Teaching someone to drive a manual

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by grubinski

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.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. The Boxster clutch is much easier to handle than most sports cars that I've driven. Fairly low force and plenty of friction range.

Try teaching a kid to drive a pre-964 911, now that's a tough clutch to learn on.

[Ghostrider 310]

Originally Posted by blue2000s

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. The Boxster clutch is much easier to handle than most sports cars that I've driven. Fairly low force and plenty of friction range.

Try teaching a kid to drive a pre-964 911, now that's a tough clutch to learn on.

Not in my opinion, a direct cable clutch has tons more feel than hydraulic, as for Boxsters every one I drove I craved for the clutch to grab closer to the floor, they all release too high, makes them all feel like the need a disc.

[Coffinhunter]

Originally Posted by blue2000s

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. The Boxster clutch is much easier to handle than most sports cars that I've driven. Fairly low force and plenty of friction range.

Try teaching a kid to drive a pre-964 911, now that's a tough clutch to learn on.

My dad taught me on a 1974 911. It took a minute....lol

[Dave S.]

I'd teach someone to drive a clutch in my Boxster, no problem. I've taught several kids to drive a clutch before. I taught several people to drive a clutch in my TR8. I always find a big empty level parking lot and make them learn to engage the clutch without using the gas pedal. After a few tries when they get that, we start applying a little throttle. Once they have it mastered we head out on the road and I show them how to use the parking brake on an uphill start. I have never found it to be hard on the clutch as I don't let them burn it up.
I also find it helps if you spend a few minutes to explain how a clutch works. Draw some pictures so they understand what they are doing.

[dewolf]

I'm teaching my 16 year old learner son at the moment in the Boxster. He is mastering it well. I have taking him hills driving where upshifting and downshifting while braking etc are the norm. He loves it. Plus, when your son is older he can say "I learnt to drive a manual in a Porsche".

[KevinH1990]

I taught my daughter on our 94 Camry - the same car we used to bring her home from the hospital. The car had over 250k on it and the clutch had been replaced at 180k. She definitely put some wear and tear on the clutch, and I'm glad it wasn't on the Boxster.

Unfortunately, there just aren't that many manual transmission cars around anymore that you could beg or borrow and use as a substitute for the Box. When the Camry became uneconomical to fix, I bought her a Civic with a manual, but it seemed like there were 5 or 6 automatics for every manual I could find on Craigslist. The Honda clutch is much lighter than the Boxster's and to be honest, the shifter is more precise.

[recycledsixtie]

Way back in the 60's I was teaching my girlfriend to drive a standard shift (we were in our teens) and we were out in the country. It was a Morris Minor.She started doing this lurching thing with the gas and the clutch while we were both getting whiplash. Next we hit a pothole at the same time. After that was over I took over and drove back to school and the right front wheel collapsed. Apparently the stub axle broke.
We held up traffic for a long time till the Morris was towed away. Teaching somebody to drive is tough. Stickshift is tougher

[Overdrive]

The Boxster was my sister's first Porsche and first manual car, ever. I had to drive it home for her from the dealer (with her in the passenger seat, of course). I taught her how to drive it in 3 days, and yes, she stalled it several times, but she picked it up fast. I was certainly concerned about her ruining the clutch if she didn't pick it up quickly, but it was the only available manual car at the time.

You could always go and pick yourself up a $500 Neon with a stick that no one could care less about before or after the learning process.

[Gforrest2]

Timely thread. I too am in the process of teaching my 18 year old son how to drive a stick. After one lesson he's said, "No way, I'm only going to be driving automatics". Luckily, I have an F-150 and other than the long throw, it's very easy to drive. Easy clutch, broad engagement point, and torquey engine. My Boxster on the other hand is somewhat hard to drive. I learned on a manual and have driven them for 35 years, but stopped on a hill, I'm nervous in the Boxster, especially if someone is right on my ass. So my kid will not be driving my Boxster, even if he masters the Ford.

