Teaching someone to drive a manual
 

I would like to teach my kids to drive a stick, but the only one I have is in the 03 Boxster S.......I learned in my parents '74 911, and dad always said if I could drive that stick I could drive any.

The Boxster only has 27,000 miles and is in perfect mechanical condition, I am just concerned about the "abuse" that learning could put on it.

Am I being paranoid about it, or should I just wait and let them learn later?

I'd be leery of that approach...these cars are not the easiest to learn to drive a stick with. AND, clutches are pricey!

I'm sort of in the same boat. My girlfirend asked me to teach her how to drive my car.

I learned on a older Datsun and my next car was a 73 VW Beetle.

If you teach them properly, then it shouldn't be a problem. I've taught a lot of people how to drive sticks, no blown up clutches. This car is rather easy in comparison to my rally car, a 1994 Subaru Legacy with a race clutch and AWD, ha.

I used to teach people to shift at a dealership, lots of different people. The Boxster would be a more difficult car to teach someone on than say a VW. For starters the clutch is very grabby, can be an handful in a parallel park situation and will likely produce many a stall for the beginner. Furthermore, a missed shift and other unavoidable learning curve experiences are going to at the very least, beat your machine's transmission up in a myriad of ways. If it were my kid, I'd find a craigslist fixerupper Sbox, that could be resold as a winter rat and let it rip, might be cheaper in the long run and hey if you get stuck with it you can use it to learn speed shifting.

I taught my son to drive a manual transmission, but chose to have him learn on lesser cars, than the Box S. First we went out out in an older 3 series BMW...very easy to work mechanicals. Next we borrowed my nephews VW Golf; again very easy to drive. We finally went out in the Box S and he had a very difficult time, constantly stalling. I think he lost interest thereafter and has not been out since and prefers an automatic (he drives a Ford Focus).

Here is your answer:

01 2001 Porsche Boxster Clutch Kit - Clutch - Beck Arnley, LUK, OES Genuine, Sachs - PartsGeek

Sometimes you can find a manual box truck at the local Budget, Enterprise or Penske truck rental location (Penske being easiest but also usually highest priced). $20-50 for a day plus mileage is much cheaper than a new Porsche clutch. Plus they learn really quickly about vehicle size and how to properly use side mirrors. Thus you kill 3 birds w/ one stone. Then all you need is a big empty parking lot and you're golden.

Good luck :)

Oh good lord
 

Thanks guys, I kinda figured that. Looks like they will be learning on a rental car. lol

Where are you in Tampa? I am north in Spring Hill, but looking for a good shop.

Interesting. My wife still can't drive a stick, mostly due to mental issues. I have taught her in the past on my old Datsun 510 and later a Miata, but she's been too intimidated to go out on the street.

I was thinking the Boxster might be a great car for this ... the flywheel is heavy enough that you can get started really easy. I don't see why some above have said it's a bad choice to teach someone in ... to me I think it's probably the easiest I've ever owned.

The gears in a Boxster are pretty tall so I find it more difficult to teach manual shifting vs a Honda Civic/Toyota Corolla/VW Jetta.

Not sure what your bankroll looks like, perhaps it's not an issue and going forward with learning on a Porsche isn't a big deal. If t is a consideration than there's no way I'd subject mine to that abuse. To be honest, I think the Boxster is one of the hardest clutches to learn on even though the clutch pressure isn't bad at all. when I've let others try my car, even many with a lot of manual shifting experience, all have had problems trying to get the feel of it. (This is my second Boxster, first was brand new and this one I just had a new clutch installed so both were in new condition). Go learn on a borrowed Honda or cheap econobox as I taught my son on, you'll find it easier and much cheaper

I didn't know how to drive stick when I bought my boxster. I learned quickly.

I have personally driven over 30 different cars with manual transmissions.

To me, the Boxster is one of the easiest to drive. It is not easy to stall one. Even at a low rpm at 20mph in 4th gear, the engine does not stall.

Subaru Legacy's are pretty easy too.

The ones I had the most trouble with are Nissan 350z's and suprisingly some of the small sub compact and compact cars. Very touchy.

They should offer this at RMVs/DMVs. You go in. You pay for it and you beat on something they have for you to use to learn. Good idea for a gaming system too.

Just say "NO, NOT IN THIS CAR"

I taught my 3 kids (all girls) stick shift, first in my A4 and then in my Boxster. The biggest issue was with all of them "how to get the feeling", means how much power to clutch, how much slip etc.
To get started we hit a big/empty parking lot and I let them just operate the clutch, no gas. That way they get a feeling for the clutch, after that I think it was easier for them. "Burn - prevention" :)

I　ａｍ　ｉｎ　ｔｈｅ　ｍｉｄｄｌｅ　ｏｆ　ｃｈａｎｇｉｎｇ　ａ　ｃｌｕｔｃｈ　ｉｎ　ｈｏｔ　１０６ 　ｄｅｇｒｅｅ　ｈｅａｔ．　Ｔｈｅｒｅ　ｉｓ　ｎｏ　ｗａｙ　ｉｎ　ｈｅｌｌ　ａｆｔｅｒ　ｔｈａｔ　ｗ ｏｕｌｄ　ａｎｙｏｎｅ　ｂｕｔ　ｍｅ　ｄｒｉｖｅ　ｉｔ．　Ｔｈｅ　ｃｈｅａｐｅｓｔ　ｉｔ　ｃｏｓｔｓ 　ａｔ　ａｎ　Ｉｎｄｙ　ｆｏｒ　ａ　ｃｌｕｔｃｈ　ｊｏｂ　ｒｕｎｓ　＄１，１８０　ａｒｏｕｎｄ　ｈｅ ｒｅ．　Ｖｅｒｙ　ｕｎｌｉｋｅｌｙ　ｔｈｅｙ　ｗｏｕｌｄ　ｂｕｒｎ　ｏｕｔ　ｔｈｅ　ｃｌｕｔｃｈ，　 ｂｕｔ　ｏｎｃｅ　ｙｏｕ＇ｖｅ　ｒｅｐｌａｃｅｄ　ｏｎｅ，　ｍａｙ　ｓｏｍｅｏｎｅ　ｈｅｌｐ　ｙｏｕ ．　

Anyone considering this should closely look at the rental agreement. Usually only insured drivers on the contract over 25 year old are allowed to drive the car you rent unless you add someone else to the contract specifically.