Hey, I just bought a 350Z that is manual, I am getting pretty good at it, but I have one question.

When you are shifting gears between say, 2nd-3rd, or any other gear once your moving, do you press the clutch in, shift, then release the clutch the whole way? Or is it better to put the clutch in, shift, then slowly release the clutch until it ingauges?

 

you dont need to let it out real slow.. but dont let it out too fast either.. as long as its smooth and youre not riding the clutch.. you should be fine

 

Clutch in, shift, moderate gas while feathering the clutch out for normal driving at least. It just depends if you want the jerk or to be more smooth.

 

With practice, releasing the clutch (slow or fast or whatever ) will come natural. The key is a smooth transition. A smooth transition might be referred to as granny shifting, but it is an important concept to learn. Imagine there is a hot cup of coffee in the dash holder: keep the coffee in the cup!

Later, racing techniques such as braking and downshifting will be built on habits that you perfect now.

 

And typically the faster you're accelerating the faster you can let out the clutch without jerking. But there's still some judgement involved.

 

Ok thanks for the info.

 

The best approach is to learn the engagement point and rapidly release the clutch to the engagement point, pause as the clutch engages and then fully release the clutch. If you are WOT then the pause will be non existent when shifting between gears.

 

dude it will come natural after you keep practicing. dont feel bad if you stall in 1st. everyone has done it once in their life.

i remember in high school i refused to learn to drive a stick. i learned when i got stationed in england. i learned on british cars and then i got my first stick shift mustang and went from there. i never looked back