Shifting Tips
- Thread starter elderlycoffee
- Start date
Bakrauf said:
I agree. I stalled once at the light while bringing the car home from the dealership on the first night. I've taught few of my friends how to drive stick with my RSX (IMO, Honda makes one of the best transmission setups), and even beginners got the hang of it pretty quickly. I'm thinking it'll be a lot more difficult for beginners to learn the manual tranny with the MS3.
Hikaru9 said:
I think that in this situation it all comes down to what you are used to. I learned on my 99 Prelude, which the previous owner had put in some sort of racing clutch. That thing was a damn on/off switch!! ANY other car I've driven has been simple to drive smooth, including the ms3. Have yet to stall it. Not saying I'm a good driver or anything, just that it's all relative.
If a person is learning to drive on this car, it will take them longer to learn (especially to drive it smooth), but once they get the hang of it they will be able to drive most cars with stick with confidence.
TheDutchGun
Member
- :
- 2006 Ford Mustang GT
kokemon23 said:
Yeah I went from a Mazda 3 Hatch to a V8 Mustang, that took a couple days to get used to.
I'm still uncomfy with driving this thing and manuals are all I've driven my whole life. I learned how to drive stick with my GSX, which was incredibly forgiving. Then I went to the Mustang GT. I was about 200rpm short of stalling the 'speed3 when I drove it out of the dealer garage, LOL.
Silver Ecstasy
Member
- :
- 11 MS3 Sport
I wanted to contribute to this thread because I've had my MS3 for 2 weeks now. I am not a beginner to driving manual, but have been finding it difficult to drive the car smoothly. Sometimes I'm lucky, sometimes I still get a head jerker. I think if the engage point was lower, i'd have an easier time but then again I don't think it'll make a difference. I'm hoping it will get better with time and break-in. Trans didn't sound too good tonight though, heard some pretty harsh clunking when I was shifting out of 1st and into Reverse to back into my parking spot.
I learned on a 68 Chevy Pickup with 3 on the tree.
Wheel spin = less take off. Tire spin = expensive.
harder on a 78 Chevy Maxivan with 3 on the tree which later had the mechanism break and became 3 on the floor with a home grown shifter that if not pushed right ended up coming undone and you were left holding the shifter attached to nothing....
Sorry I know it has nothing to do with the thread but I hadnt heard 3 on the tree in a LONG TIME and it brought back memories.....
and as far as manuals go the MS3 has to be the hardest Ive found to drive consistently smooth....
This is my third manual transmission and I'd have to say that it's not as forgiving as the Saturn I had, but not as rough as my '89 Ford Probe. That car was MUCH worse trying to get it to be smooth and I had to learn on it. Even after driving it for 2 years, it was still tough to be smooth. I'm glad I learned on it, though.
Haven't had a chance to really launch the SPEED yet (still about 200 miles away from being broken in), but I think MS3077 pretty much summed up how I launched my other cars.
hold the revs at 2500-3k and quickly let the clutch out to the point that it just starts to grip. when it starts to hook up, let the clutch out the rest of the way at the same time pushing the gas to the floor.
Haven't had a chance to really launch the SPEED yet (still about 200 miles away from being broken in), but I think MS3077 pretty much summed up how I launched my other cars.
MS3077 said:
hold the revs at 2500-3k and quickly let the clutch out to the point that it just starts to grip. when it starts to hook up, let the clutch out the rest of the way at the same time pushing the gas to the floor.
Silver Ecstasy
Member
- :
- 11 MS3 Sport
I think I need to get with some of the local guys and cruise around with them and learn what I can. Some days I am good, some days I'm not with it at all.
I learned how to drive stick on a Honda Civic. That car was so easy to drive, but that doesn't mean I didn't have my share of stalls lol. This car definitely takes a little bit of time to learn it. I had troubles with it the first few weeks of driving it, but now it just feels natural.
I tried the flatshifting thing into third and noticed its actually easier than trying to shift to third fast . while in 2nd accelerating watch the tach when u hit about 4900rpm leave ur foot flat on the gas all the way push towards third and pop the clutch its goes right in with no worries . But if u let it get above 5200 and try it it its a no-go sounds like teeth being knocked out not good not goo at all . But finding that out kinda dissapointed me I don't feel like you can really drive the car that hard without blowing out the transmission .
I can't believe mazda recommended this to car and driver . Its almost a guaranteed way to mess stuff up . I wonder how easy it is to do this in the new turbo cobalt ?
Oh yeah never try this going into 2nd bad idea it won't work . oh and if you try do it at your own risk don't come blaming me , lol
I can't believe mazda recommended this to car and driver . Its almost a guaranteed way to mess stuff up . I wonder how easy it is to do this in the new turbo cobalt ?
Oh yeah never try this going into 2nd bad idea it won't work . oh and if you try do it at your own risk don't come blaming me , lol
If you want to talk about hard cars to learn to drive a manual on, I had a friend whose dad decided it was ok to let me learn on his SRT10 Viper, other than being scared half to death of wrecking the car because i didnt know what i was doing it was extremely hard and touchy and the throws are insanely long and first gear is way out of place. After that I've driven 3 honda MT's and they are the easiest ive ever driven. The MS3 is a bit touchy when trying to make it move but easy city driving with slow shifts its not bad.
I learned how to drive stick in a 2000 Ford Focus that already had a salvage title, so it was OK to beat the thing up. Of the 5 wrecks it had been in (3 mine, 2 my brothers) I think the most damage done was when I learned how to shift. LoL
This MS3 is SOOOO different though, it took me a while to get used to it. I was taking off pretty fast everywhere I went for the first couple months until I really got the hang on it and took control of the beast under the hood (shes a raving b****, she is!!). Even now, though, I still come close to stalling when I am not paying attention. She's a tender clutch......
This MS3 is SOOOO different though, it took me a while to get used to it. I was taking off pretty fast everywhere I went for the first couple months until I really got the hang on it and took control of the beast under the hood (shes a raving b****, she is!!). Even now, though, I still come close to stalling when I am not paying attention. She's a tender clutch......
Yep, when I was at the track, my first run was 14.8, 2nd run was down to 14.0, then I was high 14 and low 15 because I kept missing gears and spinning too much.
FWD is very tough to be consistant... launch control would help a ton.
Ive been able to flat foot 2nd, 3rd, and 4th without a problem on several ocassions now, missed 2 times. My goodness does it feel good when it goes according to plan. I shift right around the 6k mark. The car has 11k miles on it now, so as time goes on, the tranny may not be so willing.
I am not worried at all about the tranny failing. I have a lot of faith in this tranny. Manual trannies can just be finicky when being pounded on. A lot of it has to do with the stock shifter(s) and how they are set up. I think that with aluminum bushings and a motor mount, the tranny would be a lot more willing to perform how we want them to, to a point.
I learned how to drive a stick with a 2000 Saleen S281SC Mustang (my dads). It had a Spec stage 2 clutch installed shortly after and is somewhat aggressive and chatters a lot, makes the MS3 a joy to drive. I then had a couple Subaru Justys, which were 180* opposite of the Mustang.
