I think that the best place to practice driving is in traffic. I know that it sounds crazy but you get the feel for when the clutch starts to grab the tranny and then you have muscle memory to when to give it more gas or to let off the clutch. Just practice... that's all it will take.

 

We all gotta start somewhere and I respect all you new manual drivers. At least you guys didn't chicken out and buy Autos.

 

^ Agreed. Ahh the days of learning manual back in high school. Except I learned on a civic sedan.

 

I had a similar issue when I first got mine. I've been driving stick since I got my license. But when I got the Z, I found it was hard to find the sweet spot and release it while giving just the right amount of throttle. I've had mine since 05 AND I still have shakey rolls from a stop every now and then. But when I drive my friends 03 I never have this issue. But his clutch is a little harder to press down than my 05, but I'd rathar have smooth take offs any day.

 

well said here.
give it a quick blip, start to release the clutch and adjust ur gas and clutch as needed. dont go by a certain rpm ur supposed to "launch" at, if u will. u can launch at a ton of different rpm levels, each one needing different levels of throttle and clutch.
and as far as rolling starts, dont rely on mph haha. u can let out the clutch smoothly in third at 10mph if u wanted. although u would be slippin that clutch like crazy hehe. use it if u want, but after a short while, u wont need to look at the tach.
like most people said, practice practice practice.

 

http://www.howstuffworks.com/transmission.htm

there you go buddy

 

here another one

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/clutch-video.htm

 

If you want to become a better MT driver, take it out during rush hour.

 

i wouldnt do this unless u want to get into an accident lol.
do this once u feel ur comfortable

 

+1

 

I've been driving mine about 2 weeks now and have most of the basics down. No more stalling or anything like that, however I still have a couple questions.

1. I'm having a lot of trouble when I'm in a zone with a 20-25mph speed limit. I just can't find a way to ride smoothly anywhere below 30mph. Even when I leave it in second, if my foot isn't pushing down on the accelerator I can feel the engine fighting me bigtime and everything just feels "heavy" and feels like it's pulling against my forward progress.

2. I'm having some trouble when I want to get a quick start. It seems like when I'm starting from first gear even when I only depress the throttle half-way or so the rpm's skyrocket up to 5-6k almost immediately. Then I have to shift when we're just getting started and (I guess I'm too slow?) see everyone else still going forward while my car waits for me to shift to get moving again.

 

I have been driving MT for over 30 years. I still stall now and then. I frequently forget to put it in 1st after coming to a stop. As far as stalling from a dead stop, the Z has an aluminum flyweel, that means it is very light and therefor does not have a lot of stored energy when you let out the clutch at idle speed. It will stall. By getting the RPMs up to about 1500, you overcome this problem. The light flyweel lets you rev it up very fast. I was driving a jeep prior to my Z. I could let out the clutch and then give it gas, it had plenty of low end torque. Just keep practicing and you will get the hang of it. I will never have a sport/perfomance care with an A/T. What fun would that be...

 

Just floor it everywhere and dump the clutch...

 

just wondering, is it normal to get a noise from the transmission when quickly shifting from 1st to 2nd ?

 

buy a GTR,,PROBLEM FIXED

 

1. Hmmm....so you feel like you are going slower in 2nd gear at those speeds? Thats weird. May want to get your car checked out. How does it feel compared to other gears?





depends on the noise...

grind grind grind vs clunk clunk clunk :P

 

This is my first 2 weeks of my first manual z, lol. I would say practice helps so much!

 

well, would "clunk clunk clunk" be normal?

 

i'm glad i learned on my mom's saturn.. i thought i was the man once i started to get the hang of the clutch and i was using it to stay still on hills instead of the brake... i always wondered what that burning smell was..

 

It feels like the car is fighting me, like it wants to slow down, kind of like when you downshift and are going at a higher speed but not to that extent.

When I accelerate through second it's fine, but when I'm just cruising around at 20-25 it fights me. If I switch to 3rd it's the same, but when I'm cruising along at 40 in 3rd or 4th it's fine. It's just that 20-25 range.