190hpKiLLA

iTrader: (11)

That sh*t is a 5 spd and i forgot how to drive it. I thought i could but i suck and a almost want to cry now. Its a se with all the options from bose to heated seats. I will be attending the meet on june 3rd if i will learn that fast. If not i will have to take the caddy again like i did with the previous meet in floyed.Glad to part of this club

Sprint

iTrader: (10)

its easy.. learn real fast.. you will be happy you did

190hpKiLLA

iTrader: (11)

Thanks i have problems moving from 1st gear i always f** up. You are the kid who makes clear light, right. I will be shopping from you pretty soon. Fill me on the details.

enticiveblkmax

dont even worry. be patient and find the breaking point of your clutch and you will get good after a week. just practice driving everyday and you'll be allright. you wont be perfect but at least you wont be stalling your engine every block. good luck.

Sprint

iTrader: (10)

only 97 - 99 though

email me when you are ready.. i will give you more details

redtails@prodigy.net

NickStam

iTrader: (3)

Practice every day and don't get discouraged or I will slap you silly!


There, did i motivate you enough?

emax02

iTrader: (1)

Same thing happened to me when I bought my Loaded 5spd 95 SE Maxima. I was like what have I done? I had the hardest time the 1st few days, I either pealed out or stalled out. The worst was right after I picked up my car I had to go through a red light and you guessed a cop pulls up behind me, I am like WTF! So I am all nervous knowing that he is going to pull me over if I stall out or peal out, so what do I do? I stall out and then peal out, LOL. So he pulles me over and gave me a real hard time becuase my paper plate was missing and I did not have insurance or registration on me. ohh well, I began to enjoy driving a 5 spd after about a month, but I did not really get a hang of it for about 3 months. Good Luck and just practice and you will have it down in no time.

DFWmax

ha ha ha. its funny to think about it now; my max was my first 5-spd. i stalled it trying to get it out of the dealership parking lot. and i remember all those peel outs trying to do a left turn without a signal light....

it'll tkae some time, but you'll get good at it soon. i find the hardest shift to keep smooth is the 1-2 shift. what rpms does everyone shift at from 1-2? please dont say redline, i mean the rpms for 1-2 during normal driving.

dfwmax

ajaffee

Well, I usually shift between 2k and 3k. This is somewhat low, but it gets the job done and conserves gas a bit.

NickStam

iTrader: (3)

I was also stalling out of the dealership because I had no clue what I was doing. But it's all good now

maximaR

A good way i found is to start off going down a small hill, it makes it a little easier untill you get the feel of it, then after you go down the hill try it on a flat surface, it should be a little easier. Starting on the hill gives you a little forward roll so you wont stall as easy, and it will be a little easier on your clutch cause you wont be Bucking it all the time. After the hill and the flat , try it on a small uphill , then get bigger ,,, up hill is a ***** to learn , but its fun once you get good at it. i just learned 5 speed on my dads jetta 1.8T, and now i would give my right arm to have a 5 speed , which is odd , cause if i had no right arm , i wouldnt be able to shift. Good luck , i hope you learn soon , being deprived of a 5 speed isnt cool at all. auto isnt as much fun anymore and its not as fast ,,, perhaps NOS is the answer... but i think ill hold out for a Roush Stage III or Supra or something to go nuts ,,, im only 17.

DFWmax

i did my practicing in a newly developing business park area. a cop came up and pulled alongside me and asked what i was doing. i told him i was trying to learn how to drive my 5-spd, he laughed, said "ok", and left. i guess i looked suspicious starting and stopping every 15 feet.

dfwmax

maximaR

haha, you should have asked if he wanted to race, just to see what he would say ,,, on second thought, nevermind.

