Yeah, as a guy that raced a drift car once and enjoys the occasional drag on a local air strip, make sure you don't shift out of first gear until you hit 6,000 RPM and the engine sounds like a sea lion choking on oil fragments.

Practice, practice, practice. It's all just a matter of building up the proper brain wiring. After a few months/years, it will become something you don't even need to think about.

Good luck!

I "learned" for the first time myself, this summer. A friend spent about an hour in early June showing me the very basics; I then spent three weeks in a crowded, pedestrian European city, where I decided to throw caution to the wind and rent a car (manual, because that's all the place had). It was.... interesting. : ) Once they figured out I basically couldn't get their car to move three feet, they very nicely showed me some basics and let me practice in their garage for an hour and a half. Right about the point I realized it was stupid and I would have to be certifiably insane to try to drive on dense, urban streets with my negligible skills, a moment of insanity triumphed, and I drove up the ramp, out of the garage, and away. Going back would have been roughly impossible by then, so I was off!

It was pretty fun. I won't pretend it didn't have its stressful moments, but it was super enjoyable, and I got much better as the day went on (and I got out of town). I'd do it again in a minute.

Good luck!

(I rented it only for a single day, which I guess wasn't clear from my story).

I've lways found that pressing the accelerator equal to the release of the clutch and doing it reasonably quickly works pretty well. It's all a matter of listening to the engine and knowing your shift points based on RPM, present speed, and gear you are moving to.

To get moving make certain you give it enough gas so it doesn't stall but not so much your are breakign the tires loose (unless you are into that kind of fun!).

always fully diengage the clutch and remove your foot from the clutch pedal. Worst thing for a tranny, a clutch, and your gas mileage is a partially disengaged clutch cause you are afraid to move your foot. That said, busy traffic sometimes demands keeping your foot hovering over or even touching the clutch and you will find yourself extremely worn out if it is a heavy clutch after the first day of stop and go traffic.

But once you get used to it, there's nothing like a 6 or 7 speed manual transmission and a curvy road with no one aroudn to get your pulse and adrenalin going.

Lots of gas, let clutch out slow. When in doubt, push clutch back in. That's really all you do until you get the feel for it.

The thing I confronted most was a natural and completely spontaneous desire to quickly pop the clutch out once the car started moving. This was exactly the wrong thing to do, and once I realized I had this urge and overcame it, things got a lot better.

yep, the instinct is to let go of everything when you freak out, which is the worst thing you can do.

If you are stopped at an intersection and it is your turn to go (or light turned green) and you kill the engine, don't panic, just start it up again and try again. Panicking will just make it worse.

If you are stopped facing uphill, you can put on the emergency hand break so that you can take your right foot off of the foot brake and put it on the gas while your left starts releasing the clutch and your hand starts releasing the hand break. That will keep you from drifting backwards into the car behind you.

From my experience, each car's clutch is different. So if you are used to one and are going to drive another, keep in mind that it may act a bit different. Eventually it doesn't take too long to be able to quickly adjust to different clutches.

In Europe almost everyone drives a manual car, including people who are taking their very first driving lesson, so it can't be THAT hard. :)

If I'd have to give you any tips: get to know how a clutch actually works. This will give you more insight in what you're actually doing. My driving instructor first explained it to me on my very first lesson, so I'd actually have a clue about what I was doing.

Good luck with it.

The speed of the car is controlled by clutch not accelerator.

When you start the car I mean

In Europe it's actually considered effeminate not to drive manual..!

What is surprising is how easy it is to switch from driving a British/Irish car (gear stick controlled by the left hand) to a Continental car (gear stick controlled by the right hand). I thought it would be like teaching yourself to write left handed, but you can pick it up pretty much instantly.

But yes, in Europe people who drive automatics are people who have failed to learn how to drive properly... and the very elderly and disabled, of course.

My advice would be to ignore the tachometer and learn to drive by feel and sound. Its one less thing to worry about if you don't have to keep checking your RPMs. Figure out the point at which the clutch "catches" and keep that in mind as a reference point so you know when to give it more gas.

I've driven nothing but manuals since college and I now find it uncomfortable to drive an automatic, especially when I sit down and start smashing my left foot down searching for a clutch that isn't there.

I found 2wl's advice key.

I just want to squeeze this wiki in

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variomatic

and leave quietly :-)

Thank you all so much guys :) Ill keep all of this in mind. My training got pushed back today because of some happenings at my father's work, but this weekend I will definitely be picking up the stick shift. Thank you all for the tips!