My Experience Learning How to Drive A Stick Shift
I had always wanted to drive a stick shift because it seemed very fun and cool. When I got my 2012 Mustang GT with a manual transmission, I was so excited about driving it. I looked up some guides on how to drive a manual car and didn't think it was going to be difficult to learn. How wrong I was. My 412-horsepower and 390-torque Coyote engine was a difficult car to drive. I stalled it left and right.
My problem may have been that all the guides I looked at on the internet were telling me to "slowly roll off the clutch." I was doing just that, but the ride was still jerky. Eventually I learned that you don't need to step on the gas to get the car moving. Depending on the speed at which the engine idles—that is, the speed it runs at when you're not pushing on the gas pedal—just releasing the clutch some will move the car to an extent.
I played with the clutch and got a feel for the friction point or biting point; that is, the point where the car is rolling, but the clutch is asking you to add more gas. At this point, you feel a little resistance, a little vibration from the clutch pedal; the car is asking for enough gas so that it can run when the clutch is fully out.
After incorporating what I had learned with this new-found technique, my first start was the smoothest one yet. I wished that someone had told me this tip earlier, instead of me wasting two days trying to "roll off the clutch."
