I feel like I am not becoming consistent as time goes by

[bk7794]

I don't know if its because the bite point on my clutch seems to have changed, or what the heck is happening but it seems like I am not becoming consistent. I feel like I am changing my technique every day to try and speed up my short shifts. That is something I probably should work on not doing. Short shifting when I really need to. Also I don't know if me worrying about the clutch in the back of my mind as well. Any of you guys feel the same way sometimes?

[Shadow]

How long have you been driving stick?

I'd say that you should eventually reach a point where you're comfortable driving virtually any manual transmission vehicle, even if you switch from one car to another on a regular basis. Your technique will allow you to adapt to pretty much any of the little differences that you find when driving manual transmission vehicles. Personally, I can hop into any car and have a good feel for it within a few minutes....but then again, I've been driving stick for more than 20 years now. That's why I asked how long you've been driving stick.

[bk7794]

Well heres the thing. Almost two years. My route has also changed, now all I do is drive city back and forth to college.

I only own 1 manual vehicle.

[rml605]

Been driving stick for 4 months and still not consistent enough.

No stalling (although I did once last week on the highway in traffic )

Is this normal?

[bk7794]

Been driving stick for 4 months and still not consistent enough.

No stalling (although I did once last week on the highway in traffic )

Is this normal?

Of course its normal. You should have seen me in my first few months. I shifted slow, but amazingly I never stalled. My first time out I started off in 3rd gear.

[potownrob]

i've been driving stick for 9 years, but i remember having a lot of trouble adjusting to the clutch and throttle in each of my manual cars but especially my 1st two (94 civic and 98 maxima). some of this will be trivia, but i want to share it with you in case it helps certain things click in you and anyone having trouble with their launching or shifting. it took me a good six months of driving the civic to get mostly smooth launches and shifts, and then another 5-6 months to realize i knew what i was doing and didn't have to keep thinking about things ( ). i don't think i got much better between that 6 month point and the year point, but i felt more confident and stopped thinking about what i was doing so much. the catalyst to this realization was taking a month off from driving while on a trip to spain. this is why i tell people to take some time off from driving the stick to regroup. anyway, on the 2nd to last day of the trip we ended up renting a car (vw polo) and i drove it since no one else had any experience shifting gears. i was afraid i had forgetten how to drive and how to shift since i had been away from my car for a month for the first time ever. i got in and it was like i had never stopped driving, other than an initial stall while getting used to the different clutch, throttle and the weaker 1.2 litre engine (which somehow proved plenty powerful to move 5 people quickly to a beach on the south coast of spain - the beach was in matalascanas; we had been staying in sevilla, btw). so that experience and/or being away from my car from a month helped me to realize i wasn't a noobie no more. i shifted the civic like a champ from then on out. then, i got the maxima, and it took a good 2 months to get mostly smooth shifts, and it took a couple of years to get smooth launches. that's right, i was approaching the launches wrong for 2 years, til i one day became brave enough to actually try to add more gas while letting out the clutch - seems silly but i really was afraid of that clutch until i tried it. i was also afraid of hills until i read somewhere (maybe here) that hill launches aren't really different from launches on flat ground. i think the lessons here are to not doubt yourself and your abilities, and to not be afraid of ruining your car trying seemingly destructive methods. i would've kept no-gas-launching and not enjoying that maxima if i hadn't tried something different.

[theholycow]

What helped me with consistency more than anything else was not thinking about it. I can't recommend distracted or angry driving, but it sure does help with launching and shifting.

Of course its normal. You should have seen me in my first few months. I shifted slow, but amazingly I never stalled. My first time out I started off in 3rd gear.

...and I was the opposite, I shifted very fast, but I stalled too often.

weaker 1.2 litre engine (which somehow proved plenty powerful to move 5 people quickly

Meh. It doesn't take much power at all to get around. It takes a moderate amount to get around quickly. It takes a never-ending arms race of ever-increasing power to attempt (and fail) to satisfy the lust that we all have inside for more power. It also takes a lesser but still significant arms race of power to keep up with ever-increasing vehicle weight and market demands.

[Squint]

Been driving stick for 4 months and still not consistent enough.

No stalling (although I did once last week on the highway in traffic )

Is this normal?

Of course its normal. You should have seen me in my first few months. I shifted slow, but amazingly I never stalled. My first time out I started off in 3rd gear.

My in-laws driveway is steep and got partially washed away by quite a bit of rain recently. So going over a decent bump last weekend going up their driveway... and I stalled. Apparently didn't have enough gas for the crawling up the hill.

