Newbie with a handful

Just sign up? Feel free to tell your fellow Standardshifters about yourself, your car or anything else.
NonChalant
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 1139
Joined: Sun Jul 02, 2006 10:58 am
Location: New York City

Post by NonChalant »

Congrats on the sexy car. and welcome aboard.

I think everyone's covered most things. Your shifter gate isn't a design flaw :P

Practice makes perfect!
black94boost
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 1138
Joined: Thu Feb 08, 2007 1:09 am
Location: Western New York
Contact:

Post by black94boost »

One of the first thing I did when I got my car was the row through the gears to get a feel of it, a couple of times, 1-2-3-4-5 5-4-3-2-1. Now, it just happens like magic.
What'cha gonna do when we come for you?
Image
User avatar
comingbackdown
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 7399
Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2007 3:17 am
Cars: 99 Ram 2500, 86 Ford LTD
Location: Ohio
Contact:

Post by comingbackdown »

Welcome to the forum. Use the handbrake. I can't tell you to use it on a small grade, but if it's steep, use it.

Nice car!
Image
1999 Ram 2500 4x4 360, 1986 Ford LTD 3.8L, 1983 Yamaha Venture Royale 1200
User avatar
wannabe
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 8113
Joined: Tue May 15, 2007 11:48 am
Cars: NONE - take the bus
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Contact:

Post by wannabe »

nice car, andy

and welcome :D

i really like the color...
2003 Chrysler town and country

Crafting and stuff
hockeystyx16
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 6960
Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2006 3:54 am
Cars: 95 probe GT
Location: toledo ohio
Contact:

Post by hockeystyx16 »

holy sh1t thats awesome. my stepdad just got a E39 540i, with a 4.4 v8 and a 6 speed, that thing pulls hard.

welcome to SS.
-Roman
95 Probelem GT
Image
andytothemax
Junior Standardshifter
Posts: 84
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:28 pm

Post by andytothemax »

Johnf514 wrote:Hey there Andy. Gorgeous car - nearly a perfect vehicle for every need. Congrats on taking the plunge on a stickshift! You've come to the right place.
Thanks this is all excellent advice :)

I am doing better. Rev-matching downshifts seems to have happened correctly after about 10 tries, actually and I can do it in every gear (except 1st of course) with minimal jerkiness. Some double and triple downshifts (5-4-3-2 and 4-3-2) have been pitch-perfect where I didn't even feel a change in speed or any jerks. It seems to work best in a familiar area where I know exactly how fast I need to be going around the turn I'm fast approaching. As I get better I intend to downshift closer and closer to the turn.

Great tip on mis-shifts at the redline and keeping it low until I get good. I have meant to focus on the basics because a pro is someone who executes the basics perfectly every time...

I see now that the shift gates are not an issue-- I simply wasn't being careful enough initially. Now I am careful and a couple of times I have felt the shifter slide into 2nd instead of 4th but I have detected it before engaging the clutch and corrected it...

The opinion on the color is unanimous...it's "bad" if you know what I mean :)

A
Johnf514
Moderator
Posts: 8574
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2005 3:59 pm
Cars: '07 Mazda3, '06 Ninja 636
Location: Orlando, FL
Contact:

Post by Johnf514 »

andytothemax wrote: Thanks this is all excellent advice :)
That's what we do here. :)
andytothemax wrote: I see now that the shift gates are not an issue-- I simply wasn't being careful enough initially. Now I am careful and a couple of times I have felt the shifter slide into 2nd instead of 4th but I have detected it before engaging the clutch and corrected it...
Good! You're already getting used to how the car feels and how the transmission gives you feedback. Well done. :D
2007 Mazda3
Mods: 15% tint, Eibach ProKit
2006 Ninja 636
Mods: NOS & sidecar
Nychold
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 5339
Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2006 2:33 pm
Cars: 2007 Scion tC
Location: Ocala, FL
Contact:

Post by Nychold »

andytothemax wrote:The opinion on the color is unanimous...it's "bad" if you know what I mean :)
To me, there's only three colors an M3 should come in: White, Black, and that color. :D
Watercolor: I'm a grade A bone sucker!
Me: :shock: :) :D :twisted:
User avatar
AHTOXA
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 14693
Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2007 6:31 pm
Cars: '19 4RUNNER TRD ORP
Location: Irving, TX

Post by AHTOXA »

Nychold wrote:
andytothemax wrote:The opinion on the color is unanimous...it's "bad" if you know what I mean :)
To me, there's only three colors an M3 should come in: White, Black, and that color. :D
The red is really nice, too. My friend's got the same body style in red. It's awesome!
'19 Toyota 4Runner TRD ORP
'12 Suzuki V-Strom 650
User avatar
PureLife
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 1330
Joined: Tue Jul 18, 2006 5:50 am
Cars: '98 BMW 323is (2.8)
Location: Internet

Post by PureLife »

Welcome to SS; good to have another BMW driver here.

Beautiful color; I'd love to own a e46m ... actually I take that back, I'd just like to take one for a drive.
andytothemax
Junior Standardshifter
Posts: 84
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:28 pm

Post by andytothemax »

I drove it in SF for the first time this weekend. I was nervous about all the hills but I only stalled it once and I didn't have to use the handbrake method. A perfectly executed rev-matched downshift is pretty pleasurable, I must say! One odd thing that's happened is that I don't feel the need to speed like I did in my old car, because the new one feels so sporty that I have nothing to prove :)

Some time last week some ***hole put a huge ding on the right side, messing up the otherwise perfect paint. I hate that kind of indifference (I have never dinged someone else's car in my life), but it looks repairable without too much touching up as long as they can use the "paintless" method after touching it up. C'est la vie!

More pics and a video for drooling:
Image
startup and revs


Image
The brakes are neck-snappingly fierce, that's all I can say!

Image

Image

Image

I can't get enough of this color!!!
Leedeth
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 7469
Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2007 9:33 am
Location: Suburbia

Post by Leedeth »

:o That is a crazy nice sound. I'd like to hear it from multiple angles though, such as front with hood up, front with hood down, side, and exhaust. It seemed to be drowned out by all the belts in the engine bay.
andytothemax
Junior Standardshifter
Posts: 84
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:28 pm

Post by andytothemax »

Leedeth wrote::o That is a crazy nice sound. I'd like to hear it from multiple angles though, such as front with hood up, front with hood down, side, and exhaust. It seemed to be drowned out by all the belts in the engine bay.
I will do another video just for you! It's pretty fun :)
Leedeth
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 7469
Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2007 9:33 am
Location: Suburbia

Post by Leedeth »

Oh also get interior! Can't forget that. With windows up and down, lol.
User avatar
Bawked
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 2417
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2007 12:24 am
Cars: 08 JDM Subaru Impreza STI
Location: New Zealand

Post by Bawked »

Not using the handbrake method isn't a good thing... use the handbrake method and relax... :lol:
<3 fwd
Post Reply