Tips for first time Manual Transmission Drivers from a new Camaro Owner (First post)

[chevydrvr]

Wow, that was great. I have never driven a manual car before but I want to. When I get my first car, (which is going to be a camaro hopefully) I am still trying to decide whether or not to get a manual. Either way,this taught me a lot. Thanks!

[rangomr]

Driving a stick shift is very simple, expecially with the cars of today. I got bored with your post since you are not going to teach a old dog new tricks. But very good for a new comer driving a stick I guess. I've been driving a stick shift for 51 years now.

[LoneCynic]

Well, I did mention that I realized there wasn't much in there for long time manual drivers, but this was entirely intended for people completely new to Manual Transmission driving who needed some basic pointers. I wouldn't presume to give advice to someone who had been driving a stick for longer than I've even been around. I surely did not intend to insult anyone's intelligence who was already experienced and well versed in the matter.

[KKreme15]

tl;dr

[PQ]

Originally Posted by LoneCynic

I get it now, that makes sense. I get why you'd skip it if you had an automatic. How is the tap shift option on those? Have you played with it much? Is it intuitive? I'd like to give it a try sometime just for fun.

I don't use it. If I wanted to have to use my hands, I'd have gotten the M6 anyway. I have driven sticks or 18 wheelers, all my life. I'm not into it anymore.

And it's kind of a running joke between a lot of us. Manual vs Auto, so don't let it irritate you should you here something like

Auto if you want to win.
Stick if you want to punch a girl.

[LoneCynic]

Nah, that's what great about the Camaro. There's an option, version, or package combination for everyone. No matter what your budget or preference, or favorite color, you can find one that suits you best. Just because I prefer Manual transmission, I'd never slam someone else or get into some sort of argument because they preferred automatic. They offer the car in both versions, so everyone is covered. The playful ribbing is aye-okay with me. About the only serious comment I'd ever make on the matter is "It's beneficial to know how to drive both." That about sums up my feelings on the matter.

I must say though, I can't even begin to count the number of times people have said to me over the years something similar to this: "I've never driven a stick before in my life, but it doesn't seem like it is that difficult, I understand the concept, and if I had to drive one in an emergency or something, I'm sure I could do it."

Now, those people I do laugh at and rib them by saying "Yeah, but could you do it without stalling out or burning the the engine up because you tried to go too fast in first?" You know, something I'd never do with my Camaro, but I've done with other old cars I had that were sticks is bet friends who said that stuff $20 they couldn't drive my car from the end of the street to my house without stalling the car twice.

I've had two people in ten years cocky enough to fall for that, and both times I said the first stall was just an accident, I could tell, and let them stall three times before I said, "Now get the hell out of the driver's seat and pay up smart mouth." Easiest $20 bucks I ever made...twice!

[Swytch]

I know OP has a 6, but something to add that threw me for a bit of a loop at first on the LS3. If you're like me and this is your first big 8, coming from a string of smaller manual 4's and 6's... When you first start to learn to downshift on this car, its going to be awkward. The big pushrod V8 doesn't dump the RPM's nearly as fast as any of my previous cars. Almost felt like i had to wait on the engine during some downshifts, which was totally a new experience for me. Punch the clutch in on my older Z-24 and the rpms plummeted almost immediately to idle.

[2001ragtop]

Please make more posts like this one and post them on the forum. You seem very interesting and I like what you wrote. I hope you will share more of your insightful humorous stories.

[jordan 572]

you hold the record for longest post. Don't even bother reading on how to drive a m6 camaro. You will have to learn on your own. I was kind of nervous when i started because i wasnt comfortable on the road as when i got my car i had only drove about 800 miles. It is hard to see out of until you get used to it and the clutch is tricky for young or first time clutch buyers like myself. Dont worry about it. The scariest part is waiting at a stop light and your pointed down hill. people see green so they go and here you are not knowing what your doing either stalling it or rolling backward I am glad i dont do this anymore.

[Duper]

Originally Posted by LoneCynic

There is a second, three way balance that you should "graduate" to after mastering the primary balance. It is a VERY important balance to master because, sooner or later, you will find yourself in a situation where it will become an ABSOLUTE NECESSITY. If you do not take time to master it now while you are practicing on flat ground in the parking lot, you could put yourself into a very dangerous, stressful, and potentially accident-prone position, so make sure you learn it. More on that situation following the explanation of the second balance.

This technique is the balance between the clutch, the gas, and the emergency/parking brake. What you need to do is begin at a full stop, put the parking brake up, and take your foot off the brake pedal. Now, with your left foot on the clutch held all the way in, and your right foot hovering over the gas pedal, put the vehicle into first gear, and place your right hand on the parking brake with the button depressed while holding the brake up, keeping the vehicle in place. What you want to do here is ease off the clutch, and onto the gas as you normally would with the first balance, but at the same time, as you reach the sweet spot, also ease the parking brake down and off with your right hand. Your goal is to locate the three way sweet spot where you can make a smooth takeoff, taking the brake off seamlessly in the process.

This is very tricky to do at first, and can be a little frustrating, but it is extremely important that you learn how to do this, and do this well. The reason for this is that, sooner or later, you WILL come upon a stop light, stop sign, backed up traffic, etc. where you are stopped on a steep incline/hill. Trying to do a smooth takeoff in this situation, when there is a car directly in front of you, and if your luck is as poor as mine, directly behind you with his front bumper nearly kissing your tailpipe, it is going to be extremely difficult to have enough room to take off and not hit one of them. If you don't have that technique mastered, taking your foot off the brake and trying to slide to the gas while quickly releasing the clutch to the right spot to take off could either stall you, or if the hill is steep enough, you could roll right back into the car behind you.

I thought this was the most helpful part for 'beginners' who feel they can get the car moving but are still a little unsure.

Nice write up overall too, thanks for taking the time to do that.

[Steve Dallas]

For Automatic drivers:

[marticus24]

very informative and well-written. It's not often that we find proper punctuation and grammatically correct posts.

As a new manual driver, I can say that the detail you provided certainly cleared up a lot of the concepts that people just throw out when answering some questions... particularly the segment on starting from an incline and balancing gas/clutch/ebrake. Kudos. However, I am surprised that you didn't touch on rev-matching when downshifting... I've been trying this and found it to make the down shifts MUCH smoother.

In my experience, I've found that after 500 miles on mine, I've gotten MUCH better, but still am not great. My shifts are very smooth but I still struggle sometimes getting going from a stop. I find that when I'm distracted by the radio or a conversation, or am nervous because I'm in heavy traffic, that's when I do the worst because my brain tells me "hurry", which causes me to get off of the clutch too soon. Or the opposite happens - I over-think and give it too much gas and end up burning the clutch a bit and/or leaving a little rubber on the road. It's definitely a delicate balance.

[larryt1026]

What DO you do if you are at a stop and at a slight incline? I wouldn't want to roll backwards and nail a car behind me.

[Berean]

Please break up your first post into 43 different threads for ease of reading.

And welcome to the Iron Duke club.