[Bender1012]

My girlfriend has been bugging me to teach her how to drive manual... of course her Corolla is auto so we would have to use my car. I'm reluctant to do so seeing as how I myself learned on this car, and every time I stalled or lurched I felt so bad for her. To put her through another newbie learning the stick? Ugh. So tell me, am I being paranoid or what? How much damage can really be done by someone learning for the first time? The clutch, the transmission, the engine... those are not cheap parts to fix. Would you let a manual noob learn on your car?

[williewonkerz]

In a word....NO.....not ever

[Bimmer100_]

Its only a car. If she is important to you, then sure. I also congratulate her for wanting to learn how to drive a MT, most of the members on this forum would rather use the "traffic" excuse then actually try to learn how to properly operate a MT equipped vehicle.

[Coolieman1220]

how long do you plan on keeping the car? i doubt it will do much damage, especially just for learning.

if you plan on marrying her, maybe it would be good so you can always have a stick car, just saying

[ttbmer]

Hell no. She gonna ask to drive ur car after she learns, is better if she doesn't know

[aykim2188]

Originally Posted by Bender1012

My girlfriend has been bugging me to teach her how to drive manual... of course her Corolla is auto so we would have to use my car. I'm reluctant to do so seeing as how I myself learned on this car, and every time I stalled or lurched I felt so bad for her. To put her through another newbie learning the stick? Ugh. So tell me, am I being paranoid or what? How much damage can really be done by someone learning for the first time? The clutch, the transmission, the engine... those are not cheap parts to fix. Would you let a manual noob learn on your car?

Man up and just tell her HELLL NO lol. Rent a car.

[ZZZZ]

Definitely would, and have with all my BMW's.
My old e36 is still on its original clutch after 19 years and 6 people learning how to drive on it while it was in my possession. Who knows about the previous owner.

They will be slipping the clutch at very slow side-street speeds most of the time, not like they're powershifting at 70MPH and burning up the engine at redline.

The clutch engagement point on these cars are very high, as soon as they learn that, and to be sure to be in neutral when coming to a stop, then it's not a big deal.

If the CDV is still in, then bonus... that'll make it even easier. Make sure she has good flat shoes on, no heels or wedges.

[krayzie089]

No way jose. I was suppose to teach my girl when i had my GTI and i still did not want to do it. I wanna rent something but i cant find any places that rent manuals.

[smokinHawk]

defiantly would encourage her to learn, on your car.
dont be a selfish douche, its just a car,
more woman need to learn how to drive a stick.

[krayzie089]

Originally Posted by smokinHawk

defiantly would encourage her to learn, on your car.
dont be a selfish douche, its just a car,
more woman need to learn how to drive a stick.

Pleanty of women already know....just not many American ones.

[dcat151]

Depending on who it is, sure. I'm not going to let somebody off the street drive my car. But, if my wife wanted to learn (and I keep trying to convince her she should) I would definitely let her. I don't think she's going to do a crazy amount of damage to the car.

[fenixxishot]

I'm teaching my wife on my car. Good luck renting one I can tell you how that conversation goes..."Hi I was hoping I could rent a car with a manual transmission"..."Ah we stopped renting cars like that because the clutch got burned out ever six months because of people like you!"

so you can teach her yourself,
say you care more about your car than her,
or pay for classes and someone else to teach her

[ctuna]

It should smooth things out a little over a regular manual.

Find a big open parking lot and be prepared to hit the stop start button.
Also if she generally coordinated yes if a total klutz no .
Don't forget to practice on a hill when she gets the basics down.

It also means you won't have to settle for automatics in the future.

[Arnold K.]

As long as you tell her to never, ever shift until the clutch is fully depressed to the floor, the worst thing she'll do is stall it. As long as you can avoid her grinding a gear, it's okay. But then again, I shouldn't be talking...my girlfriend wants me to teach her in my 370Z.

But Zs are much harder to drive stick than BMWs or especially Audis. Very jerky and temperamental for noobs.

[Bakeneko]

Do it...don't be such a pansy!
I taught my girlfriend how to drive manual in my previous S4, just before she bought her R56 Cooper S.

Clearly explain the mechanics of it all, teach her the nuances of engaging and disengaging the clutch, make sure she understands the double "H" shift pattern so she doesn't misshift on a downshift, and be patient with her.

[Bakeneko]

Originally Posted by Arnold K.

But Zs are much harder to drive stick than BMWs or especially Audis. Very jerky and temperamental for noobs.

Not sure about that. My previous 350Z was no harder to drive than my current 335xi. That goes for my friend's 370Z too. I actually find them pretty similar, except for the fact that the Nissan's have shorter throws (stock).

[wrickem]

Yes. But only with me teaching them.

[jayback42]

DO IT! My wife learned on my car and drives it all the time.

[Bender1012]

Originally Posted by jayback42

DO IT! My wife learned on my car and drives it all the time.

Dude, how is that a good thing! My girlfriend's Corolla is 6 months old with 5000 miles on it!

[jphughan]

I learned stick on my M3, and actually I'm TRYING to get my wife to be willing to learn stick, both because it'd be good if she could drive it in an emergency and because I think it'd be cool to have a wife who can drive stick. She's perfectly willing to learn stick but is reluctant to learn on my car. I wouldn't let her do it in my car without me present, but if she agrees to learn, I would do this:

1. First give her the "theory" of manual transmissions, how they work, concepts behind gearing, engine braking, maybe rev-matching, etc. I'd probably start with the excellent "How Transmissions Work" article on HowStuffWorks.com. I've found that if people know WHY things need to be done a certain way, they're more likely to do it that way than if they're just told they have to do something a certain way for no apparent reason. Plus I think it's pretty interesting, and being interested in something helps with the learning process too. Just basically some classroom style reading/teaching to start off.

2. Sit in the car with the engine off to get a feel for the pedals and shifter and then before getting started, explain what NOT to do, e.g. riding the clutch, grinding gears, etc.

3. Take her out the same way I taught myself: Late at night (11 PM) going around the block constantly. I found an area where I could drive down a long block, turn right to go down a short block, go down a long adjacent block, and turn right again for a short block. That worked well because the long blocks were long enough for me to get up to 3rd and 4th (and even practice downshifting) and I could just cross the short blocks to get right back to practicing coming down the other side.

4. Once she's not constantly stalling and/or grinding gears, take her out in a light-traffic area to see how she does dealing with red lights (especially slowing down for a light that ends up turning green and causing you to have to get going again) and see where it goes from there.

5. Then try hills when it's late and nobody's around.

6. Then try freeways with very little traffic. The great thing about freeways is they give you a perfect place to smooth out upshifts and downshifts because you can safely use 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th, and if you don't have traffic around you can focus purely on shifting.

Good luck!

[jas07k]

Teach her on your car, its always good for someone to know how to drive MT in case of an emergency. I just taught my girl the other day, she had never driven or cared how it worked. Only stalled once. No harm done but alot of respect earned on both sides.

[themoveforward]

I say teach her. My dad taught me to drive a stick in his Porsche. You had to see the cringe on his face every time I stalled out or didn't shift properly. I even managed to get stuck in between gears at one point and almost destroyed the clutch/transmission because I was giving it too much gas. (There was black smoke and a very heavy burning smell.) In the end, I wound up learning pretty quickly after about 2 hours and ever since I've had no problem alternating between an auto and a manual.