In latin: excrementus occurrus.

[bk7794]

i've been driving stick for 9 years, but i remember having a lot of trouble adjusting to the clutch and throttle in each of my manual cars but especially my 1st two (94 civic and 98 maxima). some of this will be trivia, but i want to share it with you in case it helps certain things click in you and anyone having trouble with their launching or shifting. it took me a good six months of driving the civic to get mostly smooth launches and shifts, and then another 5-6 months to realize i knew what i was doing and didn't have to keep thinking about things ( ). i don't think i got much better between that 6 month point and the year point, but i felt more confident and stopped thinking about what i was doing so much. the catalyst to this realization was taking a month off from driving while on a trip to spain. this is why i tell people to take some time off from driving the stick to regroup. anyway, on the 2nd to last day of the trip we ended up renting a car (vw polo) and i drove it since no one else had any experience shifting gears. i was afraid i had forgetten how to drive and how to shift since i had been away from my car for a month for the first time ever. i got in and it was like i had never stopped driving, other than an initial stall while getting used to the different clutch, throttle and the weaker 1.2 litre engine (which somehow proved plenty powerful to move 5 people quickly to a beach on the south coast of spain - the beach was in matalascanas; we had been staying in sevilla, btw). so that experience and/or being away from my car from a month helped me to realize i wasn't a noobie no more. i shifted the civic like a champ from then on out. then, i got the maxima, and it took a good 2 months to get mostly smooth shifts, and it took a couple of years to get smooth launches. that's right, i was approaching the launches wrong for 2 years, til i one day became brave enough to actually try to add more gas while letting out the clutch - seems silly but i really was afraid of that clutch until i tried it. i was also afraid of hills until i read somewhere (maybe here) that hill launches aren't really different from launches on flat ground. i think the lessons here are to not doubt yourself and your abilities, and to not be afraid of ruining your car trying seemingly destructive methods. i would've kept no-gas-launching and not enjoying that maxima if i hadn't tried something different.

You know whats funny, I always seem to do better after I come back from a vacation. I always seem to though get a paranoid about shifting and driving too slow. It's like I am getting hurt by morons redlining their engines to just make it to the redlight faster. Also I think I try to speed short shift if that makes sense. I need to feel more comfortable winding out the engine more I think...

How were you approaching the launches on your maxima? Also how was driving in europe?

What helped me with consistency more than anything else was not thinking about it. I can't recommend distracted or angry driving, but it sure does help with launching and shifting.

Of course its normal. You should have seen me in my first few months. I shifted slow, but amazingly I never stalled. My first time out I started off in 3rd gear.

...and I was the opposite, I shifted very fast, but I stalled too often.

weaker 1.2 litre engine (which somehow proved plenty powerful to move 5 people quickly

Meh. It doesn't take much power at all to get around. It takes a moderate amount to get around quickly. It takes a never-ending arms race of ever-increasing power to attempt (and fail) to satisfy the lust that we all have inside for more power. It also takes a lesser but still significant arms race of power to keep up with ever-increasing vehicle weight and market demands.

I find that not thinking about it works, but I also find that if I listen to music I botch so many shifts. It's weird, talk radio does not do that to me as much.

[fr4n]

i've been driving stick for 9 years, but i remember having a lot of trouble adjusting to the clutch and throttle in each of my manual cars but especially my 1st two (94 civic and 98 maxima). some of this will be trivia, but i want to share it with you in case it helps certain things click in you and anyone having trouble with their launching or shifting. it took me a good six months of driving the civic to get mostly smooth launches and shifts, and then another 5-6 months to realize i knew what i was doing and didn't have to keep thinking about things ( ). i don't think i got much better between that 6 month point and the year point, but i felt more confident and stopped thinking about what i was doing so much. the catalyst to this realization was taking a month off from driving while on a trip to spain. this is why i tell people to take some time off from driving the stick to regroup. anyway, on the 2nd to last day of the trip we ended up renting a car (vw polo) and i drove it since no one else had any experience shifting gears. i was afraid i had forgetten how to drive and how to shift since i had been away from my car for a month for the first time ever. i got in and it was like i had never stopped driving, other than an initial stall while getting used to the different clutch, throttle and the weaker 1.2 litre engine (which somehow proved plenty powerful to move 5 people quickly to a beach on the south coast of spain - the beach was in matalascanas; we had been staying in sevilla, btw). so that experience and/or being away from my car from a month helped me to realize i wasn't a noobie no more. i shifted the civic like a champ from then on out. then, i got the maxima, and it took a good 2 months to get mostly smooth shifts, and it took a couple of years to get smooth launches. that's right, i was approaching the launches wrong for 2 years, til i one day became brave enough to actually try to add more gas while letting out the clutch - seems silly but i really was afraid of that clutch until i tried it. i was also afraid of hills until i read somewhere (maybe here) that hill launches aren't really different from launches on flat ground. i think the lessons here are to not doubt yourself and your abilities, and to not be afraid of ruining your car trying seemingly destructive methods. i would've kept no-gas-launching and not enjoying that maxima if i hadn't tried something different.

