[2fast4mom]

When it came time to order my 2016 SS I knew I wanted the manual. My 5th Gen was an auto and I always wished it was a stick. My girlfriend adamantly argued that I should get the auto so she could drive it (LOL) while my car enthusiast friends said the stick was the only way to go.

It was a tough decision. I thought, "What if I can't drive it or it's a complete pain?" I certainly plan on keeping this car for the long haul and the California Bay Area has some terrible traffic. On the other hand I'm a car enthusiast myself and the few times that I got to drive a manual were a blast.

I ended up taking the leap and ordering the M6 and here is my honest experience of the first week of ownership:

Day 1 I was extremely nervous, not wanting to mess up my brand new car and only stalled it once thanks to "hill start assist".
Days 2 & 3 I was so concentrated on driving that I wondered if I'd ever get to enjoy the interior features of the car. At least I never stalled it.
Day 4 I got in the car with more confidence and had a pretty good day. I actually turned on the radio!
Day 5 I got cocky and stalled it 3 times leaving me super frustrated. Skip shift and hill start assist may be helpful in the future but make learning harder IMO.

I'd say my biggest improvements have been in the last 3 days where I am confident and fairly smooth and haven't stalled it since day 5. I did my first hard acceleration today with gears 1-3 and I'm actually better at that than normal driving! Holy **** this thing is scary fast.

I won't lie, there have been a couple times where I thought I'd made a huge mistake (car lurching, girlfriend complaining, me cringing); but I think I see a light at the end of the tunnel. Even though I make frequent jarring starts from a stop and from 1-2, it's starting to feel natural.

Anyway I'm definitely getting better and would certainly appreciate any tips or tricks from experienced manual drivers. I don't regret my choice at all. When I get it right it's so gratifying to be rowing through the gears myself and it makes the car 100% more fun.

To anyone on the fence I'd say go for it!

[Egon]

No idea how old you are but I learned to drive on a manual because that was what most used cars had when I was 15-18 years old. Things have changed a lot since then and manuals are very rare now. I am always surprised about how many people don't know how to operate one but I guess I shouldn't since you have to go out of your way to find a car produced with a manual transmission in the past 15 to 20 years. (many models don't even offer them anymore) Automatic transmissions have come a long way in that time period as well so the previous reasons for the manuals superiority have been eliminated or reduced significantly. (actually there are some real advantages for automatics these days)

However I still love driving a manual transmission, to me it's more fun. It's also a character flaw of mine that I take a small bit of pride in knowing how to drive one well. (along with knowing how to set timing on a car with a distributor and adjust a carburetor, I know it's silly but eh) It's clear from your post that you are having a good time learning, and that's all that really matters. Give it 3 months or so and you will be a total pro.

The only advice I can really give is adjust your seat so that you are not extending your left leg too far when the clutch is fully depressed and practice quickly finding the engagement point when releasing the clutch pedal. You will also need to practice the coordination of your left and right foot together, when releasing the clutch while applying the right amount of throttle. It has always seemed to me that the main reason people starting out learning a clutch have trouble is that they have never trained their left foot to do anything with real precision. (like trying to write left handed if you are right handed for example) The biggest learning you are going through right now is learning that coordination with your left foot. Once you have that down you will notice that your starts and shifts are much smoother.

And good for you not caving on the SO vetoing a manual because they want to drive it too. There is nothing stopping them from learning as well.

[DannyB]

Originally Posted by 2fast4mom

When it came time to order my 2016 SS I knew I wanted the manual. My 5th Gen was an auto and I always wished it was a stick. My girlfriend adamantly argued that I should get the auto so she could drive it (LOL) while my car enthusiast friends said the stick was the only way to go.

It was a tough decision. I thought, "What if I can't drive it or it's a complete pain?" I certainly plan on keeping this car for the long haul and the California Bay Area has some terrible traffic. On the other hand I'm a car enthusiast myself and the few times that I got to drive a manual were a blast.

I ended up taking the leap and ordering the M6 and here is my honest experience of the first week of ownership:

Day 1 I was extremely nervous, not wanting to mess up my brand new car and only stalled it once thanks to "hill start assist".
Days 2 & 3 I was so concentrated on driving that I wondered if I'd ever get to enjoy the interior features of the car. At least I never stalled it.
Day 4 I got in the car with more confidence and had a pretty good day. I actually turned on the radio!
Day 5 I got cocky and stalled it 3 times leaving me super frustrated. Skip shift and hill start assist may be helpful in the future but make learning harder IMO.

I'd say my biggest improvements have been in the last 3 days where I am confident and fairly smooth and haven't stalled it since day 5. I did my first hard acceleration today with gears 1-3 and I'm actually better at that than normal driving! Holy **** this thing is scary fast.

I won't lie, there have been a couple times where I thought I'd made a huge mistake (car lurching, girlfriend complaining, me cringing); but I think I see a light at the end of the tunnel. Even though I make frequent jarring starts from a stop and from 1-2, it's starting to feel natural.

Anyway I'm definitely getting better and would certainly appreciate any tips or tricks from experienced manual drivers. I don't regret my choice at all. When I get it right it's so gratifying to be rowing through the gears myself and it makes the car 100% more fun.

To anyone on the fence I'd say go for it!

YAY!!! About the one millionth thread on M6 vs. A8 that will turn into a mud slinging fest just like all the others with the usual tropes thrown about, "My A8 will destroy your M6 on the dragstrip.", and, "You are a sissy and wear panties if you don't own an M6 and row your own gears."

