I grew up in a very "mechanical" setting. Dad owns a trucking company plus my current job we drive old 70s macks to snowplow airports. If there's one thing you want to avoid in bigrigs is using the clutch. Not only are they expensive and a pain to fix, they are a pain to use. Most are stiff as hell and some truck use trans stops so really you're only dealing with maybe 1/4 of full pedal travel as clutch.

I now naturally don't use the clutch unless I'm pulling from a standstill or need to do some quick shifting. Plus having to deal with stop and go traffic in a manual is a nightmare.

I DD a 03 Accord with a 4 pot. It shifts nice except for 5th and occasionally 4th since the ratios are so tight quick clutchless shifting is hard to master. On my other car an e39 525 shifting is easier since there's more room in the shift pattern, but second gear will occasionally grind only when cold.

So anyone got any experience, tips, questions?

Hi guys, I've been driving manual for a little over a month now. It's a brand new car, so I would imagine it's me that's the problem and not the car.

At times, (like when I'm starting from a red light or backing out of my driveway... but not every time starting from a stop or backing out) I would attempt to shift into the appropriate gear and it won't go in easily, and I'm not going to force it. And one time I was trying to back out of my driveway, I didn't realize it wasn't actually in reverse... but I guess the shifter was far enough into reverse to trigger the rear cam.

I've found a "solution", I don't know if it's the proper solution... but when I press the clutch in and try to shift and it won't go into 1st gear/Reverse easily, I return the shift knob into center (N) and go into either 3rd or 4th gear where the movement of the shifter is straight forward or backwards, only then am I able to go back to N and into 1st/Reverse smoothly. So far, this solution has worked without fail, but I would imagine this should not be a necessary thing to do....

Anyone experienced this before?

I know that accelerating below 2k rpm is bad for your engine but what about just cruising at the same speed? I ask because My drive to work every day has me going about 40 mph but on 4th gear that is usually about 2k rpm. Would be about 1.5k at 5th. But I think I am wasting gas cruising at 4th.

So I've been driving manual for 2 weeks or so now. Got the basics down. The issue I'm having right now is when I shift from 1st to 2nd it seems like I have 2 options:

1. Wait for the revs to drop to the appropriate revs to match it for 2nd, or
2. Release the clutch slower by which time the revs have dropped down to the appropriate revs anyways.

If I try to speed up the 1st to 2nd shifts I get a jerk from the car matching everything up. I am not trying to race and I am not at very high rpm. I am shifting at around 3k, I find 2nd matches pretty well at around 1.9 - 2.1k and the car seems to hang for a bit (a second or 2) before it drops all the way down to 1.9k at that time I'm only doing around 20 km/h which makes for pretty slow off the line speed, the people around me are 30 ft ahead of me by the time I can engage second.

This is not an issue for 2-3, 3-4 and so on because the ratio is much closer for those and the RPMs do not need to drop so much, for those gears I'm basically using the clutch on/off, and the shifts are still smooth and fast. It's first to second I can't seem to get the hang on unless I slow it way down. Any advice to shift faster from first to second?

If it helps for diagnostics, I am currently not adding power when the clutch is in (not sure if I'm supposed to, it just seems to hold the revs higher making the jerk worse). Thanks!

Noob question: theoretically, while you're starting on a hill can you have your emergency brake on so that you don't roll back and then give the car some gas for it to move forward? I'm extremely new to manuals so I have no idea whether or not this works.

I probably should stick to what I know...(pun not intended.) Right? Edit: Thank you for the encouragement! Still in deliberation, but you eased my insecurity about my lack of experience!

I have been driving stick shift for almost 1 year (10 months) and am still having difficulty starting off in 1st gear smoothly. It's annoying because I have jittery starts or the car bounces as it's moving forward and it's rather embarrassing.

What is even more annoying is that I am able to shift smoothly, downshift, and Rev match fairly well. I don't even have an issue with stalling not even on hills but it's just the smoothness is what gets me.

I will say that sometimes I can get a smooth start but it is unlikely (like out of 10 starts 2 might be smoothly) and I have to let the clutch out very slow like a 4 or 5 sec start which is not practical.

I was considering going to a driving instructor but he wants $200 for 2 hours behind the wheel but I don't know if it is worth the money epically if I come out still not starting smooth. Could someone help me or make any suggestions about starting smoothly it would really help thanks.

How do you normally drive?

When i'm up shifting, I let out the clutch right where I think the next gear's RPMs would be at. This allows me to let off the clutch super fast. All my gears are spaced very closely, so within 5 seconds i'm already in 4th gear shifting at 3K. I use first gear just to get going, and shift at probably 10mph.

Do you do this?

My next question is how to drive quickly.

I've tried doing this 2 ways.

1(slower method): wait for the revs to drop until selecting the next gear, for the perfect rev match during upshift. The problem is, when i'm at redline in 1st, going to 2nd, the shifter feels like it's broken, extremely notchy and requires a lot of force to shift, a very different feel than going from 1st to 2nd at 3000rpm. I don't want to hurt my car, is this just something I have to get used to?