Gary95

The first trick is clutch engagement. Too much gas, you rev the engine high; too little gas, you get tossed back and forth and stall. Take the car "slowly" to a parking lot and work on this. Engage in just first and second. SLOWLY. It's all a balance between the two feet: gas and clutch. There is a "zone of engagement", and you'll feel it start as the clutch grabs. The end of the zone is when you can depress the gas pedal and the engine doesn't over rev--the clutch plate is released and the power is channeled. Keep repeating the process until you "get the feel" of it. Also, keep in mind that the Maxima has a VERY short zone of engagement (this means in 1st and 2nd gear, it is not easy to shift smoothly, until you really know the car). And typically, the start is rather high on the clutch release.

The next step is shifting without looking. In the beginning, you have to look to see what you're doing (hence, the parking lot). But once you start getting the feel of it, stop looking. Get used to this.

The last step is shift speed. Once you have the first two steps mastered, you need to develop a smooth engagement between gears so that you have fluid acceleration. When do you shift? That depends on the grade of the road and how fast you're accelerating. Typically, I shift between 2.5k and 3k RPM (tachometer). When accelerating faster than usual, I usually shift at 4k RPM. And if you really want to push it, you can go up near 6k RPM!

I learned on a manual transmission, owned only one automatic in my lifetime (so far), and my current Maxima is manual. I love it. Once you master it, you really appreciate the little extra control you have over the car (especially in wet and snowy conditions). Plus it simply feels sporty.

Good luck!

deezo

iTrader: (3)

When you get driving on flat surfaces down, you will need to learn how to take off on a hill. This is scary but when I started driving big buses, I was taught that when you stop on an incline at a light and with cars behind you, apply the emergency brake. Taking off you will need to slowly engage the clutch and slowly release the emergency brake. This will keep you from rolling backwards and slamming into someone behind you. Takes madd practice tho.

When you really get to know manual transmissions, you will come to know they are syncromesh like tractor trailors. You can actually shift gears without depessing the clutch. This is how truckers save there clutches. I thought it was the coolest thing when an ex-trucker showed me this. When you take off in first gear(of course using the clutch to get going), let off the gas and move the shifter to 2nd. You will have to hold it there with a little pressure but don't force it. If you are going the right speed for each gear, it will fall into the gear with no problem. You will feel the syncros working. It allows the stick to fall into gear without depressing the clutch.

SunMax

iTrader: (2)

Congrat on the new ride!!! I had an auto but sometimes I really want to get a manual one when I was in light traffic (like this moring ), but then I was happy when it was really jam.

You said "forgot", sounds like you drive a manual before. Don't worry, this is kind of like riding a bicycle. You will never forget, but it will take a little time.

Trust me, in couple weeks, you will drive it like normal (well, except when you talk on the cell phone ).

abnorm

I just got my 5speed Max a couple of weeks ago, and it is my first car with a manual transmition(awlays wanted one). I think I am getting a hang of it pretty well. I live in San Francisco which if famous for its hills. That's the scariest thing for me, to take off standing on a hill with a car standing right behind me. I start getting all nerveous and stall sometimes. Then I create a traffic and everyone starts honking at me. How unpleasant!!!

SillePimp

I used to drive a 5spd '87 Celica GT before my brother gave me his '97 auto gxe. My dad took me out for a day driving the Celica around town, my first time driving a 5spd. One day was all I needed to learn how to drive that 5spd. I've had the gxe for two years now and I still remember how to drive the 5spd GT and the clutch pedal on that thing is really hard. Just take your car out for a day and drive around, you'll easily remember how to drive a 5spd again.

Gary95

I tried this a couple of times, but gave up. I'd put the shifter up against the position for the next gear and wait a second as I let off the gas. When the pressure eased up so the stick felt like it would move into place, I'd nudge it into the next gear--GRIND! It ended up working, but would always have some bit of grinding when doing it. To me, it felt like this particular gearbox is not well suited to it.

plrod Black 95 SE

riding a bicycle. You'll never forget. Have fun, wish I had a 5 speed now.

deezo

iTrader: (3)

You are probably right. I haven't driven the 5 speed Max although I would like to try it for myself. In every other vehicle I have driven the technique has worked flawlessly. I tell most people about this type of shifting and they get scared. How does it feel shifting from 3 to 4 to 5?

