Drive it.
My Galant was an auto. I had it for years, with maybe a handful of chances at driving a stick during that time. I'm still not wonderful, but have limited my problem to launching. Everything else I'm almost perfect at.
To be honest, you have it good. Other cars with M/T aren't half as rewarding as the one you have. For example the civic I drove's engagement point put my knee in the dash. Felt like 5 feet of clutch pedal. Annoying...
Shifting smoothly will come with time.
Its hard if its your first manual, but as you get the hang of it, you should make sure your car is up to par. (Not grinding gears, bad clutch, bad slave not releasing enough, enough fluid, good fluid, bad shifter bushings... ect)
Since you don't know how it "should" feel, I suggest you try and get used to driving it as is. I had the same problems pulling out, feeding out the clutch too fast, too much gas, too little gas, really icky hills...
You just got to do it.
Go in a flat parking lot and put it in first. Then slowly SLOWLY let out the clutch until you can feel it engaging. Or, for those dumb like me, the car start to creep forward like an automatic. Thats your point. Then practice with little bits more gas until it starts out smooth. 2nd's a snap. Once you get the car moving, push in the clutch put it in 2nd and feed it out. Do it slow the first time. It'll gradually catch. This is riding the clutch. Keep adding little smidges of gas each time until you find a smooth one. You can always make it smooth by letting out the clutch slow and easy. Riding the clutch ALL the time, will eventually add some wear to the clutch. Not recommended you keep alot of this in your driving habit. But it should ease you into the learning process faster. Once you're more confident try and make quicker gear changes with the right amount of gas and less time on the clutch. It took me about 3 weeks to be able to go anywhere, stop on a hill, and not be afraid at all. And I still was so so on crappy hills. I practiced going across an uphill bridge in 6PM traffic where people ride your ass, and try and cut in. THEN, I got real good, real fast.
Most of all, get in that car and drive it. Thats the only way you'll get better. And uh, lay off the downshifts until you get the hang of feeding out the clutch well.
Once you get what speeds will work in each gear, and where the overlap is, then get braver. As long as the clutch is in ok shape, I see you doing little damage as long as you don't go nuts.
If its bad, then you'll eventually want to replace it anyway. Why learn on your brand new clutch? Get out there, be careful and good luck.
My Galant was an auto. I had it for years, with maybe a handful of chances at driving a stick during that time. I'm still not wonderful, but have limited my problem to launching. Everything else I'm almost perfect at.
To be honest, you have it good. Other cars with M/T aren't half as rewarding as the one you have. For example the civic I drove's engagement point put my knee in the dash. Felt like 5 feet of clutch pedal. Annoying...
Shifting smoothly will come with time.
Its hard if its your first manual, but as you get the hang of it, you should make sure your car is up to par. (Not grinding gears, bad clutch, bad slave not releasing enough, enough fluid, good fluid, bad shifter bushings... ect)
Since you don't know how it "should" feel, I suggest you try and get used to driving it as is. I had the same problems pulling out, feeding out the clutch too fast, too much gas, too little gas, really icky hills...
You just got to do it.
Go in a flat parking lot and put it in first. Then slowly SLOWLY let out the clutch until you can feel it engaging. Or, for those dumb like me, the car start to creep forward like an automatic. Thats your point. Then practice with little bits more gas until it starts out smooth. 2nd's a snap. Once you get the car moving, push in the clutch put it in 2nd and feed it out. Do it slow the first time. It'll gradually catch. This is riding the clutch. Keep adding little smidges of gas each time until you find a smooth one. You can always make it smooth by letting out the clutch slow and easy. Riding the clutch ALL the time, will eventually add some wear to the clutch. Not recommended you keep alot of this in your driving habit. But it should ease you into the learning process faster. Once you're more confident try and make quicker gear changes with the right amount of gas and less time on the clutch. It took me about 3 weeks to be able to go anywhere, stop on a hill, and not be afraid at all. And I still was so so on crappy hills. I practiced going across an uphill bridge in 6PM traffic where people ride your ass, and try and cut in. THEN, I got real good, real fast.
Most of all, get in that car and drive it. Thats the only way you'll get better. And uh, lay off the downshifts until you get the hang of feeding out the clutch well.
Once you get what speeds will work in each gear, and where the overlap is, then get braver. As long as the clutch is in ok shape, I see you doing little damage as long as you don't go nuts. If its bad, then you'll eventually want to replace it anyway. Why learn on your brand new clutch? Get out there, be careful and good luck.