I think I covered both sides of the subject so Mods can probably go ahead and close this thread.

Beautiful car by the way!!! And the above is not directed at you, OP, at all; its just that every thread on the subject turns into a stupid fight. To each his own and as a long as you enjoy your ride; that is all that matters.

[fighting irish]

Don't worry about stalling, unless it is at an intersection! I've been driving manual for the past 8 years (I'm 30) and still stall occasionally. I have about 1000 miles on my gen6 and have stalled 4 times- twice from hill assist kicking in unexpectedly, and twice in my driveway pulling into/backing out of my garage. My biggest problem with stalling is my footwear, I often wear dansko clogs to work which have 0 pedal feel. Also, i'm not used to the bottom hinged accelerator pedal. That said, this is a good car to learn on, the clutch is very forgiving. With my last car, I would still stall about once per year, mostly when I wasn't paying attention at low speeds.

I definitely understand people who buy autos too. My wife doesn't know how to drive manual, but luckily she didn't care if I bought the car. So far, I have offered to let 5 people take it for a spin, but all five can't drive manuals! This includes the owner of an auto parts store! I also think of it as a theft deterrent device.

[djm96z28]

As Click & Clack from Car Talk have said, if you don't stall a manual once in a while, you're not driving it right... I've owned a manual in the past, but the Camaro is more difficult for me to get a consistent smooth shift. I'm usually letting the clutch out a bit too fast and get small lurches.

[raptor5244]

Just keep practicing and it will become 2nd nature after a while. You won't even realize that you are even shifting, you ears and other senses will signal to you when to upshift and downshift. Funny that you mentioned that you are so focused on driving that you are not paying much attention to the rest of the amenities of the car. That is because you are fully engaged in the driving experience, which is what I am always after in a car like this. I enjoy listening to the symphony of the exhaust more than I do the radio and the manual transmission just enables you to let the engine sing.

I know you are probably using the active rev match for those computer guided rev matched downshifts but once you are comfortable you should turn it off and try to rev match like the computer does. It is very satisfying when you are approaching a turn, on ramp, etc. and you execute a perfect rev matched downshift and then drop the hammer.

[G6CamJK]

Originally Posted by fighting irish

I also think of it as a theft deterrent device.

I tend to think that as well. We may be wrong but every little bit helps.

Now I'm an old, anti social curmudgeon that has had cars wrecked by girlfriends past so having a car that the g/f can't drive is a bonus. Go wreck your own damn car.

Last - I tend to stall in reverse only. Not sure why that is.

[stars_fan]

I've been driving manuals for 20 years and the damn hill assist made me stall the other day. I swear it had the brakes locked up

[gunny27]

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...B9&FORM=VRDGAR

Manual takes more driver involvement and can be more fun.
New Autos perform better at the drag strip than manuals even with professional divers

The new autos do take some getting used to get the best performance out of them as does a Manual. It's just a choice that you have to make when buying a performance car. They each have pros and cons.

[SDG23]

Good choice not only on the manual 6spd but in choosing yellow. I love yellow and I'll likely end up with a yellow SS next year even though I've been driving a yellow truck (5spd) for the past 12 hahaaa, still love the color.

[Mr. Wyndham]

Originally Posted by DannyB

YAY!!! About the one millionth thread on M6 vs. A8 that will turn into a mud slinging fest just like all the others with the usual tropes thrown about, "My A8 will destroy your M6 on the dragstrip.", and, "You are a sissy and wear panties if you don't own an M6 and row your own gears."

I think I covered both sides of the subject so Mods can probably go ahead and close this thread.

Beautiful car by the way!!! And the above is not directed at you, OP, at all; its just that every thread on the subject turns into a stupid fight. To each his own and as a long as you enjoy your ride; that is all that matters.

I don't think that will happen in here.

Congratulations, 2fast4mom. I'm glad you're happy with your decision, and glad that you've taken the time and dedication necessary to learn to drive stick. I enjoy the Gen 6 SS better with a manual transmission...for all the reasons you've listed, and more.

Enjoy the heck out of it!

[Goobaba]

My Camaro is my first manual car that I've ever owned. After the first week which was a little rocky, it's been smooth sailing since. My wife can't drive stick, which is bad because there are times when we really need to swap cars, but good because she drives like a bat out of hell. There is no right choice, both have their ups and downs, can't go wrong with either.

[Poje]

It's just a personal choice. When i buy mine it will be an Automatic since im a truck driver that shifts between 200 to 500 times per day, so when i done at night, i dont want to shift anymore, lol.

A lil trick : To get the feel for the clutch, practice going from a stop w/o using the gas, just slowly releasing the clutch, thats a good trick to get a feel for the bite point.

[clanky]

Originally Posted by Poje

It's just a personal choice. When i buy mine it will be an Automatic since im a truck driver that shifts between 200 to 500 times per day, so when i done at night, i dont want to shift anymore, lol.

A lil trick : To get the feel for the clutch, practice going from a stop w/o using the gas, just slowly releasing the clutch, thats a good trick to get a feel for the bite point.

Ya that's understandable. I have a few friends that driving is 90% of their job and they are all manuals. So of course when they buy their own cars they all get auto's. I don't blame em. Great tip for just releasing the clutch slowly to get a feel for it exactly what I do when I hope in a vehicle I haven't driven before.