[jberger711]

I want to learn how to drive a stick. I have never had the chance to drive one or learn. Anyone have any ideas where in PA this is possible? I have a dirtbike but assume its a little more difficult to drive a stick than a manual dirtbike.

 

[Graidian]

Drive out to rural country, find an old farm with an old tractor...

 

[jberger711]

Drive out to rural country, find an old farm with an old tractor...

The problem is I dont think anyone will just randomly let a stranger just drive their tractor

 

[Bill_c]

I want to learn how to drive a stick. I have never had the chance to drive one or learn. Anyone have any ideas where in PA this is possible? I have a dirtbike but assume its a little more difficult to drive a stick than a manual dirtbike.

Rural roads are good but so is a big, empty parking lot. Around me there are several mega-churches with parking lots that are empty during the week. I learned years and years ago on the streets of San Francisco, in VW Beetle. San Francisco is kind of a worst-case scenario but the point is you can learn anywhere provided you have access to a vehicle and someone with patience to help out. Not a motorcycle rider so I can't say for sure but I think you will find them similar. The biggest trick is the coordination of gas and clutch. If you have any choice in the matter (and in my opinion) it would be easier to start with a light and lower powered vehicle - an older Honda for example.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy -

 

[Graidian]

The problem is I dont think anyone will just randomly let a stranger just drive their tractor

True, my apologies, small town mentality again. Guessing OP doesn't know anyone with a manual? A true manual...not the paddle shifting imitation manuals they have these days... Or perhaps know someone that has the skill, then rent a manual

 

[jberger711]

True, my apologies, small town mentality again. Guessing OP doesn't know anyone with a manual? A true manual...not the paddle shifting imitation manuals they have these days... Or perhaps know someone that has the skill, then rent a manual

yes i dont know anyone. Im just not sure they will let me rent a manual if i can't get it out of their parking lot :surprise:

 

[Bill_c]

Drive out to rural country, find an old farm with an old tractor...

Learner's heaven - Quiet pasture and old jeep or pickup with a slipping clutch!

 

[jberger711]

Learner's heaven - Quiet pasture and old jeep or pickup with a slipping clutch!

Is it worth me buying a 900 dollar beater car to learn on? I just dont know anyone who has one, and I have no one to teach me :frown:

 

[briman4031]

My first car was a beater manual. My folks took me out once, and then said " go drive around the neighborhood" after that.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

 

[Rad1]

I willing to bet that you can find a private instructor in your area, or close enough, that will teach you. He/she will of course charge. Google is your friend.

Both my daughters were not thrilled with my requirement that their first cars be manual transmissions. Years later, they are very happy I did. My youngest told me just just last weekend that she is the only one of her friends that can drive a stick......she likes that.

 

[TruckIt]

I don't know if any still offer it, but the drivers training company that worked with my high school had one instructor that had a manual. If you needed extra wheel time I think he charged 30 bucks an hour, but that was 30 years ago. I think you may have the right plan, buy a beater, learn to drive on it then sell it again to get the vehicle that you are wanting to learn to drive a stick for.

 

[Clint]

If you can ride a dirt bike you CAN successfully drive a stick car. I was handed the keys of a new car by a friend when I was still one year away from being licensed to drive in NJ. I didn't say no and took the keys and drive away with my other friend , I was gone about a half hour total and amazingly never stalled. Who gives their car to a kid without a license and doesn't even come for the ride????Unfortunately I was sitting at a traffic light and a car pulls up next to me and of all people it was my own mother. It was back in 1974 and still hear her yelling, get that car back to whoever it belongs to, lol. I sure miss her.
There are still driving schools who offer to teach you. Hope you find one.

Clint

 

[FFTR]

Consider looking into driving schools in your area. May be cheaper to go to a school than buy the beater.

 

[Skibane]

Another vote for finding an empty parking lot.

If you just practice releasing the clutch - over and over again until you can do it consistently without stalling the engine or making the vehicle lurch forward - You've got 90 percent of the battle won.

Once it becomes second nature for you to smoothly release the clutch, you can focus all your attention on changing gears.

 

[segwayne]

The story goes.... In 1965 before I was born, my dad bought my mother -- who couldn't drive a stick -- a new VW Beetle.

