour and before it stalls… then you can drive a manual.
All you have to do then is as you get to this point with the clutch, start pressing the accellerator (ie swap clutch for accelerator in a slow smooth even mothion).
Thats all there is to it, the rest is practice.
Handbrake off sometime might help..
Yep - level ground with car in neutral. Clutch in and select first gear, slowly let the clutch out and watch the tachometer - you'll know you're at the friction/biting point when the revs start dropping.
and watch the
tachometerroad ahead and listen for the engine to change revs…
FTFY…
Here, get yourself a bomb. Have the seller send the car to a free carpark near your place. Park there and practice in the carpark at night. Once you are done with it, drive to a nearby wreckers and get it sorted. From $250 onwards
https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/results?sortby=~Price&offset=0&setype=sort&q=%28And.Service.Carsales..GenericGearType.Manual..Price.range%28..3030%29.%29&limit=24
The crappier the car, the better it is for you. Once you managed old crap manual, new manual will be a breeze.
Just curious, if you never driven a manual before, how can you get a Full License with manual transmission?
actually the cheapest listed manual car in VIC is $450
Isn't it $300? Cheapest in Vic in the list is $300.
ozbargain him.
Most bombs for sale are unregistered.
If I practiced at night in a car park, I couldn't use the excuse that I was driving to the garage for a safety check. The only viable excuse in a situation like that would be to say "I'm waiting for a mate".
Buy a $100 car with some rego left, drive it around deserted areas for a few days for as many hours as you can stomach. You'll be great in no time (especially as a $100 car will have a shit clutch). It'll be cheaper than lessons and you'll get more experience. Don't bother doing anything about 60km/h. All of the manual things you need to learn are from a stop, from a hill, reversing, etc.
can you sell me a car for $100 with rego
I'd buy a car for $100 with rego too. Any car.
Just be prepared to never want to go back to Auto again after you've gotten used to being able to drive by the feedback from engine and clutch, then weep as manual options get fewer and fewer every year because soccer mums in their "never indicate, giveway,or actually go offroad gigantic automatic SUVs" define the car seller's available stock..
Audi R8, Toyota camry, Mercedes C class and many SUVs are a few of many cars you can no longer get in manual.
I taught myself, had no idea what i was doing but eventually got the hang of it. The key is to have your left foot become sensitive on the clutch. you should be able to have the car move without using the accelerator. when you get good at that try with the accelerator. also just use youtube and practise yourself. it's really easy.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.olzhas.man…
There you go! free. Play this over the weekend and you should be roadready by Monday. ;)
I was in the exact same boat as you. I got an instructor who taught me how to drive it in a 45 minute session. I was able to start, stop, change gears on a flat surface in less than 10 minutes. Then he took me to an up hill incline and taught me how to start with the hand brake.
2 to 3 months later, I bought a manual car. Then spent a week every night learning how to park in all sorts of situations, including reverse uphill parallel park.
This was what the instructor did at the start. He was holding a pen, and using that to touch my left leg. First depress clutch, then touch the gas pedal, slowly bring the clutch out. Then he used his pen to touch my leg and said "hold", then he took the pen off and said now let go of the pedal. Repeat x 10 and I was doing it myself after that.
Haha, reverse uphill parallel park.
I was like F*** ,F*** ,F*** ,F*** ,…
Yeah you guys didn't do your license on manual right?
Always best to get a few hours of lessons by a professional especially to learn manual. They will have the best technical knowledge so at least your foundation will be correct. It'll also help you to get your manual licence.
Just fork out 1 or 2 lessons with an instructor and their car. Anything more is a waste of money as once you learn the technique you'll just need the seat time.
After that either rent or go balls deep and buy a manual car
I dont know if anyone said this but you could join the army and they teach you to drive manual while paying you ? No offence to anyone but just ozbargain way ???
Toyota hilux diesels are true friendly for manual drivers. Engine wont stop on low revs and you can probably hire and try ?
Hardly any one drives manual these days. I used to be a full time manual driver but the traffic doesn't work well any more. Ten years ago was still ok not now. You will be exercising your left leg rather than enjoying the ride.
If you don't drive long enough on manual you eventually lose the skills.
Day to day manual car is really not viable for mental health
It is much difficult to switch from auto to manual.
I did it the hard way. I got my license on manual and no friends and family did it.
