by Rudy » Sat Jan 01, 2005 3:13 pm
JESUS CHRIST IT'S MANUAL. sorry...
Either way, dont listen to him, learning from racing videos is probably the WORST way to learn how to drive stick.
I learned to drive on my solara, and the best advice i can give you is to take it to a parking lot and just put in first gear and give it some gas, let out the clutch slowly till you feel the engagement point, then put it back in. Rinse, repeat, over and over and over again until you know that engagement point like you know how high the next step on a stairway is. Then, go to a hill, and do the same thing, over and over and over again. It's going to suck, and I dont recomend doing it for very long at first (keep your windows down and look out for the smell). Really, once you have that down, the rest is a piece of cake. This is for daily driving, which you should master before you even think about racing that car.
And m/t is good for more than "showing off and getting mad hardcore power." You have so much more control over the car, you can easily engine brake (great for avoiding tickets as the front of your car doesn't dip) Dont trade your manual man, you'll regret it, I know NYC sucks, trust me Northern VA isn't much better we have traffic out the wazoo, plus driving too and from greensboro can mean 3 hours of stop and go driving. Once you get the engagement point down, and eliminate the sloppy shifts you'll love it, I'll never be able to drive an auto again.
99 Solara V6 5SPD