He drove it out to her office on Redstone Arsenal about 4 miles away, walked in, handed her the keys, turned around and walked home. She finally got it home, walked in and cussed him upside one wall and down the other. After that day, pretty much every car she ever owned and every car she truly loved had a manual transmission until the day she passed away...

That's how you learn to drive a stick. You just get in and figure it out by necessity...

Wayne

 

[LiamNissan]

I want to learn how to drive a stick. I have never had the chance to drive one or learn. Anyone have any ideas where in PA this is possible? I have a dirtbike but assume its a little more difficult to drive a stick than a manual dirtbike.

As some others have said, there are quite a few stick shift training instructors out there, a thorough Google search should turn one up in your area.

This is actually how I learned to drive a manual. I was in the same situation as you, wanted to learn but there was never a stick shift car/willing instructor available. The training session was a little expensive ($150 for 4 hours I think, and that was close to 10 years ago), but it's still cheaper/safer than buying a beater and trying it on your own. Plus, an instructor will take you out into all the real world situations (heavy traffic, starting on a hill, etc.), which you won't get going 20 mph in a parking lot somewhere.

 

[Cusser]

Both my daughters were not thrilled with my requirement that their first cars be manual transmissions. Years later, they are very happy I did. My youngest told me just just last weekend that she is the only one of her friends that can drive a stick......she likes that.

In 2004, I bought a 1998 Frontier regular cab with 100K on it for my teenage daughters to drive to school and work. Yes, they needed to learn its 5-speed. We started with driving in my 1971 VW in the high school parking lot, then moved onto the Frontier. The regular cab was so that could only have one passenger, and 5-speed also saved 2 months of insurance payments until I deemed them ready to get their licenses. At the HS, not only were they the only gals who could drive manual, they were the ONLY ones !

Anyway, after youngest eventually graduated college and bought a needed 4WD (1998 Pathfinder), she returned the Frontier to us; at 211K it's still running fine, on all 4 cylinders, original AC !!!

Suggestion: look in local Craigslist, see who's selling an old VW, offer to pay them to teach you.

All my 5 vehicles are manual transmission: '98 Frontier, 2004 Frontier, 1988 Mazda b2200 truck, 1971 VW convertible, 1970 VW sedan. Mrs. Cusser has a 2005 Yukon (automatic).

 

[TexasScout]

I learned when I was 16, 46 years ago. I got a job delivering prescriptions at a drug store. All they had was a 1968 Chevy C10 step side with a straight 6 and a "three on the tree" (column shift 3 speed). I was pretty mechanically inclined and I knew how the engine transmission and clutch assembly worked. So I just sat there for a minute or to thinking how I needed to work this thing. I pushed in the clutch, grabbed reverse and never looked back.

You can too.


BTW: a stick shift is one of the best theft prevention devices out there. Car thieves don't know how to drive one.

My Son Inlaw left the keys in his new Mazda 3 6 sp manual the other day, in the morning they had stolen everything but the car.

 

[nmum]

I learned how to drive on a stick shift but then drove automatics mostly after that.

The theory and concept with a motorcycle is the same. Where I can't remember which way made it the easier transition, ie knowing how to drive stick make it easier to learn how to shift on a bike or vice versa.

But it's pretty much the same concept. I think I did find it a bit easier to control with my hands.

With cars there's always a bit nervousness when it's a different car, at least for me and especially if I hadn't driven one in a while. One of the last times was when I was a passenger with a friend who got pulled over for suspicion of drinking and was told that I could either drive the car or leave the car there. I didn't want to drive off in front of the cops or else they might've thought I was drunk too even though it would just be bad driving.

One of the things that I did when I got another car with a stick after a while was go to a place where I knew there was an incline and practiced stopping on the incline and getting the car going again. This kind of gets you comfortable with the friction point and driving the car.

Not sure where you would be able to source a car to practice on, unless you know someone who has a beater or something that they wouldn't mind you playing around on.

 

[S2krunner]

I learned basic stuff from my ex girlfriend. I went bought Acura RSX type S and learned myself after. Ask friends or family member's friends.