Best way is get a proper instructor for a few lessons then borrow a friends car and have them next to you it is the only way. However like I said not many would have one unless they are dedicated and enthusiastic about manual
daytonaaaaaaaaa, top speeddddddd
I'm not sure if you qualify for any of these programs but there are a couple of programs offered by the government and Vic Roads (assuming your in Victoria) that offer free driving lessons.
Check out:
* Vic Roads L2P Learner Driver program
* Keys 2 Drive
You'll have to double check with manual mentors/car availability though
great idea! but I don't qualify for these programs.
Just thought I would chime in here, currently on my Green P's (opens feb 2018)
I drove a 96 Automatic Supra for about a year on my red P's and Greens as I didn't have anyone in my close family who drove manual either.
In NSW once you are on your green P's you can drive either manual or auto.
To cut long story short I sold my supra :( bought a manual 2007 Suzuki Swift and made the transition, it was NOT easy for me at all, even with my knowledge of the gears etc, I stalled every now and then but got better and better, avoided every hill, (actually shamefully had to roll down backwards on a hill and do a u turn once)
4 months or so later and I don't stall at all anymore but do still find hills a bit daunting but that's mainly because around my area there is little to none.
Good luck I am very glad I made the switch, so much more enjoyable and I also find it keeps me more alert. Also just got my manual motorbike license :P
/End life story
when i was 17 a mate and i bought a $200 paddock basher.
learnt to drive a manual in the back paddock, best $200 ever spent on the old mazda 1300 capella it had twin carbies in it but one of the carbies was in the glovebox
go to an Indian wedding, i am pretty sure at some point someone will give you the car keys and ask you to run an errand. If that doesn't happen offer to take the ladies to the beauty parlour or help pickup relatives from the train station before the wedding day.
I personally just bought a manual car, asked the seller to drive it to my house (they were happy to oblige) and for the next 3 days learnt by watching YouTube videos and driving up and down my street, by the end of it I could drive mostly fine.
Hire an instructor one time. They'll tell you what the right thing to do is and the easiest way to learn it.
After that, go to a budget rentle and rent a manual. If your license is unrestricted then you can. This should give you 24 hours to practice so pretty good value!
Friend of mine did it and didn't have any dramas. Should be easier than when you first learned to drive. You only have to focus on clutch and gears - you already know the road rules, have judgement and things like indicating will require no attention. You'll pick it up in a day or two.
I was in the same shoes as you are now. I pretty much taught myself and watched YouTube videos. I bought myself a 2017 Subaru WRX, it went through hell at the first month lol. Because the clutch use on those cars were harder than expected. After that it gotten easy. You can try Driving Schools but they are expensive, because you would need more than 3 lessons to understand the manual transmission. Driving manual requires lots of practice, as if you were on your learners. But I reckon you can learn with your own car if you buy one. If you're buying a used car, than you may have to go through driving school, or else you may to have pay more to fix it if anything goes wrong. New car you'll have no problem, because you'll be covered by warranty. Enjoy!
How much is your insurance for the wrx?
Luckily my parents owned a large property and I learnt how to drive manual before I even got a licence. I thought I was pretty good when I got my licence, Then i did a defensive driving course, the instructor corrected a few of my big block bad habits in a manual wrx which he supplied. Great! So go see if you can get yourself on a defensive driving course with stick shift, my course was mainly on a race track, lots of room to learn how to change gears
Just pay an instructor for 3 seperate 2 hour lessons. Will cost you $300 but they'll teach you well and you won't have to worry about damaging anything or endangering anyone's life.
ill teach ya !!
Good on you for wanting to learn. I love driving manual.
I learned to drive manual when my housemate broke her leg and asked me to drive her to work (we worked in the same building).
We bunny-hopped all the way down the Pacific Highway at the height of peak hour… You get good at it very quickly when you have to! A while later I bought a manual car and drove manual exclusively for 11 years… then had to buy a new one and husband refused to buy manual.. so back to auto. Not so happy about that.
In all seriousness… Could you advertise on airtasker or gumtree or one of those places to ask for lessons from somebody in their car? It might be cheaper than paying a qualified instructor.
I had 4 lessons in a manual car before i bought mine (Was new at the time). I knew the basics and was so paranoid about stalling on the way home I think i was exhausted thinking about it. I got home in one piece then drove round the block a few times and did stints at night to get my confidence up. I did stall a few times but that's normal. I "hovered" on my clutch on hills so i wouldn't stall originally but if you want your clutch to last a long time then I recommend doing handbrake hill starts.