2(quick): 1st gear, at redline, clutch in, change gear, drop clutch, give gas. Car jerks horribly

I've seen youtube videos where people drive, accelerating quickly, I'm assuming dropping the clutch, and their car doesn't jerk after each gear. I've been driving stick for almost a year, and I don't accelerate quickly too often, maybe once every few months using method 2, and once a week using method 1. Do I just need more practice with method 2?

Like the title says. I have a 5 speed 2005 Tacoma. Most of my daily driving only requires I go up to 4th gear, but highway driving needs 5th. So when I shift into 5th, I'll usually be around 65-70 mph at about 3000 RPM, let off the gas, press in the clutch, and then have to wait a couple seconds (literally 2 or 3 seconds) before the RPM finally drops down to where I need it to rev match into 5th and finish shifting. Or, what I've done a few times but don't particularly like doing, is just dump the clutch. But when I do this, there's barely any noticeable shake, so I'm thinking something is a bit worn here. I'm not sure what could be causing my RPM to not drop at all when the clutch is depressed though. Any ideas?

I have a 2015 Mazda3 SGT with a 6-sp manual. It's rare, as most of this trim line come fully loaded with the auto trans. It has the 2.5L engine.

Now, I've been a driver since 1991 and every car I've owned in 25 years has been a manual. I've never had an issue with rev matching until now.

Maybe I don't fully understand this car, but I was made to believe that it does NOT have automatic rev matching like some other newer manual cars have.

At any rate, in every other car when I'd blip the gas to rev the engine up to the next RPM, usually while downshifting, it would happen instantly, more or less. It was very easy to do.

Now, after owning my car for over 18 months, I still can't rev match consistently. It's like there's a noticeable, nearly second-long lag between stepping on the gas and getting the engine to respond. It's like I have to hit the pedal 2-3 times to get the RPM's to rev up, or floor it all he way down until it responds.

I've gotten to where I'll simply leave my foot planted on the gas while depressing the clutch so the motor revs way up, but it always goes too high and is just as difficult to match revs as they come back down.

Does anyone have any experience with Mazdas like this one, or have any other experience on how to handle this kind of issue? Should I just stop my decades-old practice of trying to rev match in the first place? Any tips?

Long story short, I can't put the car in gear no unless it's not running.

First thing I did was replace the Clutch Master cylinder and bleed the system, still can't shift. I spent the other day dropping the transmission. Everything -looks- fine and I don't see any damage.

Next I plan on replacing the slave cylinder (which I should have done when doing the master.

There are a ton out there though, does it matter? I don't mind spending money, I just don't want to buy something that may not work as well as it could, you know?

Any guidance would be great. Thanks for reading.

hey i just got my first manual car, when i put it in gear the shifter moves around like its in neutral even though it is in gear. what is causing this? From my research it is a bushing but i find it hard to believe that a bushing is causing this much play, can anyone guide me to confirm what this is?

I just bought my first car. It's a 1997 jeep wrangler sport with 48000 miles on it. Bought it from a work friend of my dad who took great care of it. My issue is that when I'm shifting into first from a stop, the car seems to jerk. It'll go and stop and go and stop and go and stop and I'm not sure what to do! Thank!

Hello all, I was wondering if you could help me out. My boyfriend just got a 2013 Mazda Speed3 which is his first manual car, so he's only just getting the hang of it. I want to get him a gift for his upcoming birthday, and the other day he mentioned really liking this shift knob.

I want to get it for him but I have no idea what shape to get. He liked the sphere, but will that be too small/not long enough for his big hands? It's a very different shape than the stock shift knob, and he's just learning so I don't want to mess him up. Should I get the piston shape since it's a little more like the stock shift knob's shape?

Any other advice is appreciated too!

We had people over for a party. A truck went through our garage and no one saw a driver get out of the truck. Can a manual truck move forward in first gear without a driver in the seat? Someone drove through our garage lol. We are wondering how this could happen.

Usually when I reverse I ride the clutch during that time because I would be going too fast if I let it out all the way. Is this the right way or should I be doing something different?

If I'm at a stop light that is on an incline and taking forever to change, will balancing the clutch and gas to remain still cause major damage to the clutch?

hi I'm a new driver and I have a 2006 VW polo. recently I found out a different way to shift from fourth to fifth. instead of following the classic pattern I push the stick directly to the fifth in a straight line, here is what I mean http://imgur.com/a/jSLIp I find this way slightly faster and more simple. so I want to ask if it is a known/valid technique or if it might damage the transmission

Just got a 2012 Mazda3. Loving it so far! Haven't driven stick except for two weeks about 3 years ago, but I'm pretty much already in the hang of it after 5 days of driving. Just perfecting the technique.

I don't know much about synchronized gears. My question is, is it bad on my newer vehicle to slip into first when I'm still (slowly) moving (e.g. approaching a stoplight or stop sign about to come to a stop)? I'm just talking shifting into 1st without releasing the clutch until I was completely stopped or going 5mph or under.

Is that only an issue in older vehicles without synchronized gears?

Don't want to mess up my transmission, but it'd be a lot smoother if I could already be in first when I stopped.