Mishmosh

iTrader: (3)

That's pretty damn funny! My first 5spd was my 95Max too. In fact, I read a manual on how to drive stick and just had one 1hr lesson on my Uncle-in-laws car before I drove my max from the dealer. Was scared as hell but managed to drive the thing safely home... stalled twice though. Doesn't take long to learn to drive stick nor learn that the Max is a little quirky. When engaging first, to this day, I often get a studdering and occasionally stall out. Usually if I up the rpm past 2k, I'm OK though.

fnkmaster

yep... i'd say a day's all you need. the same thing happened with me, the first time i drove a car (was stick) it was mad easy, i guess all those games come in handy! had fun too, cos i kept burning rubber! good luck man!

nixima

A friend of mine fell in love with VW Corrado when it was first introduced in 90. The car only came in 5-sp at that time. She bought a shiny yellow one. It took her a while to finally learn how to drive a stick and later found herself not liking driving a stick shift. 5 years later she decided to sell the car. The car had less than 20K miles on it. I hope that won't happen to your Max.

NYCe MaXiMa

iTrader: (9)

Congrats man. You drove my blue 93 auto at the last meet... You made the right choice man, I never see anyone complaining about hating their 5spd, or wanting to get rid of their 5spd for an auto... My auto tranny is 18k miles new (rebuilt) and it feels like crap and scares me a lot of the time because of slow *** downshifts and upshifts, I should have let you take it out and floored it so you can feel how bad it is, hesitation like crazzzyyy.....
I have 2 good friends who got their 1st cars in 5spd without knowing how to drive them at all! 1 kid has a Mazda 626, and it took about 3 months or so until he started bragging about how fast it is and how good he is, my other friend got a Mustang and killed the clutch but he learned to drive that thing very well quickly and he didn't have a clue on how to drive that thing.
I am just waiting until you come back and say how much you love it. I have minimal experience driving stick and I got a part time vallet parking job and we get stick cars, I just drove a 96 Accord LX 5spd this week, it is fun as hell, you need to just let the clutch go slow and get a feel of how far you have to depress it and at which moments to shift. My friend on the Stang can run through gears better then I can drive my auto, the guy that works with me at the vallet spot is awsome and he owns an automatic Lumina, but is very experienced with manuals and wants to get one too. i'll be at the meet june 3rd too...

So How much did you pay?!?!
Where? What milage?


later bro.

190hpKiLLA

iTrader: (11)

I got what i wanted it will take me time to learn. Its 97 SE fully loaded with 107k miles. The car is from Maryland. I shift with out looking and everything, i just have to get used to slow speed start.

kevm14

Actually, I think you're right. I went through a phase of shift-without-the-clutch and I never got it just right. The gearbox is a bit molasses-filled to be good it snicking into place. However, it can still be done. You just need to know the car and have a better feel for it. My friend's 87 BMW 325is is really easy to do clutchless shifting. Long, imprecise throws, but EASY when it comes to falling into gear. You pull it out of gear as you let off the gas, and apply light pressure to the stick in the next gear. When the rpms reach the upshift point, the synchros just let it fall right into place. Pretty cool. The maxima requires a little force, that's all.
Might as well not do it though...

party_boy

it is a good skill to learn. It is not hard to learn and should take less than a week to get to the point where you wont stall out anymore. The only problem is until you learn to shift well...you waste a lot of gas. Just a hint. The smoother you engage the clutch and shift...the more gas you will save. Good luck and keep trying.

PB

190hpKiLLA

iTrader: (11)

Another question where can i get dimond cut bumper lenses and are they good looking comparing to regular.

Stephen

When you are about to take off, let the clutch out until you start to see the rpms drop just slightly. Hold the clutch there. When you are ready to move forward, hit the gas. This should cut down on stalling the engine. This is also a good way to get a fast start.