Teaching a newbie stick on S197

[seal614]

I know I know, blasphemy right?

My girlfriend absolutely loves my car (we've been dating for years now, so I'm not being an easy pushover here) and I can tell she wants to drive it. Trouble is she has basically zero experience driving a stickshift. I tried to teach her BRIEFLY on my Taurus SHO but that finicky Mazda CRAP MTX with weak motor mounts took skill to drive smoothly, learning on it was a bad idea.

I figure the Mustang is more robust than the SHO and was hoping to show her how much fun it is (not to mention that driving a stick is a life skill). Do you guys have any particular methods or suggestions for this car as a trainer? I learned way back when I was 15 on an ex gf's Nissan Stanza (no tachometer) and have since driven basically every manual trans there is out there (Datsun thru Porsche).

I just wanna see if there was anything that worked in particular for a 22 y/o girl with no experience. I was thinking teaching her without using the gas at first with some slooow clutch release. Anyhow, let me know what you think. Flame me if you must but driving this car is such a joy I wanna share it.

 

[cave diver]

Just like I taught my son to drive in an 85 5.0 GT; Engine off practice with the clutch and shifting. Then find a BIG empty parking lot and have a lot of patience, you'll need it!

 

[shooterm1]

Find an old VW and let her learn on that.

they're very forgiving and even if she does tear it up, she's actually doing the world a service.

 

[gashog]

Just like I taught my son to drive in an 85 5.0 GT; Engine off practice with the clutch and shifting. Then find a BIG empty parking lot and have a lot of patience, you'll need it!

+1

I taught my girlfriend to drive stick this way. Then once she was comfortable putting around the parking lot we took it out on the country roads.

 

[seal614]

Find an old VW and let her learn on that.

they're very forgiving and even if she does tear it up, she's actually doing the world a service.

haha thank you. This was obviously my first choice (to let her beat up somebody else's car, preferably a crappy one), but if I owned a beater I'm not just gonna let some dude teach his gf how to drive on it. *None availible

The parking lot was a definite to start, but I hadn't really thought too much about letting her practice with the car off (I'm so damn focused on teaching her how to get the car rolling without a stall). Good idea.

 

[dbarr]

you have to let her get a feel for the friction zone. so have her sit still with the car running and the clutch in, tranmission in first. have her SLOWLY bring the clutch up until the car starts to roll. then push the clutch in and do it again. Most people's big mistake is pulling the clutch out too fast so she needs to get a feel for the clutch an this is a good way to do it.

 

[zookroo1]

Find a dealership that will let you take a car for an extended test drive. That's how I taught my wife to drive a stick back in the day. We were able to get a Contour SVT overnight, so I taught her to drive on it. The next day we took it back and bought the other one they had on the lot. (Not because we tore it up, because it had lower miles.)

 

[stangdude2000]

I've always heard starting to teach in reverse helps since the gearing is so low (numberically high - I probably screwed up the terminology) compared to first.

My 08 is my first manual car. I had learned to drive before on a few different cars, but never drove much more than 30 minutes straight. I only stalled mine once. Well, twice, but the second time, I just became absent minded and took my foot off the clutch sitting at a red light with my right foot on the brake.

 

[kooldawg6]

The baby steps approach is the best. I agree on letting her get used to the friction zone and doing that many times before moving onto shifting up. First with no gas applied, then using the gas and clutch. Only thing is without a super long parking lot, it may be hard to get out of second gear. Stay in the lot until she feels confident enough for the road(back roads first). Only thing is, with the power thse have all it takes is a panic to get into trouble quickly and forgetting to push the clutch back in. Good luck on teaching her

I just became absent minded and took my foot off the clutch sitting at a red light with my right foot on the brake.

I have be zoning and coming to a stop before and forgetting to push in the clutch...well the car shutters then stalls...Dee Dee Dee

 

[larry3828]

The baby steps approach is the best. I agree on letting her get used to the friction zone and doing that many times before moving onto shifting up. First with no gas applied, then using the gas and clutch. Only thing is without a super long parking lot, it may be hard to get out of second gear. Stay in the lot until she feels confident enough for the road(back roads first). Only thing is, with the power thse have all it takes is a panic to get into trouble quickly and forgetting to push the clutch back in. Good luck on teaching her



I have be zoning and coming to a stop before and forgetting to push in the clutch...well the car shutters then stalls...Dee Dee Dee

I echo all of the above, but be ready to be frustrated unless she's just a natural at it. These cars are fun to drive, yes, after you're accustomed to driving a stick with a high performance engine on the other side of it. Get ready to smell a lot of clutch once you start letting her add the gas. Good luck, man!

 

[shooterm1]

I echo all of the above, but be ready to be frustrated unless she's just a natural at it. These cars are fun to drive, yes, after you're accustomed to driving a stick with a high performance engine on the other side of it. Get ready to smell a lot of clutch once you start letting her add the gas.

I reiterate,,,, find a crummy VW to teach her the 1st phase!

 

[Roni]

I taught my wife on mine and her problem was not giving it enough gas and releasing the clutch too fast, so I took the wheel, turned off traction control and laid a patch for about 20 feet and challenged her to try that. After that she wasn't afraid to give it some gas and slow down on the clutch release. She said she was afraid to ride the clutch because she was previously told that it was bad for the car. I told her that it was bad for the car if it was excessive but she actually had to use the clutch though.

 

[LuckyFlyinROUSH]

Have her in the passanger seat first, and you tell her when to shift so she can hear what its supose to sound like. Then teach her the rest of the tricks.

 

[Hoboattacker]

I taught a 19 year old girl to drive stick in my car in one night. She had never even started a manual before that night and she did great. The clutch on these cars is VERY forgiving and it is a breeze to get it started. I mean, if you let it out slow enough the car will start rolling in first with no gas at all.

Honest to God truth, she started the car the first time she tried and only stalled it once in the 2-3 hours that I taught her how to drive.

Edit: My clutch is still in perfect working order and there is zero slipping to be found in it. Honestly, don't be afraid of it. Just try to get her to pay attention when you are driving to an open area (parking lot or park or something) so she knows how it works. Honestly, these cars are probably the easiest manual car I have ever driven in my entire (short) life.