first lesson in a stick

[alan6272]

Took my daughter for her first lesson in a stick shift and the only one I have now is the 944. She did very well even with the manual steering. I am not worried about the car just so you all know Any one else train some one or your self on a stick with a 944?

[Jrboulder]

Just about everyone I know

[mytrplseven]

I trained my daughter on my 1st 944, a 85 1/2 NA. Great bonding experience.

[Ky914Newbie]

I did some training with my son on mine. First lesson was difficult getting started. Second lesson, we did some training on a newer Chevy with a very forgiving clutch. That was no problem, only took one lesson. Back to the 944, it took 3 or 4 more sessions in a big parking lot and all was good. The 944 is not as easy as newer cars, but once you can handle the 944 clutch, everything else should be a breeze.

[mattdavis11]

I learned in my 944 when I was 15. My dad owned it then. Several years ago, I taught my nephew in the same car. Countless people have driven it that had little to no experience with a manual transmission. My GF relearned, then used it as a DD for a month or two.

[AaronM]

Originally Posted by Ky914Newbie

The 944 is not as easy as newer cars, but once you can handle the 944 clutch, everything else should be a breeze.

I've driven a lot of stick shifts and the 944 models that I've driven (924S, 944 2.7, 951) have all had some of the most forgiving clutches of anything out there. Long travel, wide friction point, very progressive engagement. They operate very much like an old cable-operated clutch (a well-adjusted cable-operated clutch).

Most newer cars I've driven have clutches with less travel, a smaller friction zone, and much more abrupt engagement, which make them more difficult for beginners. The clutch in my '06 Mustang may as well have been an on/off switch and the '02 M5 was similarly touchy. Granted, a newer econobox may be different, but that doesn't change the fact that a properly adjusted 944 clutch should be among the easiest and most forgiving clutches out there.

If the 944 is your idea of a vehicle with a difficult clutch, you either haven't driven many other cars with manual transmissions or the clutch on your 944 is maladjusted (or a decidedly non-stock racing setup).

[Ky914Newbie]

I guess I was comparing to an econobox.

[Gawernator]

I taught myself to drive manual in my 1983 944.. with a few tips from Pops

[curtisr]

The thought of 'training' my kids with a 'stick' has certainly crossed my mind. Several times in fact. One for each...

[9FF]

Amazes me that to get my license in the USA I had to answer a few question, reverse out of a parking space and drive around the block, in an automatic. I knew how to do all that in my pedal car when I was five.

In the UK where I am from and most anywhere in the ROW, you don't get a full license unless you took your test in a manual stick shift, they give you a restricted license just for automatics. Plus the test is really tough.

Most people learn to drive with a stick so are very capable to drive an auto if they wish. Seems like everything is inverted in the USA.

[Gawernator]

Originally Posted by curtisr

The thought of 'training' my kids with a 'stick' has certainly crossed my mind. Several times in fact. One for each...

Originally Posted by 9FF

Amazes me that to get my license in the USA I had to answer a few question, reverse out of a parking space and drive around the block, in an automatic. I knew how to do all that in my pedal car when I was five.

In the UK where I am from and most anywhere in the ROW, you don't get a full license unless you took your test in a manual stick shift, they give you a restricted license just for automatics. Plus the test is really tough.

Most people learn to drive with a stick so are very capable to drive an auto if they wish. Seems like everything is inverted in the USA.

It took a lot of beatings to get me 'in line' bwhaha.

9FF, Americans are lazy and drive autos /thread

[curtisr]

After much thought, I decided that there must be a better way to keep the kids in line than to use a stick...

[Jrboulder]

Amazes me that to get my license in the USA I had to answer a few question, reverse out of a parking space and drive around the block, in an automatic. I knew how to do all that in my pedal car when I was five.



In the UK where I am from and most anywhere in the ROW, you don't get a full license unless you took your test in a manual stick shift, they give you a restricted license just for automatics. Plus the test is really tough.



Most people learn to drive with a stick so are very capable to drive an auto if they wish. Seems like everything is inverted in the USA.

So there should be a rating for every piece of optional equipment? Hold on while I go get my cruise control rating

[9FF]

So there should be a rating for every piece of optional equipment? Hold on while I go get my cruise control rating

No no you miss my point, learn to drive in a stick from the start precludes you to drive an auto without further instruction. Learn in an auto and you have to also learn a stick later. Totally different process of driving.

[AaronM]

Originally Posted by 9FF

In the UK where I am from and most anywhere in the ROW, you don't get a full license unless you took your test in a manual stick shift, they give you a restricted license just for automatics. Plus the test is really tough.

Most people learn to drive with a stick so are very capable to drive an auto if they wish. Seems like everything is inverted in the USA.

American driver's education is woefully inadequate and this is unfortunately unlikely to change. Efforts at addressing the problem have focused on things like curfews for teen drivers or prohibiting drivers under a certain age from having other teens in the car with them (ostensibly to avoid distractions for young drivers but the reality is that this just encourages cell phone use and discourages things like carpooling), rather than focusing on the training itself.

US driver's education instructors are often just random retired people whose role is little more than to make sure that you're not so obviously incompetent that you will mow down pedestrians because you don't know that a red light means "stop."

I've been saying for a long time that we need a system like Germany's, where the instructors have much more training and the requirements include accident avoidance and car control in inclement weather.

[Gawernator]

Amen

[alan6272]

Aaronm You are so right, When I learned to drive there was no such thing as drivers ed. At least if there was way back then it wasn't mandatory as it is now but all my kids had to take it to get their permits. The drivers ed teaches nothing. A real shame in my opinion.

[944tothefloor]

Yeah, I think it should be required in the US to floor your car then brake as fast as possible, to see what it's like. I think new driver's need to know what it's like to have a tire go off the road into gravel. Diver,s should be taught how to handle thier car appropriately and know what the machine is able to do. Etc... otherwise your first time with something like that is when an emergency is already happening.

Anyone can pass a US license test.

[curtisr]

This is why the US, Canada, etc have given up on trying to fix drivers and are instead focusing on making the car safer, smarter and, I suppose, the majority with the ultimate goal of taking the responsibility of driving out of the hands of the person behind the wheel. (I was bad with run-on sentences in school but I managed to pass which, some say, comes a complete and total surprise but I never thought so and neither does my mother or my father.)

[jhowell371]

I've always maintained that if you had to show the same range of skills in a car as required in a plane to get a pilot's license only one in 10 of the people currently on the road would be driving. Public transportation would flourish out of necessity and the roads would be alot safer. Most of the people reading this would be driving I'm sure.