Its under warranty. Learn to drive your stick but dont trade it in for an auto. You will be beaten to death by everyone here. You can do it, just pick up some hot chick and then feel the pressure not to stall or slam her head into the dash when you down shift.

 

Seems like you are still young.

Everyone has already stated the important stuff. The only thing I can reccomend to you is, do not be afraid. Just have fun with it. Alot of people get to intimated by manual transmission. Go out there have fun, feel like you are in control. Relax. Some people catch on quicker than others.

My first time driving stick was in a Z28 Camaro. I lied to my buddy and said I knew how to drive stick, but I never have! Anyway he let me behind the wheel. And I figured it could not be much harder than what I see on tv. Played it off like a champ. A few chirps in 2nd 3rd and 4th, but we made it. After that.

 

Yeah man, the Z was my first MT car too. I "kind of" knew how to drive stick already , but that was just from practicing on other people's cars -- it was never routinely practiced. Just keep on practicing and driving it; after 1.5 years of owning my Z, I am totally comfortable with it now. Of course it won't take you anywhere near that long. I remember counting how many times I stalled after I first got the Z. It went from like 2x a day to 1 to none.

 

lol

I noticed the Z is a high reving vehicle. My mustang was easy to keep below 2 rpms. But the Z you have to shift very close to 2 or a little over for a nice smooth ride.

 

I too learned on my g35, this is my first MT car...Trust me, at first, it felt like i was never going to learn, the jerky shifts, and stalling out in random places...but trust me, youll get it. Ive owned my car for about a month, and i shift really smoothly now. The only thing i cant quite yet get is the speed shifting, how to shift really quickly and smoothly(that nice little pause between gear shifts). A few things I can tell you, dont be afraid of the gas. The only thing that causes a car to stall, is not enough gas, so please, do not be AFRAID of the gas. Practice giving gas first, then letting out the clutch. Rev up to about 1.5-2K rpm, and slowly ease out the clutch. Just practice 1st gear vigorously (Start off in first gear, get upto about 15 mph, stop, do it again, for hours, thats all u need to learn. Shifting is quite easy. After about 2 months or so, you will have it down bro no worries. One thing I do have to say, our trannies do give the effect that we are damaging them, by the unsmooth shifts, since our clutches and gears make loud *** noises, but dont worry, its jus the way it is...

 

My Z was my first MT too and it only took me about a week to get the hang of it, I was also having these thoughts about trading it in for a AUTO instead. BUT THANK GOD I DIDNT, I LOOOOVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEE MANUAL NOW!!!!!!!! I"LL NEVER EVER EVERGO BACK. I cant believe what I've been missing, please hang in there...you'll thank yourself later

03 silverstone AUTO Z (RIP) HEllo, 06 REDLINE 6MT BABY!

 

thanks for all your support and advice you guys

 

pretty easy, just takes practice, it's like riding a bike, I remember I learned on a Miata that had a clutch that had the **** beaten out of it. Then I test drove an STI for my cousin cuz' she was too nervous, and I drove it like I had been driving stick for a long time. While I was driving it, I was driving it so well that two lesbians, who were obviously 10's came and pulled up right beside us and the passenger showed me her *****, and one of them talked to me...one of her ***** I mean. Because the girls were giggling because I was so man like because I was driving a stick, then my cousin hit me in the head because she's a girl too. So she said I was a pig...

 

stuff like that never happens to me.

 

Your speedo can help with this. In a stock Z i think you would want to blip it to around 3k RPM @ 45mph to 3rd

 

It's been too long since I learned to remember for sure, but I can't think of anyone who had gotten it right away. It just takes practice. I only recently learned how to double clutch while downshifting and it took me about a week of constantly doing it to really get it down. I would puposefully take turns I didn't need to take just to get more practice in. Ah the joys of M/T, once you've learned how to move up gears you get to learn how to move back down them

 

?uestion: did they ever soften up the clutch in the z? i got mine a little over three years ago and learned stick on it...that was tough but i got it down after ~ one week.
every time i drive a different car i always notice just how much harder the z clutch is to depress...i test drove a crossfire and i felt like i was gonna drive the clutch through the floor with the amount of effort i was putting into pushing it down
but i've become used to the stiff clutch and, in fact, i love it. it's more involving (or mechanical...you really 'feel' the gears (dis)engaging).

 

The Z's clutch is pretty heavy, especialy compared to say a Honda. Honda probably has one of the easiest manual tranmissions to learn to drive on... I learned how to drive a manual on my new 1990 Honda Accord, stalled it like 3 times on the way home, but had it mastered within couple days...

 

go manual go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

to me driving stick is like breathing......i will never buy an auto car....and never have i learned to drive stick when i was 14 my dad never let me drive auto....so i always drive stick.......but i learned right away its easy just have a steady foot....

 

it's all good man.. i too have problems to this day driving my z around. i've had it for more then a month now but don't drive it often. i stalled numerous times when i first got it, now i am OK. you'll get the hang of it, i know i did =)

 

lol i learned on my Z too about a year ago, drove to work the next day just fine, still had issues with hills but other than that i got the hang of it fairly quick..

 

my friend taught me on his teggy... the only problem i had was revving too hard and doing a wheel spin, scared the poop out of me!

 

Umm.. ok, here's my crappy advice:

1. More gas
2. Let off clutch slowly
3. Use handbrake on hills

 

The Z was my first stick car as well. Took 2 days to learn how to drive a stick decently. I'm slowly getting better . Good Luck.