Frank Fontaine

Just curious, I have this idea of selling my car to my younger bro'. I could help him out with a below wholesale price, at the same time keep it in the family. But he's never driven a stick.

He's not old or anything, only 23. I taught a Russian woman who never drove a car before to drive a stick when I was 19. I remember really looking forward to it because she was 30, guess I had a boyish crush or something.

Anyway, I remember her clashing the gears sometimes and really slipping on the clutch when it came to starting on hills. Of course she got it eventually but we used her "used" car to do it. I'm not sure my bro' should learn on the Max and put it through that. Any suggestions? I doubt rentals have sticks here in the States.

BlancMax

I bought a 1976 RWD 4 speed Celica, and learned to drive it as I left the used car lot. The salesman laughed after I stalled 3 times in a row. I wiped the smile off his face the fourth time as I dumped the clutch, slammed the gas (not much HP, but it is was RWD) and spit rocks and dirt on every other car in the lot. I never looked back. Good Times, Good Times! That was one of my favorite cars, it was basically a POS, but man was it fun.

Weasel

iTrader: (2)

Learned on my ex-girlfriend's Civic, she asked me to drive home after she had driven somewhere, so I just had to wing it. I didn't even stall (though I think I took years off the life of the clutch).

Sprint

iTrader: (10)

I learned 2 1/2 years ago on my gf's 1989 Accord.. she told me to balance the clutch and gas if i didn't go get the car from the dorm parking lot a couple times and practice by riding the clutch and the gas.. i wouldn't have figured it out

SuDZ

My firends and I learned by going on test drives in MT cars. that way we dont hurt our clutches when we got them and learned how. So by the time we drove ours around we were good enough to pick up the little thigns later on.

SuDZ

meccanoble

iTrader: (22)

my friend taught me on his 92 maxima SE, then he got a toyota corolla 94 due to an accident....he taught me on that as well, the only clutch toyota corolla/camry i have ever seen in my life :eek

djmaxski

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE... My Dad made me drive around the neigborhood with him saying Stop, Go, Stop, Go whenever he flet like it. Of course he *****ed everytime I stalled it, especially backing out of the driveway. After he got out, I spent a hour or two just driving from place to place to get the hang of it. It was worth it to not have to have an automatic (traffic is mostly light where I drive, no need for the auto )

soundmike

iTrader: (24)

I learned to drive a stick on this car. Heck, once you learn to drive a stick on that you can almost call yourself a veteran LOL!

Btw, it had a 4-speed synchromesh transmission with a shifter that's roughly 2 feet from the floorboard.

SteVTEC

my dad taught me about 8 years ago on the 90 Camry in my sig when I was learning to drive

SuDZ

My Dad taught me to drive around when I was 8. But noone ever really showed me how to drive standard until a few months ago when I bought this car. It might be better for your brother to learn ahead of time, that way he can really tell if he is someone who will want a stick or not.

SuDZ

edadams

I learned to drive in a 82 volkswagen jetta diesel with a whopping 48 hp. That car was a slug, you had to turn off the air-conditioner when passing on the highway.

Newman

iTrader: (3)

i this past summer i worked for a car video/alarm place that did most of its work with dealerships so i had to drive to the dealership to pick up a vehicle and bring it back to the shop. instead of paying me for mileage in my car they got a company "hoopty" for me to drive....a 1991 Toyota pick up. it was stick so i had no choice but to learn. i had already gotten a 10 min lesson from my roommate a few months earlier so i knew the basics. i had driven numerous stick cars since then but i never really felt like a fluent stick driver until i got my new car. a month later is like ive been driving stick my whole life. you can figure out how to drive stick on someone else's car but you'll never really get good at it unless you get one of you own and drive it everyday.
i say give him the maxima. if he drives it everyday he'll pick it up very very quickly. its like moving to mexico without speaking spanish very well. if you're surrounded by spanish then you'll learn more and more pretty quickly.

emax02

iTrader: (1)

Get a few bears in your system and practice. It actually loosend me up quite a bit and I got teh jist of it real quickly. I know.. bad I idea, it was years ago

00Semaxi

dad bought me a 2000 Subaru Legacy Gt 5 speed and said go at it, he never even helped me ( I guess he wanted me to learn on my own) so after an hour I learned how to shift, and after a couple of days I was pretty good at it. but it took me a while to learn how to launch the car just right.

