hey guys, i got my tc about a week ago, its an 06 with 16k on it and i'm a little frustrated bc i'm having trouble learning how to drive it, my biggest trouble is taking off, i know you have to let go of the clutch slowly and at the same time slightly press the gas but i can't seem to get the hang of it, every time i take off the car shakes like crazy, i'm actually thinking of selling it and getting an auto, any advice guys? thanks.

 

dont sell it and get an auto. if you do you will regret it. guaranteed.

 

took me a day to learn how to drive stick, and about a year get good at it. it is all a timing type of thing.

your problem is your aren't giving it enough gas at the right time and the car is struggling at low rpms and almost stalling.

practice pedal position. try and find the spot where the car is revving at about 1500 rpms. right there is just about the perfect rpm to casually launch the car at.

so once you know just about where 1500 rpms is on the gas pedal, practice smoothly engaging the clutch pedal.

let it in gradually, and once you feel the clutch engage, start letting it in alittle faster while feeding it more gas.

it is all just and timing and rythymn. you'll get the hang of it.

 

Took me about 3 days to learn a manual car.

Took me 3 minutes to learn a motorcycle. I then applied the same principles on the manual car and got it by the end of the 3rd day.

Once you learn the principles of a "clutch" , it's a snap.

 

i taught myself how to drive stick on my previous 1994 toyota celica and it took about a week to get it down, and a couple months to get good at it. then it took me a week to get used to the soft tc clutch but its all good. but yeah geeting off the line is the hardest part to do but you'll get better and then you'll learn to go uphill in a stick.

 

Yeah man i got same problem. Take off is kinda hard I'm still learning. I've been driving my 08 for exatly two weeks and i think i got better. This is my first m/t car and i absolutely love it. After first few days i felt same way like going back and get an auto but i believe in myself. Just keep trying and know you are not only one. Good luck!

 

it only took me the first try in my mom's mazda 3 for me to get the hang of it, but I still ended up with an auto. What can i say, cars run in the blud. It just takes some practice....

 

the best advice i got was just using the clutch to get moving when u first start (on flats). then after u get the engagement point down u can add some throttle to the mix, it just goes from there into a fluid motion. i cant remember how long it took me to learn but i taught a friend in 2 days. oh yah let the clutch out realllllllll slow so u can get a feel for it.

Edit: oh yah dont be afraid to jam the clutch back in if u feel u might stall, u can get it moving a little then disengage to gain some idle rpm then engage again. also i agree that u'll regret it if u go for the auto.

 

thanks for the replies guys, you know i actually tried that moving the car with just the clutch thing but i kept stalling, sometimes i take too long to hit the gas and i stall and sometimes i hit the gas too soon and i get to 3k rpms without moving, thanks again for the replies.

 

took me about a day to learn and a year to perfect. the TC is defintley not the easiest manual to drive! am i right? its so jerky the first couple times driving it but after a while youll be able to drive it smoothly. just keep on keepin on and dont wimp out and opt for the auto. like that dude up there said..youll regret it.

 

When co-worker of mine heard me buy a tC. His first question was "Did you buy a manual???" Then I said "No cause I didn't know how to drive manual." Then he was explaining about "Power Shifting??" He was saying tCs have so much torque you can shift without using the clutch. I never heard anything like that before until he said it.
I don't know how safe that is or what?

But I will say since I have been a warehouse forklift operator for almost two years. I know the way you operate a forklift is the same concept as driving manual...whole feet & hand motion. I know for sure: you give me a manual and extra $40.00's for gas. I'll get the whole timing within a day.

 

2 hours! but you should practice!

 

The way my friends first taught me to take off is to be on a slight incline and find what they called the "sweet spot," where the clutch petal is in a position where the car isn't moving forward and isn't moving backwards.
Once you learn where that is you should be good.
Having a beater to learn on like I did wouldn't hurt either =)

 

power shifting is not being able change gears without the clutch, but if you take your revs high enough you can hear when your car is ready to shift and you can do so with out the clutch, but i highly discourage doing that b/c it might mmess up your tranny if you don't do it right

 

I became really comfortable with it within two weeks, but I drive very often.

I'm glad I learned stick, I get a whole lot more out of my driving experience; I'm never buying another automatic transmission again.

 

x2 on that.

My tC was my first stick, practicing starting is the hardest. I never, (well rarely) use first gear unless i am starting from a fairly steep incline. I start out in second almost all of the time.

It just takes a little while, even a few months into it i'm still getting a shake here and there, but some on here think thats just how the tC is, very finicky with the clutch.

Stick with it, as said by others I'll never by an A/T again unless absolutely forced to

 

ya tc was my first stick car as well the sales person was actually the one that taught me hah went to an empty lot and taught me the basics of moving from a stop and what not then after that we drove around for like 30 min..so id say overall it took me an hour to drive stick since i was kind of forced to..(drove the highway home haha).its been probably around 6 months and im still learning stuff but i feel comfortable driving stick now even tho its not perfect

 

took me a day or two to get the concept down, then about a month to get comfortable in traffic. I actually learned at my valet job, on other peoples cars........

 

my dad took me out to practice on weekends n stuff, took about 3 weekends to actually drive it back home. to be proficient, maybe about a year.

now i have fun poppin the clutch every so often and burn a little rubber. now it's on purpose of course, but when i was learning, id do it by accident.

DO NOT SELL IT!!! YOU WILL REGRET IT!

 

I've driven stick since 2000 (learned on a Wrangler the same day we were driving from NJ to CA), and have driven my manual tC for 27k miles...and I STILL make rough shifts that bounce the car around from time to time. Don't get too frustrated, it can take a long time to get it perfect.

This reminds me of the board game Othello - "minutes to learn, a lifetime to master"