[Chutzpah]

I’m just going to ADD that STOPPING is equally important. When I got my first manual (86 Mustang GT), I had the starting to roll part down pretty quickly. However, my second day of ownership, I went to pull in behind my buddies car. Of course trying to look cool and all… I hit the brakes like you would a normal automatic transmission vehicle. Well, I was caught off guard when the car kept pulling and pulling directly toward his, until thankfully, it gently stalled a couple feet or so from his bumper. No one was the wiser, but it was quite a lessen for me on clutch,clutch,clutch remember there’s a clutch to disengage the transmission.

Good luck, you’re really going to love it once you get the hang of it.

[HDRDTD]

Originally Posted by Hermit Y0da

Took delivery of my car today. Was able to drive it around some. Getting used to the clutch and going through the gears.

The biggest thing I'm struggling with of course is taking off from a complete dead stop.

Do I need to rev and hold it to 1000 first before letting up the clutch slowly or do I need to do the opposite and let off clutch THEN apply gas after the car starts to creep from clutch alone? I'm going to practice more tomorrow.

Any quick tips are appreciated. Rolling stops from about 3 to 5 mph are pretty smooth since the car still has momentum of course.

The basic idea is to let up the clutch pedal slowly and when it starts to engage and you can feel the engine slow, gradually press on the gas pedal at the same time just enough to compensate for the engine slowing.
Once the clutch is fully released take your foot off the clutch and drive on.

As others have said, practice, practice, practice.

If you DO happen to stall the engine while at a traffic light., Relax, re-start the car and try again. Don't worry about the others honking their horns or yelling at you.

Odds are it's happened to them some time in the past themselves.

Maybe find a back road or a parking lot to practice in.

[JamesNoBrakes]

This isn't a great car to learn the finer points of manual driving. But that makes it easier. To put it simply, there's too much torque and the car will move just fine by slipping the clutch/letting it out with no gas. As soon as you start to creep, you can add some gas and move the clutch faster, but not too fast. You'll learn the point by letting it go with no gas. Unless you are burning clutch by revving up too high and letting out too slowly, you will be fine and don't worry about the "slipping". I remember a race a few weeks ago where the guy behind me was asking "did you smell burning clutch while out there?" Me, "no". Then I walk away and for sure, I can smell it...coming from his Porsche.

To really learn manual, you have to drive a low-power car where you really have to balance the clutch action and power. As in too much you'll slip and burn the clutch, too little and you'll stall. That line is way smaller in a low power car.

[Hermit Y0da]

Originally Posted by HDRDTD

The basic idea is to let up the clutch pedal slowly and when it starts to engage and you can feel the engine slow, gradually press on the gas pedal at the same time just enough to compensate for the engine slowing.
Once the clutch is fully released take your foot off the clutch and drive on.

As others have said, practice, practice, practice.

If you DO happen to stall the engine while at a traffic light., Relax, re-start the car and try again. Don't worry about the others honking their horns or yelling at you.

Odds are it's happened to them some time in the past themselves.

Maybe find a back road or a parking lot to practice in.

I had a productive night tonight. I went out to our big high schooI parking lot and practiced getting just the clutch only out slowly and just getting the car rolling with that. I did that maybe 5 times and felt comfortable doing that

I then felt for the engagement point more and more and was listening to the engine speed drop, first by looking at the tach but then only by sound. Once I heard that happen , I just kinda blipped the throttle up around 1000 to 1500 rpm and held it there while continuing to release the clutch slow. Had a handful of smooth-ish take offs. Messed up a couple times but I did several of those short take offs. Probably did 20 to 30 of them.

I drove around town and hit a few stop signs and signals and never stalled. Couple rough bucking starts but I had more smooth ones so im happy about that and now less stressed driving it!

Thanks for everyone's responses. They've been super helpful just reading through them and grasping the concept better.

[LT1gen6]

Originally Posted by Hermit Y0da

I had a productive night tonight. . I drove around town and hit a few stop signs and signals and never stalled.

Yep, no need to wait around after that happens

[Wyzz Kydd]

It's interesting to read the comments. I learned to drive over 45 years ago on a 1973 Volkswagen camper bus. Air cooled 4 cylinder 4 speed with a slanted H pattern and a shifter that was probably about 3 feet long. If you can row those gears well, you can row any gears well.

I wish I could remember how to do it, but it's purely muscle memory now, no conscious thought.

[Hermit Y0da]

Another weird but probably simple question: if I decide I want to coast to a stop sign in neutral and I'm going 30mph for example, clutch in, neutral but do I let the clutch out smooth or can I just pull off it fast since it's in neutral?

[ZPirate]

Originally Posted by Hermit Y0da

Another weird but probably simple question: if I decide I want to coast to a stop sign in neutral and I'm going 30mph for example, clutch in, neutral but do I let the clutch out smooth or can I just pull off it fast since it's in neutral?

If the car is in neutral, letting off the clutch has no impact on the transmission, so you don't have to worry about being smooth when you let off the clutch.

[Hermit Y0da]

Originally Posted by ZPirate

If the car is in neutral, letting off the clutch has no impact on the transmission, so you don't have to worry about being smooth when you let off the clutch.

Perfect thanks for the straight forward answer. That's what I had been doing. I'll be coasting between 30 and 40 and I know a stop is coming up and no cars were around me so I just put it in N and then let out the clutch fast. RPMs dropped like a rock but it didn't seem like the car cared so figured it was normal and ok.

[Wyzz Kydd]

The skip shift between 1st and 2nd is a pain, but I've found that during sedate driving a shift from 2nd to 4th or even from 3rd to 5th can be a good thing.

[ZPirate]

Originally Posted by Hermit Y0da

Perfect thanks for the straight forward answer. That's what I had been doing. I'll be coasting between 30 and 40 and I know a stop is coming up and no cars were around me so I just put it in N and then let out the clutch fast. RPMs dropped like a rock but it didn't seem like the car cared so figured it was normal and ok.

You are welcome. I like to downshift when I slow down, but not everyone drives that way. And with the Camaro's rev match feature downshifting it's just so easy. And if you are in traffic or coming up to a light you are already generally in the correct gear if you need to start moving prior to coming to a stop.

[Hermit Y0da]

Originally Posted by ZPirate

You are welcome. I like to downshift when I slow down, but not everyone drives that way. And with the Camaro's rev match feature downshifting it's just so easy. And if you are in traffic or coming up to a light you are already generally in the correct gear if you need to start moving prior to coming to a stop.

Makes sense. I'll be in 4th around town at certain areas and I have been downshifting to at least 3rd and sometimes 2nd when I'm slowing down to turn onto another road. I've been leaving rev match on. Definitely simplifies things for me and I'm sure others too starting out.

[Hermit Y0da]

i got it down now. i can do it all by feel with my leg and how far my knee has to come up before the biting point starts. my main problem i was having was not letting up on the clutch slow enough and not accelerating out of the slip. 9 out of 10 take offs are pretty smooth and have no issues now. there's a decently steep incline that i found and practiced some hill starts. Stalled the 1st one but i just come off the clutch and hold it then switch from brake to gas real quick and gas it through. worked great and surprised myself that i didn't have much trouble with those. the car is a joy to drive now. first couple days were stressful but now i can actually enjoy it more.

[mariojas]

Almost half a year later I still can't do this smooth every time. And when I can I worry about clutch. My technique is to stop releasing it until it start moving and wait until car speed will match the engine RPM - hard to describe but you can feel it. It's slow though...