95maxrider

iTrader: (32)

i learned on my friends 1992 accord when he was unable to drive....it was pretty rough for the first bunch of lights...but now, even though im still stuck with an auto, i can get from point A to B, with minimal stalling...its all about practice

Nine7Max

1997 Altima 5-speed, long road, 10 minutes.

deezo

iTrader: (3)

I learned on an S10 pickup that we used for a bag runner for Business Express Airlines at Logan Airport. Lots of open space out there.

CJP

I learned about 2 weeks ago when I bought my 96 Maxima SE I've stalled out about 12 times so far and taken off a little to fast a few times. I've been laughed at by people in the next lane a couple times. It was basically like learning to drive again. I think i've gotten through the learning phase without doing an major damage to my clutch, so I'm happy.

geo1317

iTrader: (17)

im in the process,i started on friday, have stalled about a half a dozen times, but i think i have it down.

Chirped 2nd twice last night too.

98BlaximaSE

I learned about a year ago through my job of Valet Parking cars. Funny part was the first stick car I had to pull up was a Maxima. Stalled it like 3 times, but I made it there ok. You can learn a lot under pressure like that.

crazy4maxima

iTrader: (5)

1969 jeep cj with a wooping 3 speed... Driving in Puerto Rico, Mountain area... Fun Though, I hated going reverse to make a u-turn. But it gets fun when the jeep motor when RoooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOM shift...lol.. Sadly that cj has been out of commision for the past 8 years.. BTW i was 10 when i learned it..

Maybe the best thing to do is to rent a car for the weekend or something... Have him drive around the block and area for hours... That will make him get used to it.. BTW I suggest teaching him how to paralle park.. since you have to know how to balance the clutch and gas..

MaximaRox

iTrader: (1)

i am originally from India and there automatics have just started to appear in the market in the last 4 yrs and in Bombay (the city i spent all my life before coming to US) has probably the worst traffic anywhere you go....learned to drive on a 800cc, 35hp Suzuki in peak traffic (which is almost 18hrs a day :P)
came to US in '99 and didnt drive a stick regularly till i bought my Max this jan and had a lil rough time the initial few days, but boy does it feel good to control all that power

mlocke

I learned Valet Parking as well (thought I was the only one). A couple of the regulars frequenting the establishment had older Triumphs (which had to be double-clutched) and one had a column shift manual (took me a while to figure out which was 1st and reverse).

crazy4maxima

iTrader: (5)

wow the only time i saw a colomn type manual shifter was in my unkle's chevy pick up.. i think it was a 70's 80's truck.. i was like 5 when i saw him drive it.. Now that some driving...

RapidMax

iTrader: (2)

Anyone want to let me contribute to this thread by donating me their 5 speed for a few hours?

grody

i was born with the innate ability to drive a manual transmission.





actually, i learned from my dad in a 1979 toyota pickup while driving around in a field when i was 10 years old.

trinity000

click here

that is how i learned lol....

it was my first vehicle and i still have it sitting at my bro's house... it is my toy... that thing you couldn't kill the clutch or tranny on so i learned on that... it was bad enough that it was so tall i had to overcome that and the stick... and i only stalled it 1 time!!!! ever!! hehehe now i love my 5spd max