If it wasn't for my manual drivers license then i wouldn't have gotten the Concierge/Porter/Valet job when i suddenly quit my job and left.
I was never taught…due to lack of helpful parenting.
I got a job and had to drive a manual, so I used my "gaming" knowledge to give it a crack, yes I stalled it a heap, but later found out the car had a rooted vacuum hose and idle'd terribly, so once it was fixed it was easier.
Avoided hills like the plague….never (profanity) went to 4th/5th gear, now I can do it with my eyes closed.
You'll learn the basics in a couple of lessons, but the main thing when starting out is practice.
I suggest you get a few lessons from a driving instructor then hire a cheap manual car for a week or two to practice.
Once you think you are good enough, you can start learning rev matching on downshifts.
It's all about the practice mate.
My, how complicated, or should I say stupid, are the Australian Driving Rules, or they appear to be.
In the UK if you pass a driving test (do you have such things down there?- I often wonder seeing some of the driving 'techniques' I've seen down there) in an automatic gearbox car you can only legally drive an automatic but if you pass in a manual you will be able to drive both manuals AND automatics - that seems logical to me given that if the brain and legs are coordinated enough to drive a manual then driving an automatic is just a simple adjustment of the driving technique whereas the reverse doesn't naturally apply. If you want to drive a manual and you only have a licence to drive an automatic you'd need to pass another test in a manual drive vehicle first.
Rental companies over here require you to produce your licence and if it isn't suitable for the vehicle you're trying to rent, they won't rent it to you. If you want to 'practice' in your own manual car you must have another qualified driver (and by that it's meant that the qualified driver must hold a current manual licence) with you and the vehicle must display 'learner' plates.
But the question one must ask themselves is 'what sort of doughnut learns to drive and gets a licence to drive an automatic then changes their mind and wants to drive a manual'. And then to post a question on how they should achieve their goal, beggars belief.
Can OP drive a manual yet?
looking to start in 2 weeks time (:
I got a car you can bunny hop in, and time to show you how.
Private message me to work something out.
Long post, many comments.
Purchase a manual Mazda 3, they're pretty zippy, also a bit forgiving when learning. Good balance of easy shifting and clutch position.
Manuals in smaller cars are often very light, super easy to shift. Great to drive but you often don't get the full "feel" of the clutch and weight of the gearshift.
Larger cars (4WD's/diesels are an exception) are often lots heavier on the shift.
Purchase a bundle of lessons (RACV do bundle deals) and then take your car to a local carpark (top level of a multi-level is often open) or to a footy oval carpark and practice, practice, practice. If the land is flat, pretend it's on a hill and do hill-starts (handbrake starts, etc). The motions will become in-grain and you'll get a feel for it.
One method of judging hill-starts is on a slight hill, put a brick or piece of wood about 20-30cm behind each rear-wheel. If you start to roll you'll feel the bump and know you have to try again.
Best of luck!
If you are learning, I recommend wearing shoes with thin soles or going barefoot as it gives you a better feel of where the clutch engages.
And depending on the car (4cyl Honda's especially), always use some throttle when taking off, rpms just above idle so that you don't stall.
just above idle? I thought i need to go redline for that VTEC YO
Update: Used a random Ozbargain referral to sign up to car next door and got $15 credit. rented a small manual car for 1 hr late at night in my area and practiced myself. I had no trouble getting it going and stalled about 5 times in total. I understood all the procedures so it was just getting the right balance between the clutch and accelerator pedals. I'm looking to get more practice in the future, maybe with an experienced manual driver to get some tips. Thanks for all your help guys. Total cost for me was $0.94 (total of $15.94). I hope you guys are proud of me on my savings :)
May I ask why do you want to drive manual?
I was a big hater of autos and have never driven them in the first 12 years of my driving career. Then I started to drive autos because I shared the car with the wife. And it grew on me. In most cases autos do a good job of changing gear with a little downside of a slightly higher fuel consumption and some loss of power.
I only went back to manual recently as my daily driver is also a track day car.
I want to learn manual because I want to appreciate driving as a hobby and maybe join clubs and track days in the future. I'm don't need a daily driver as I live and work in CBD. This is purely recreational for me.
*uphill slope :)