Manual transmission

[Socalmustang]

Like others have said, do not try to drive the car off the deaership. I bought mine without knowing how to drive a manual, even though the salesmen was showing me what to do during the test drive, it simply is too much to pick up right away.

Best advice is to go to an empty parking lot and learn how to go from a stop...to me this was the hardest part to learn. You need to have someone teach you, you will stall...everyone does.

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[brandonsmash]

You want a manual for autox? Most autox courses are set up to be driven in 1st or 2nd gear mostly 2nd.

Yep, keep it in second.

(That, and tbh I like driving a manual. Coming from 10 years of bikes I have a hard time with automatic transmissions. They just feel weird.)

 

[fionic]

I'm going to go ahead and disagree with most.

Just drive it home from the dealership. You'll be fine. You may stall a few times, but who cares?

You don't even have to drive home right away. Stop at a parking lot and practice.

You should learn starting from 1 but 2 is where I now start. Plenty of tq in 2.

 

[jasonstang]

Yep, keep it in second.

(That, and tbh I like driving a manual. Coming from 10 years of bikes I have a hard time with automatic transmissions. They just feel weird.)

There have been several times I have to shove it in 1st gear in my RX-8 because there was not enough torque for 2nd gear.

 

[JonnyMustang]

I'm going to go ahead and disagree with most.

Just drive it home from the dealership. You'll be fine. You may stall a few times, but who cares?

You don't even have to drive home right away. Stop at a parking lot and practice.

You should learn starting from 1 but 2 is where I now start. Plenty of tq in 2.

Depends on the location of the dealership. No way in a major metro area. Can you imagine being stuck in bumper to bumper traffic having never driven a manual? I know I don't want that person behind me!

 

[PonyGrrrl]

There have been several times I have to shove it in 1st gear in my RX-8 because there was not enough torque for 2nd gear.

This isn't an RX 8 and I wouldn't recommend this practice at all on a Mustang clutch.


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[MadCow]

Push clutch all the way down with left foot, put In first gear. Let out the clutch slowly til you feel it start to pull once it's rolling release the clutch completely. Now right foot on the gas and gently accelerate. Take it up to about 4k rpm. Left of gas, then push clutch to floor, then shift to 2nd, then ease off clutch, then ease back on gas. Repeat for every gear.

The most important thing to remember is that if you are at speed and unsure what gear to go to, always select a higher gear then you think you need. If you are thinkin 2nd, use 3rd or even 4th. Going into too low of a gear at speed is the absolute worst thing you can ever ever ever do. Like shifting into 2nd 90mph. You may lock up the rear wheels (bad) or rev the motor to 12K (worse)

For hills the hand brake can work if you don't use the hill assist or have an old car with out it. Just let up the handbrake and let it down when you feel the car pull as you ease off the clutch and on the the gas. Once you get the hang of it I wouldn't use the hand brake much unless you are on a really steep hill with a car inches from your rear bumper.

 

[Qtrhorse]

My dad taught us by jacking up the back wheels of his 65 Chevy stepside, and let us row threw the gears at low speeds to get used to the pedal/shifter movement. We then moved to the parking lot to learn taking off and downshifting. Its a memory that we all enjoy in my family.

 

[Legionofone]

no

At what point do you disagree?

Where the clutch starts biting is where the car starts to move and the engine starts to lose a few RPM the stangs engine will have less dip but generally this is the start of the contact area for the clutch when you can start moving and is probably the most important thing to find in any manual car.

For a newbie, learning that the brake and the clutch should happen at once makes it easier to not kill the car when you come to a stop, it doesn't hurt anything to do it while rolling either. Eventually he will learn when he needs to clutch and doesn't when braking but at first you might as well take that issue out of the equation. This forces him to use his right foot for braking at all times, it also makes him think to shift down if he is going to go below the speed of the gear he is in. There is little to no downside to this and provides plenty of good practices for the future since his panic reaction will include hitting the clutch.

These tips are learned from teaching 4 people how to drive a stick and not destroying any cars or clutches.

 

[fionic]

Depends on the location of the dealership. No way in a major metro area. Can you imagine being stuck in bumper to bumper traffic having never driven a manual? I know I don't want that person behind me!

well, yeah. I wouldn't go to pick up the car during rush hour either.

 

[whysoblu]

I don't get how people are saying let the foot completely off the clutch in first and then give it gas. As someone learning how to drive manual on a '15 GT (me), if you don't give it any gas before letting go of the clutch completely, it will stall.


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[jasonstang]

I don't get how people are saying let the foot completely off the clutch in first and then give it gas. As someone learning how to drive manual on a '15 GT (me), if you don't give it any gas before letting go of the clutch completely, it will stall.


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Depending how fast you are letting of the pedal and how fast you are trying to get up to speed.
For beginners probably best way to not burn the clutch is to let it out first then give it gas.

 

[fionic]

I don't get how people are saying let the foot completely off the clutch in first and then give it gas. As someone learning how to drive manual on a '15 GT (me), if you don't give it any gas before letting go of the clutch completely, it will stall.


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no, it won't. if you're slow enough on the clutch, you'll just start moving. good for practice and finding where the clutch engages.

 

[RouteAbel]

One thing, be sure to let the car warm up enough. It's very jerky and hard to be smooth shifting when its cold. You are going to be jerky enough at first, don't need a cold engine compounding the problem.

 

[whysoblu]

no, it won't. if you're slow enough on the clutch, you'll just start moving. good for practice and finding where the clutch engages.

So you are saying I can slowly let the clutch out all the way (I know what you mean by bite and it start creeping but...) and then give it gas? I stall when I try that. If no gas, no go.


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