lilmiller

i learned in my moms 86 chrysler 600.... it was sweet i used to bump in that thang..till i got my NWA tape stuck and my dad found it *ouch* i was in deep shiznit but after we moved from tx to japan i learned more in out family van....it was a 88 toyota previa they stopped making those i dont know why it looked pretty sweet plus it was rear wheel drive so i could smoke the tire by dumping the clutch!hahha but then i bought my own car something they dont have here in the states as usual a 86 toyota carina man that was my first love...came with ground effect kit and the dude that sold it to me had already installed a momo steering wheel and drop plus rims....couldnt ask for more until me being the dumbass i was back then went street racing and one of the guys racing me rearended my *** and totally f-ed up so no ride for 2 weeks but finally got a deal on a 88 nissan skyline yes yall are like yeah right but i do have pics but no scanner maybe i can take a pic with my digi of the regular pic huh ill try that well needless to say it wasnt a gt-r but it did have the inline 6 with a single turbo plus it was a 4 door and automagic... but could still hang with the hachi-rokus those of you who are familiar with japanese lingo will know what that means..well then i went and joined the military and they stationed my azz in the good ole' usa far far away from the motherland of sportcompacts!!ahh well maybe sumday ill get stationed there!!!

Finality

First time I learned was on a Toyota Corolla. Drove it for about 9-12 hours totally no stalls no burns nothing. Only problems I had was controlling the reverse.

Year later when I was looking for a car to buy I test drove an Eclipse. I bought it back to the dealers with the clutch burning stalled about 4 times, an hour later I went straight back inside and went yeah thanks I'll let you know

I pity the f00 that buys an Eclipse.

philpoe

iTrader: (4)

It was my cousin's 5.7liter V8 firebird formula (or whatever it was called). We went to a mall parking lot with plenty of space.
Terrifying. The only choices seemed to be smoking rubber or stall
I simultaneously took lessons on a Ford probe GT (original body style) with an insanely short (in comparison to the V8 first gear.
A couple of hours in the lots with a few days of traffic (the Pontiac was very hard for stop and go driving) and I was set.
My 1st car was an 86 VW Jetta GLi not long after that.

RastaManMax

iTrader: (5)

Funny, i learned by pressing on both the clutch and the gas to the floor, then dumping it @ 6600 RPMS.... Does that wear my clutch in any way?

d_98SE

Got the basic's from my Dad on a Citroen and a Renault[French car's] with a dash shifter back in Africa.You had to pull the shifter back all the way then slide it in while turning it left and right to engage gear's.

I learned proper in my buddy's Nissan Sentra when we carpooled for like a month at the end of which i sheepishly handed him $150 to help "fix" third gear which had started slipping.

syc

driving school

MaximaRider

iTrader: (3)

my dad taught me when i was 15 on my sister 94 Jetta GL 5spd, when i got my permit(16 in NJ) i was taking out the 95 Max and rippin up the streets, good thing the rents never found out

ThisMax2NV

I got YELLED at, SCREAMED at, CURSED at, and just about everything else until I got it right and by the way I was taught by none other that my very own DAD! Yeah I still hate his *** after all that.

GreenMaxVE

I learned to drive stick on my first car. A 1980 Mazda GLC hatchback. It had 52 HP, no A/C, no power steering, and it originally didn't even come with a radio. That was a great little car(GLC).

Bman

I learned on our '82 Accord sedan (yes we still have it). Very easy car to learn on, forgiving, and smooth to drive even today except for the lack of power steering. MUCH easier than a friend's '91 Civic with a clutch so sharp you could slice tomatos with it!

Unfortunately after we got the clutch changed on the Accord it was so feather-light (which kicked a$$ btw), driving the Max by comparison was like pumping iron at first. Then later when I had to drive the Accord again my foot instantly slammed on the floorboard and I thought, "Oh my God, the clutch broke!"

MAX

My mom on an 87 Isuzu Trooper when I was 15. Glad she's a patient woman.

NoHalo

My older brother taught me at a big parking lot in a 1974 Mercury Capri. Thanks for the patience bro... He taught me speed shifting ( or power shifting) and shifting w/o the clutch...

The next two cars I bought were sticks.

NightRider

iTrader: (6)

I learned on Papasmurf's car. We were on our way back from a New York meet when he pulled over and told me to drive while he goes to sleep. (5:30 in the morning). I had fun though. I have to have a 5-speed after that.