What's up everyone. I'm new to the forum but I decided I should at least give the reason for why I joined. Just picked up an 04 350z Touring 6mt 2 days ago (Saturday morning). It's "my" first car and I don't have much experience with manual other than driving a friend's old altima around a parking lot a few times. I took the car out for a test drive (the dealership lady was really cool about it and didn't care) and I stalled many many many times. I got some practice in after I paid for it and after a few hours I felt comfortable enough to drive it home (about 40 minutes away) and only stalled a total of 5 times on the way back lol. I've been doing a lot of reading in the meantime but I still have a lot to learn. If any of you guys have good tips on driving a manual car or anything else, don't hesitate to let me know. I'm here to learn as much as I can. Other than that, great forum and great car. See you guys around.

 

Just keep driving. You will get the hang of driving a manual pretty quickly.

 

Congrats on the purchase of your Z and welcome to the forum. Practice makes perfect regarding stick shifts and in a lot of ways because of the torque this engine is very forgiving. When the clutch starts to bite don't let it all the way out in one movement, get the car start moving and then gently release it all the way. This should stop you from stalling. Good luck and I hope it gives you as much fun as I've got out of mine.

 

Congrats on the Z! Just keep driving it and you'll get the hang of manual driving in no time

 

Congratulations on your new car Uzi, red is a great color for a Z. The 04s have a bit stiffer pedal than the late model 350s and all Z clutches have a higher engagement point than the little econo-boxes on the road. This always caught other drivers by surprise when they drove my Z, even experienced drivers took a while to master it.

While you’re learning, you might find moving the seat a notch or two forward from what you thought was right, will give a little more control of the gas and clutch pedals. As Samsniss has advised, let the clutch pedal out slowly, listen to the sound of the engine and look at the tachometer. If the engine bogs down and the tach drops, don’t try to save it with the throttle, simply push the clutch pedal back down a bit and start over.

Quicker than you might think you will master it. Your next challenge will be stopping at a light/stop sign on a steep hill. Naturally the car behind will be crowding your back bumper. A technique my dad showed me, was to use the hand brake to keep from rolling back. This meant I didn’t have to handle three pedals with only two feet. The Z has a good hand brake and it’s easy to let it off while working the clutch.

 

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome and replies.

@Samsniss that's one of the main reasons I kept stalling at first. I kept reading about how it's bad to ride the clutch and I guess I misunderstood it and I kept letting the clutch out all the way too quick so it would stall coming out of first. It's gotten much better now and I'm gaining more confidence about being at lights with people behind me.

@Jennifer yeah I wasn't expecting the bite to be so high up. I took the car back to the dealership and had the lady take me out in the car and show me how to not stall and that's when I noticed I was giving it gas too early, even before the clutch was engaged. As for the hill lights, I managed to stall 4 times at the same light simply cuz it was a bit uphill lol. I'm just not used to having and using a hand brake but I'm trying to incorporate it on hills as much as possible.

Everyone else, thanks again for the replies. I'm definitely still driving and enjoying it and everyone around me loves it as well. It's a great car.

 

You will learn quick!

Mind if I ask what you paid??

 

looks good... keep her waxed, i hate it when people dont take care of red cars.. they are almost as much maintenence as a black on in my opinion

 

@oldschool

I paid about $12k for everything. That includes the processing fee, taxes, tags and registration since I did everything through the dealer so I could skip the trip to DMV. The car only has 51k miles on it currently so I'm assuming it was a good deal.

@travlee

yeah I need to get it washed and then wax it and maybe even clear bra it. The hood has a few rock chips on it already. The interior is in pretty good condition. A few scratches on the dash around the stock radio and storage area. The shift **** is also a bit faded and scratched but other than some minimal wear and tear, everything seems to be nice and clean. Any suggestions on what I should be using to clean the exterior and interior?

 

Looks good. Any future mod?

 

@Run

I do plan on some mods like wheels/intake/exhaust/paint (in the future not now)/brakes and a few other simple things. No turbo or supercharger for me. I'm still reading for now and learning what mods will be compatiable since I'm new to the modding scene as well.