hello other maxima people...it may seem to be a waste of post but today I did my "virgin drive" with 5spd.

came 58 miles from Athens, GA, to Atlanta, got in traffic, stalled out 5 times, almost got a wreck peeling off doing the bullet thing into a 16 wheeler in the front from dead stop on I-85, got honked at.

But still no wreck, all in one piece, and feeling great.
All this post to just say that next year or so I'll be doing 5spd swap
by the way, the vehicle was 95 Accord 2.2L. (but i still peeled out)

 

so, who's transmission did you ruin?

haha j/k i want to learn to drive stick, i don't know how

 

After one hour of driving stick on the road, you pretty much got it.

 

Hey when I learned i peeled out all the time in my friends 119 horsepower corolla. Oh yeah

 

You get the "know how" in about an hour.....takes a couple weeks to be smooth all the time.......Im on 2 weeks right now, pretty smooth now, just gotta get smoother with the race shifting style now, and learn to drive it in snow, if we ever get some here in CO....

 

Thats not right; is it. I'm a year into my car and I still can't shift as smooth as I want. Maybe Im just retarded.

 

Guess Im just a natural?? LOL

Learned how to get going on a hill REALLY quick in this car......1 mile from dealer got stock on one with someone on my ***....lets say its easy as pie for me now, had to learn REALLY quick, haha

 

i've been driving stick for months and i'm a pro

but i can still catch myself time to time doing the chicken head movement from a inaccurate first or second gear pull out....

 

Any other autos here have the lazy left leg syndrome? hhaha I got to get used to having to move my left leg when my 5sp conversion gets completed.

 

Damn I can't wait for my 5spd swap to be done. I should have it done by next week.. I only drove stick a few times.. Gotta get smooth on 1st gear... It'll definitly be fun learning to drive a stick on a boosted max

 

i drove a 2000 323 5 speed over turkey break. my 1st time ever driving a stick and i only stalled out in reverse twice. i can shift fine and fast excpet coming from a red light i jerk the car too much. but im happy with my zato max. although i pretended it was a stick for the next 2 days.

 

5 speeds are the greatest to drive but I personally dont think that someone can ever become perfect at it. There is always room for improvement. I have been driving stick for 5 years now and I can honestly say I can improve on my skills. But it is still fun as hell to drive a 5 speed!!

 

5 speeds are the greatest to drive but I personally dont think that someone can ever become perfect at it. There is always room for improvement. I have been driving stick for 5 years now and I can honestly say I can improve on my skills. But it is still fun as hell to drive a 5 speed!!

 

I learned how to drive stick 6 yrs ago on my 87 Prelude. On the first day, I spend twenty minutes at this one light. I couldn't get the freaking car to go.

 

That must had suck but you can look back on it now with a laugh.

 

No, that doesn't necessarily mean that you're retarded. The 6 speed on the 2002/3 has a steep learning curve, and is much harder to shift smoothly than some other cars (esp. other 5 sp cars).

I've been driving my 6 sp for about a month now, and I'm pretty smooth 80% of the time in all gears, including downshifting and such. However, I'm still a little jerky sometimes when starting from a stop in 1st gear. I'm just very cautious about burning the clutch, and usually end up releasing it too quickly while not giving it sufficient gas. Just keep practicing, and it'll eventually come to you.

By the way, this is my first manual car.

 

yes, second day and whoa, it's piece of cake!

Although in this big hill red light I shot RPM to 6000 in 1st gear trying not to roll back and hit the bus in the back

Definately 5spd is the solution for speed. I can really shift 3.5X faster from 0-60 than an auto.

believe or not, this Accord is by birthright 1/2 mine, bought from my bro for $2200 for 1/2 the car. That explains why I can't really afford my true dual exhaust without selling my intake.

For fellow auto drivers, I strongly recommend switching to 5spd and get the true feeling of the VQ.

Rice, uh Race, on.

 

After driving sticks for 26 years, I love my automatic 2k3. I know it'd drive faster and "better" with a stick, and I'd have more control, but my left knee HURTS and has a touch of arthritis. Maybe from all that shifting.

Yes, the Max is my midlife crisis car. If they just made it in "write-me-a-ticket-red" I'd be all set.

By the way - use your parking brake on those hills! And, if you think about how to start when you're on a hill - you're screwed. Don't think about it - just do it.

 

I wish I could drive 5 speed, my previous car, 1993 Altima SE was automatic, however I feel that if it was stick - I could easily master that car within days, as I knew how to drive that car perfectly, I knew every inch and corner of that car. In my new car 1997 Maxima SE, I dont know if I could get comfortable with a stick, it feels so much bigger and so much harder to "master" than the little Alty.