Learning to drive stick

I have a basic understanding, from reading www.standardshift.com but I want to put it to practical exercise. Is there a driving school that teach u how to drive manual transmission?

lol...I went through the same thing. Yes there are driving schools out there that specialize in manual transmission training. Its like 100 bucks for a one-day course.

This, however, is not the typical way of learning. You need to get a friend to teach you. When I bought my car, I got it in stick, and I'd never driven it before (it was way cheaper). It took me about three weeks to a month to really have it down to second nature. It only took me a week though to actually be able to do it. Some people can do it in an hour. Some can never learn, but those are the VERY few minority.

Enjoy! Stickshift rocks!

can anyone name a specific driving school in toronto/mississauga? i'm interested too

Originally Posted by danfromwaterloo

lol...I went through the same thing. Yes there are driving schools out there that specialize in manual transmission training. Its like 100 bucks for a one-day course.

This, however, is not the typical way of learning. You need to get a friend to teach you. When I bought my car, I got it in stick, and I'd never driven it before (it was way cheaper). It took me about three weeks to a month to really have it down to second nature. It only took me a week though to actually be able to do it. Some people can do it in an hour. Some can never learn, but those are the VERY few minority.

Enjoy! Stickshift rocks!

Have fun to do a uphill left turn.

I did not go to any school. My first left turn took me at least 2 lights. Fortunately, people were nice back then and I did not see any middle fingers.

just get a friend to teach.... its not actually that difficult once figure out the basics.

I'm interested in learning to drive stick too as an automatic transmission can easily add $1,000+ to the cost of the car plus you save on gas mileage. Then I think of how often I would need to shift while stuck in traffic on the 401.

Originally Posted by Talamasca

Then I think of how often I would need to shift while stuck in traffic on the 401.

Just let it roll (assuming it is not uphill).

There are lots of driving schools that offer by-the-hour lessons. Just call them up one by one. They can vary from say $40 to $60 an hour.

If you can't practice with a friend's car.....usually one can learn enough with a two hour lesson to understand the basics, and enough to get the car from place to place.

That's how I learned. I didn't have a practice car so I took a two hour lesson. And then I was good enough to get my brand new manual transmission car home from the dealer. The rest of that after that was practice.

This was how I did that. I knew next to nothing for driving stick. I bought the car first. My friend drove the 'used' car back with me from the seller. Then, the lesson began.

Yeah! I always did thing in reverse. I bought my first car before I got my driving licence.

similar story here. i was hell bent to buy a car, and it happened to be a stick. so, a friend with a really old vw let me drive his around for two or three sessions (about 15 mins each). then i had him drive my car home for me. once the car was in my possession, i went out for two half hour practice sessions on my own.

fifteen years later, i'm still loving standard transmissions. i encourage everyone to drive a stick. way more fun.

Similar situation here. Had a guy teach me on an empty road a couple of times, but for the life of me I didn't know what the hell I was doing. But I was dead set on getting a stick (don't ask why, save for another thread) and ended up getting a Prelude. I was still shaking as I took the car off the lot. Amazingly driving home from the lot I only stalled once. Did some practice learning along the way when I was car shopping.

The scariest thing at first is stalling and stalling while making a left turn onto oncoming vehicles.

Originally Posted by afong56

fifteen years later, i'm still loving standard transmissions. i encourage everyone to drive a stick. way more fun.

You missed a few a's. It's waaaaaaaay more fun.

My first experience on a stick was for about 10min. To be honest I was scared... haha i kept jumping and stalling.

Ditto, i'd love to learn how to drive stick shift as well, one of the lifelong skillset that will be handy for the rest of our life i guess

Now i'd love to learn it more than ever because i'm looking to purchase a used car and almost if not all manual cars are way cheaper than their automatic counterparts and i have a budget.

Btw, when you go see a used car is there anything we should pay particular attention to when it comes to manual car as opposed to an automatic one. Thanks

http://www.shifters.ca/

Works out of the Toronto area and they're really good. The lessons feel short, but you're driving practically in no time.