[Frodo]

Originally Posted by Dave S.

I'd teach someone to drive a clutch in my Boxster, no problem. I've taught several kids to drive a clutch before. I taught several people to drive a clutch in my TR8. I always find a big empty level parking lot and make them learn to engage the clutch without using the gas pedal. After a few tries when they get that, we start applying a little throttle. Once they have it mastered we head out on the road and I show them how to use the parking brake on an uphill start. I have never found it to be hard on the clutch as I don't let them burn it up.
I also find it helps if you spend a few minutes to explain how a clutch works. Draw some pictures so they understand what they are doing.

Yeah, those are good points. It also makes a big difference WHO you're teaching it to. When I got the Box my older son had already learned to drive a manual (my old Camry---the only one of many Camrys at the dealership with a stick, even back then: 1996) . He picked up the technique of driving a stick easily---I think he'd have done fine learning on the Box. (Predictably, his transition to the Porsche was seamless, almost effortless: 2 or 3 runs through the gears and he had it.) His younger brother was tougher. I started him out on the Camry, too, and that took awhile. Unlike some on learning to drive a stick, he thought too much about what he was doing, about what was happening with the clutch and gears. He tried to be perfect with every shift and clutch engagement, ended up being the opposite. Now? He owns a 2005 Acura RSX and runs up and down the gears smooth as silk. And, of course, at this point he has no problem driving the Box as well.

On reading this thread and giving it some thought, I guess maybe I've changed my mind to a degree. I find myself starting to agree with those saying the Box isn't really any tougher than, say, a Camry would be. It IS different: the clutch engages at a different point, has a different feel when that happens, and (at least in my Box) the shifter is much less precise. But harder to learn on? Maybe not. Just...different.

Originally Posted by Gforrest2

Timely thread. I too am in the process of teaching my 18 year old son how to drive a stick. After one lesson he's said, "No way, I'm only going to be driving automatics". Luckily, I have an F-150 and other than the long throw, it's very easy to drive. Easy clutch, broad engagement point, and torquey engine. My Boxster on the other hand is somewhat hard to drive. I learned on a manual and have driven them for 35 years, but stopped on a hill, I'm nervous in the Boxster, especially if someone is right on my ass. So my kid will not be driving my Boxster, even if he masters the Ford.

That's funny---the older son I was talking about? He's 24. Just the other week I heard him say that it was his intention to never own an automatic transmission car. He seems pretty resolved on that point.

[dewolf]

Taught my oldest son to drive a manual in my 930. Now he can get in any manual car and drive it..

[Overdrive]

Originally Posted by dewolf

Taught my oldest son to drive a manual in my 930. Now he can get in any manual car and drive it..

That's the way I see it. If they can learn to drive a stick on a car like a Porsche they can really drive anything.

When my sister drove my mother's Alfa Romeo Graduate, now being a seasoned manual driver, she had no trouble at all, and was singing all sorts of praises to the ease of the Alfa's clutch compared to hers.

I dunno, I kind of appreciate the slightly unforgiving nature of the Boxster's clutch...I get rather sloppy and lazy driving the more domesticated sticks in many other cars.

[thstone]

I would use my Boxster to teach someone to drive stick in a minute. Its a modern car so its not that hard to learn on and its not that hard on the clutch.

Here is how to teach them: make the new driver get the car going using just the idle. When they can do that they have learned how to slip the clutch so they "feel" the engagement point. Then just have them do it faster with a little throttle and off they go!

[Overdrive]

Usually the first thing I have them do is just lift right up off the clutch and stall the car so they know what that feels like, and understand that if they start to feel that sensation that they need to depress the clutch to keep from stalling.

I happened to find a parking lot of a place that had recently closed down at the time that the car was bought, and part of the lot had a very gentle slope to it, so I started her off pointed down the slope so the clutch would very easily engage, then turned her around so she could practice a (very) gentle hill start.