Teaching my grandson stick
 

My grandson Paul has been bugging me to teach him to drive stick for a while now, so on Saturday we dropped the top on the MR2 and set off to the empty parking lots of Palomar College.

There's something really gratifying about

1. Grandsons wanting to learn something from you
2. Young kids interested in driving
3. Watching the light come on over their head when they get it

We did have a cop cruise by real slow checking us out, but I think seeing me move my hands mimicking gas and clutch pedal was enough explanation for him.

Paul said he kept dreaming about using the clutch that night. :D

I do this each summer with a farm truck. Granny gear and gravel roads = almost impossible to stall it. It is a fun way to connect with teens.

How cool is it that granddad has a MR2!

My daughter asks to go driving in her stick fox body 5.0 all the time. Most of her friends could care less about driving, but not her...

My first reaction as well.

Both my children learned to drive stick on my 1999 Tacoma...which, btw, will be up for sale soon.

End of an era.

Driving a stick is like riding a bike. Once you learn, you never forget it.

And this now opens the door to so many more cool cars that he can now drive.

have fun!! i learned on a steep hill. 1972 Chevy Nova. it was awesome. i picked it up fairly quickly.

Did this last weekend for the first time with my 16 yo. Purchased him a 6sp Mini Cooper. His friends think I am even crazier now.

I tried to teach my niece how to drive stick on my 6SP MCS. After sluggishly making some progress, she would have no more of it.

I followed my daughter dropping off the Tacoma for a power steering pump failure. She last drove a stick three years ago. No issues.

I learned on a 1959 El Camino, three on the tree, a clutch throw from Bakersfield to Modesto. Every manual from then has been easy.

What year MR2?
If it's geared like my '03, he probably could have idled off in 1st.
.
SmileWavy

One of the great simple joys in life, learning to drive a stick. Also quite entertaining for the instructor.

It's a 2000, but he wasn't able to idle off in 1st! He probably stalled it 20 times, but got pretty good at it after an hour.

Our approach was to start in a parking stall facing up a slight incline. Steep enough that you'd roll backwards if you let off the brakes, but not enough to be nerve wracking. He'd pull forwards to the next parking stall and stop there, then move on to the next one. There were about eight stops before he got to the top of the lot, then he'd turn around, go to the bottom of the hill, and start it all over.

It seemed to take forever for him to stop dumping the clutch - no matter how many times I'd say "let it out slower", he'd just dump it. It took him a while to understand the car needs to be moving a bit before letting the clutch completely out. Interestingly, when I said to "feather the clutch", he knew just what I meant - that's when it all began to click.

Good for you guys!

I learned on a 74 supper beetle. Good times. Driving a manual any time after that is a piece of cake.

I taught my son to drive my 91 318is. He picked it up quickly and drove alone a few times, but wasn’t enthralled with it. At least he learned and can do it if needed.

I taught my daughter stick on her Golf diesel, the advantage being that it has enough torque to enable the clutch to be slipped in first gear with the engine at idle.

...as long as it is not on your car. :D

Fifteen years ago the daughter got her dream truck, a used Ford Ranger 5-speed. Took her to the steepest hill in town, parked truck, and said "here you go." She got it the second try, releasing the left foot e-brake after bringing the truck to "hold" on clutch slip. She'll be able to drive anything, anytime, anywhere for the rest of her life.

My 17 year old is on his learners, about to take the drivers test, he's never driven anything but stick.
He already has a solid 914 project.

My sons first car was an E30 Auto 325i purchased from RickV after we decided to not campaign it in a 24 hours of lemons race for $600.

Artistic AF picture here snapped by ME!

https://photos.smugmug.com/Cars/n-jS.../i-vC6wVh9.jpg

My son wanted to move on up, as fate would have it another Pelican JohnH had rescued a 325is from a junkyard fate and fixed it up. My son sold his 325i and purchased Johns 325IS, the problem was it was stick. So he had to learn to drive stick, which I had taught him, on my 2003 Mini Cooper S JCW years ago, then my wife spent time with him in our 2001 Audo A6 Quattro 2.7T and he did well with both very different cars.

Now he needed to re-learn how to drive stick since he had been driving a slushbox for a while.

We flew up to Johns house, picked up the car, I made him drive it to the nearest gas station for a fill up then informed him he was driving the entire 8 hour drive home and I was there for moral support. The boys first tank of gas in his newly acquired E30 325is.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Cars/n-jS.../i-Gs6CthS.jpg

A year later we were driving up to NC to play car with some other Pelicans us getting gas... again.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Cars/n-jS.../i-Rd8N598.jpg

This is a pic of dad and son at the Tail of the dragon, dad in E46 330i son in E30 325is. Sons car caused crowds to surround it, dads, not so much.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Cars/n-jS.../i-nDPnqQS.jpg

Now son daily drives a 2006 Mini Cooper S with tons of go fast goodies on it. 6 speed manual.

He project car is a 1991 318is with a S50 swap again manual, he hates auto cars.

One last pic of his 318is parked next to my buddies M3.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Cars/n-jS.../i-nrCLFSn.jpg

Amail - Good on you got teaching the lat to drive stick, hopefully the addiction kicks in and yes, very cool car an MR2. Kid has good taste.

Bonus shots since this thread made me find them.

On the tail of the dragon, talk about a nervous father, jamming into my sons head to not get in over his head over and over and over again.

I kept his ass behind me at all times and drove at 50%. :D

https://photos.smugmug.com/Cars/n-jS.../i-WtRvjfV.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/Cars/n-jS.../i-tSTr4tx.jpg