You know whats funny, I always seem to do better after I come back from a vacation. I always seem to though get a paranoid about shifting and driving too slow. It's like I am getting hurt by morons redlining their engines to just make it to the redlight faster. Also I think I try to speed short shift if that makes sense. I need to feel more comfortable winding out the engine more I think...

How were you approaching the launches on your maxima? Also how was driving in europe?

What helped me with consistency more than anything else was not thinking about it. I can't recommend distracted or angry driving, but it sure does help with launching and shifting.

Of course its normal. You should have seen me in my first few months. I shifted slow, but amazingly I never stalled. My first time out I started off in 3rd gear.

...and I was the opposite, I shifted very fast, but I stalled too often.

weaker 1.2 litre engine (which somehow proved plenty powerful to move 5 people quickly

Meh. It doesn't take much power at all to get around. It takes a moderate amount to get around quickly. It takes a never-ending arms race of ever-increasing power to attempt (and fail) to satisfy the lust that we all have inside for more power. It also takes a lesser but still significant arms race of power to keep up with ever-increasing vehicle weight and market demands.

I find that not thinking about it works, but I also find that if I listen to music I botch so many shifts. It's weird, talk radio does not do that to me as much.

yes you certainly do need to stop worrying about that. especially when you drive a honda.

[theholycow]

I find that not thinking about it works, but I also find that if I listen to music I botch so many shifts. It's weird, talk radio does not do that to me as much.

Perhaps you're subconsciously shifting by sound even when you're not consciously thinking about it.

[bk7794]

I find that not thinking about it works, but I also find that if I listen to music I botch so many shifts. It's weird, talk radio does not do that to me as much.

Perhaps you're subconsciously shifting by sound even when you're not consciously thinking about it.

Yeah that is something that could possibly be true. But how come I can not do that while listening to music.

yes you certainly do need to stop worrying about that. especially when you drive a honda.

I can keep up..it's just when I shift is when I start falling behind.

[theholycow]

I find that not thinking about it works, but I also find that if I listen to music I botch so many shifts. It's weird, talk radio does not do that to me as much.

Perhaps you're subconsciously shifting by sound even when you're not consciously thinking about it.

Yeah that is something that could possibly be true. But how come I can not do that while listening to music.

Music would most likely interfere with hearing the engine much more than talk.

[bk7794]

Music would most likely interfere with hearing the engine much more than talk.

I was thinking that as well. I bet a tach would help substantially.

[potownrob]

How were you approaching the launches on your maxima? Also how was driving in europe?

with the maxima, before i had the epiphany, i was essentially no-gassing on most launches (which is possible in the maxima with its bigger engine and aggressive gearing) - i'd let out the clutch til it starts to bite and then let it out slowly til i'm moving smoothly. the engine was powerful enough to pull this off fairly quickly, probably the only car i've had where i could do that easily.

as for driving the polo in espain, it was great, much easier and more familiar than i expected. the biggest episode was getting lost driving around sevilla and then finding a gas station. once we were heading south toward the beach, it was smooth sailing. passing miles and miles of olive trees and random black bull billboards (billboard for Osborne Sherry Company) is hard to compare to driving here in the states . it's not england or japan so no problems with having to drive on the wrong side of the road or london traffic (though the traffic can be bad in spanish cities, i don't remember hitting much if any traffic). i was constantly impressed by the little Polo's performance, comfort and simple elegance. at the beach we had a good time swimming and resting on the beach (and someone brought something to help us relax ). i wish i could go back there, mainly to hang in sevilla or even madrid and maybe take the train into other cities, but it costs a lot to fly there, and their economy is in the can . the night life especially in sevilla is something else.

p.s. it took two hours to type all this (don't work at a hotel, at least not when it's busy)