Thanks for all the help.
I am not "new" at driving a manual, I drove my 5speed gsx for about 4 years. Of course that only gives me so much experiance.
My main problem is I feel like the clutch is catching, then I go to smothly release it the rest of the way and in the middle of doing so it feels like the car flys forward in the middle of this process. On my old car it felt like there was more of a curve while releasing. Hard to explain. Kinda like while releasing my old clutch it felt like "/" while releasing the tC it feels like "|".
Im sure Ill get used to it eventually.

One more question.
When you downshift, do you just put it in gear and release fast or slowly? Ive tried both and my results were not great for either ><

 

I've been driving Sticks for about 12 years now and I've never had to "re-learn" until the tC ... it IS a little trickier than every other stick I've driven... and here I thought I was just going nuts.

Things I've personally noticed

- I Shift smoothest on the tC when I'm speed-shifting ... weird
- I Shift jerkiest when I'm trying to shift "normally"

- It's gotten to where I usually start in 2nd gear whenever I'm not on an incline

- I usually get the smoothest takeoff in 1st when I "blip" the throttle to about 2500 and slowly release the clutch as the RPMs start dropping and usually catch around 1500ish

Boy, am I glad to see that I'm not the only one having to re-learn how to drive stick

 

hmmmm, i have driven a 1992 honda accord for 3 years, and a few of my friends cars in between (2002 RSX, 1988 323, 2000 eclipse, 2003 WRX, 2005 300Z), actually the tC has been the easiest car for me to drive. Normally when I drive a friends car i stall out trying to find where the clutch releases, with the tC i found it and so far the only time I have stalled was when i was backing into my parents driveway and the neighbors cat ran behind me and I slammed on the brakes with out putting the clutch back in *doh*

 

I would have to say that the tc's cluch isnt the easiest cluch out there......my parents had a old toyota van and my brother has a toyota tacoma, and those cluches are cake compared to the tc.

 

im still learning =\. Its hard to find the exact point it starts biting. its always too much or too little. The car doesnt give much feedback to you so its tough.

 

I agree with others, IMO the tc does not shift that nicely. During aggressive accelerating it seems to shift better than normal driving. When I test drove my car, the sales guy said I was the first person to not stall out the car on the test drive.

Just takes a while to get used to the tranny, even after a year, I still have problems holding and matching revs occasionally.

 

Ok when i shift i have to feed in the gas with the clutch half out to get a smooth shift. Or else the car bounces. Why?

 

Another easy way to learn your clutch is to let it out so slowly that you dont need to apply gas as with 98% of cars, you will creep forward between 3-5mph in 1st gear without ever having to give it gas unless you want to acclerate past that point.

You can also shift into 2nd and it'll speed the car up. (still no gas at all)

Into 3rd > 4th > 5th as well.

I constantly cruise in 1st gear with no gas in my 350Z during stop/go traffic in the bay area as, well, the clutch in the Z is pretty harsh and, your leg is sore after stop/go traffic

And to the above poster, if your car 'bounces' its because youre dumping the clutch. Which means youre letting off to fast and it snags quickly and makes the car 'bounce' instead of a smoothe shift.

 

Some one else said "Feedback" and I think thats a big thing. I get no freaking feedback from the car till I am lunging forward.
I have yet to stall it though

Ive noticed myslef improving , but driving home from work I accidently chirped my tires. ><

 

you get no feedback cuz it's a hydraulic clutch and drive-by-wire system. there's not much feel to things that aren't mechanically connected.

 

I guess so..
I hate technology ! ><

 

.....Thank you.....

This is exactly what I posted....

I will have to get over to my Scion dealer an do a test drive on the TC to see exactly what the difference is.

My XB is a 5-speed and shifts exactly the same as my Hyundai Excel. No difference at all. Even the shift points are exactly the same.

 

I wouldn't want to ride with anyone that completely let off the gas before disengaging the clutch in first. I quite like my head not being in the dashboard ;) This situation is exacerbated when the A/C is on.

If you clutch in fast, I don't see how still giving it gas is going to make much of a difference.

 

I've driven plenty of manual cars and the tC is one of the easiest.

 

the tC was alot easier to drive than my step-dad's 4cyl jeep wrangler.. frustratingly slow

 

The flywheel on the tC is a little heavy, so it makes the shifting process a little slow... mixed with the delayed E-throttle, but hey, at least we get more torque and better gas mileage, respectively

 

here.. you want to find out where the exact spot is at? heres something that i did and i learned stick in 20 minutes... no joke lol

go in to a parking lot, an empty one with a lot of space, say a school on the weekend...

1. what you want to do is go to the far end and face the car backwards(youll be going reverse)
2. push the clutch down and put it in reverse..
3. start lifting your foot untill the car starts moving
4. DONT PRESS THE GAS
5. Hold it there and repeat

what this does is help your foot remember where the point is that your clutch will start to bite.. after that its damn simple..

 

So what can we replace to help the lag/delayed response in the shift and better clutch??? i can drive it pretty well but would like it to be smoother without having to try so d@mn hard...ya know

 

practice makes perfect..I know the drive-by-wire system can be a little unpredictible at times, but you should get the hang of it. many have said a little extra gas is all that's needed, but no two drivers are the same

 

They have a grounding kit to help the throttle delay, it's been posted in here before.