The Nu Nuvolari

The A4 I have on order is a 3.0 with a 6sp. I never drove manual before in my life, so today my friend (drives an S4) took me out on the road to teach me some basics (not in his S4 of course) It was a lot of fun. I managed to stall, blocking two lanes on Rt.10 (NJ) and **** of a few more people, including one cop, by stalling numerous times on the way back to the office. The old Miata that my friend gave to me for a week is a lot of fun to learn on.

All in all, it was a great. Much more fun than driving an automatic. Can't wait until my car gets here.

April

The Miata is OK. Jetta GL is better. Don't try on anything Honda. Basically find a car that if you let out the clutch very smoothly, it will take off without you having to touch the gas. The more you have to rev, the harder it is to match revs and not abuse the clutch. The easier it is to stall too.

Find a big empty parking lot to practice. Go, shift to 2cd. Stop. Go, shift to 2cd. Stop. Get that part down perfect. The rest will happen in time.

The Nu Nuvolari

a little difficlut is that the gas pedal on the Miata is so light compared to my Grand Cherokee. I feel no feedback at all and I tend to over rev.

I feel adventurous though. May actually take it on the highway tonight. So if you don't hear from me tomorrow, I am stuck somewhere on the parkway LOL

later

April

Take your shoes, but drive in your socks.

rags

I learned on my friend's Jetta GL - I was driving around a parking lot for about 2 hours going in circles, 1st, 2nd, stop, reverse, stop, 1st etc. At the end of the session, I was shifting smoothly.

Only later did I realise I learnt it all wrong - I had my clutch heel on the floor all the time and when it started raining, I couldn't shift smoothly due to wet sole sticking to the clutch. Posted @ ba-audi, and learnt the right way to clutch it out - and it's all smooth once again, rain or shine...

Have fun! Heck, I even stalled my A4 a few times after I bought it...but learning to drive a stick shift was my excuse for spending a lot of time alone driving

April

I should know - I've taught many people while waiting for their new car to be cleaned/paperwork prepped ;-)

RareAir

Took a TDI for a test drive while we were looking at a new car for her. She wanted an automatic TDI for her car but the dealer only had a TDI Manual. We took it out and spent a good 30 inutes in a local abandoned shopping mall complex.

From that one session she now feels much more competent to drive a manual around town. Before she would have huge issues with the slightest incline.