It depends on a lot of factors but, in general, most cars shouldn't be in top gear at city speeds.

depends on the car, how much power it has and how the car is geared. in the city, if the conditions are steady traffic at a regular speed limit without interruptions, on flat or somewhat downhill, i would be in 6th. always remember that 5th and 6th are generally overdrive gears.

if i have to deal with stop and go traffic, i never go past 2nd or at most 3rd.

Vancouver + Burnaby is a tough place to learn with steep hills and stop and go traffic up and down those hills.

I learned in 2010 with my brand new Suzuki SX4. I was a slow learner with a heavy foot, but kept at it.

If I were to give myself from back then some advice, I would have to say don't be afraid to wear out the clutch a little bit. Much better than stalling or grinding gears.

I improved and learned the most on long trips with hills such as going to Osooyoos or Whistler. You'll pick up on when to shift up/down and how to conserve your brakes.

Driving standard is awesome. I now never get sleepy at the wheel and you really do become one with the machine. My car is slow, but fun to drive.

Boundary and hastings... if you can make it up that hill on the boundary side you can make it anywhere :thumbsup:

even better

all i know is that when i have to drive something with an auto trans all i can think of is "this sucks".

having said that, there are days when i am at my worst, uncoordinated and screwing up everything and all i want to do is just get out and walk.

I chose stick because I love driving in general, always love cars, love to drive and cruise even if it wastes gas. I knew I would have more fun with stick. Just hardest part is learning phase but with good advice from friends and good people, I am getting the hang of it quickly. If you enjoy driving then you will have a blast and will never get bored of it.

Been driving stick for 12 years. Every car I've owned has all been manual. My gf has an automatic and I drive both equally. Once you drive manual for awhile, you don't think your driving a manual or auto anymore, it's becomes a natural reaction to step on the clutch when your suppose to. I picked it up driving around my block once when I got my first crx. It's not as hard as it looks. Just practice going from stop, learn to ride the clutch, first gear then second gear. Rinse and repeat. its basically impossible to fail going into the higher gears.

OP: Did you end up getting a g37?

So far, I've had a manual since September and haven't regretted learning and owning one once yet. I have no experience with any fancy shifting, just the basics to get me places but I'm excited to learn more.

Personally I feel it depends on the car as well.

When I was DD'ing my AE86 it was super fun, I honestly enjoyed driving, even sitting in stop-and-go with a stiff clutch and lightweight flywheel (easier to stall) was not a hassle. Drove every day for 6-7 months, never felt like it was a chore and that's when I was learning too.

Fast forward to nowadays, my DD is a 1996 Civic and it's SUPER slow so I find it super tedious as first gear is pretty worthless and I find myself being outpaced by traffic (who are probably mostly auto drivers) all the time, being tailgated, people cutting me off etc. It is also very "jerky" at gears 1 and 2, let off the gas while moving and it bucks hard, and bucks more when you reapply the throttle (i.e., if someone in front of you slows down to turn right). The shifter is also so sloppy and it's easy to miss shifts or even grind gears. Don't even get me started on the clutch, maybe it's because I learned with a stiff one but I find there's just too much "room" in it which makes my driving jerkier. It has convinced me to find an automatic daily until my AE86 is done being built because I would rather take transit (and sometimes I do) than drive it...

Just my $0.02...

Driven a manual as a daily for the last 10 years 50/50 city and highway.

The only gripe I have now is that the clutch is too heavy for my old legs during commutes... so it's time to get a new daily driver, all the new manuals in non-performance cars have pretty light clutches that are super easy to drive. I'll keep my current car as a weekend car. Never auto.

Hard to tokyo drift in an auto.

The Raptor's fun to drive, it's an auto.

I remember learning how to start on hills. It was difficult, since I didn't realize you needed to step down on the pedal more and get rpms up before you will actually move.

At first, I used the ebrake method. Then my cousin's boyfriend called me a pussy, and I have not used the ebrake to start on hills ever since.

Ebrake method is harder in my opinion

do you guys mean blip the throttle before letting go of the clutch or consistently holding onto the throttle at a specific rpm while letting go of the clutch on a hill? Few people have said "learn to ride your clutch" What do they mean by that? holding in the clutch half way and gas at a bit at same time or completely using momentum of car while letting go of clutch without throttle?

Well, what I do is keep my brake pedal depressed while waiting to move. I release the brake pedal and get into gear within half a second while gasing enough to move forward

Riding the clutch:
Some people will keep their car stopped on a hill with the clutch partly engaged while stepping on the gas... I don't think that's good for the clutch :heckno:

wait what? why would you not be in gear already while waiting to move? shouldn't you have it in 1st already, brake and clutch depressed?

when I was first learning, whenever i did the hastings/boundary hill, i would let go of the clutch just to get a feel of where the engagement point was for a second or two, then depress it again, so when i actually have to start moving, I have a fresh idea where the engagement point was.

I was told not to depress on the clutch for an extended period of time. Just to clarify I leave it in neutral and step on the brake when I know it's going to be 10 seconds or more of waiting before actually moving. When the light is about to turn, or the car in front of me is about to move, I'll already be in gear and take off normally

Ebrake method saves your clutch on a hill. I used to not use the handbrake while on a hill but the cost of replacing a worn clutch is much greater than replacing brakes. I've used the ebrake method on a hill ever since I replaced a clutch and found out how much work and cost it involved. Ebrake on to keep the car from rolling back is much less wear on the brakes than it is to burn the clutch trying to get the car moving against gravity up a hill.

The more I can save on the clutch the better. My advice, use the ebrake to save wear and tear going up a hill and it decreases the chance of rolling back into someone.

On another note, extended depression of the clutch wears out the throwout bearing more quickly. The more you move the clutch either stopped or moving, the more wear you will put on it. Then you see the dumb ass drivers that roll back and forth using the friction point on a hill thinking they are bad ass but I feel sorry for the clutch disc screaming in agony of the dumb ass driver.

do u guys all give it throttle while letting the clutch out when starting off a hill? cus if u do ur doing it wrong, thats y the clutch wears out fast...

how do you do it correctly? So many mixed answers...:suspicious:

As opposed to?

Define Hill.
Hastings/Boundary?
Boundary/Grandview?

What do you mean? If you don't add in gas you aren't going to be moving anywhere on any uphill. :concentrate:
I think it's wrong if you still have your clutch partially engaged for any longer than a full second.


I don't think there's much of a difference with respect to wear using the ebrake method or the brake + quickly switch into gear method.
I do believe there is more wear when people don't have enough practice with the brake + quickly switch into gear method, because they're rolling back and they're slipping the clutch to try to gain momentum to move forward.

I don't use the ebrake myself, because on most uphills I won't roll back after letting go of my brakes as I can get into gear really quickly. Practice makes perfect. I start on hills as quickly as on a flat road.

if u know how to modulate the clutch ur actually able to roll the car forward without giving any throttle, even on up hills. u guys make it sound like ur reving the engine and then letting go of the clutch to prevent a stall which is putting more wear on the clutch than it needs.

Wouldn't that still require clutch slipping?
On moderately steep hills I can't imagine overcoming the force of gravity if you don't add a bit of gas. Seems to me like the car would stall