Might seem silly, but...

the best way to learn to drive a stick is to do it

RE: learning stick, like one2gamble stated, buy one, drive it and you'll be having a blast in no time!

I just converted my 94 GT to manual tranny and since it had been 10 years since my last stick shift car, I had a bit of a rough time at first, but now, I wonder how I ever got along without it!

I know the general idea but I don't want to buy a new car and screw the clutch/tranny trying to learn on it.

Click to expand...

There is not a snowball's chance in hell that you will hurt either your clutch or tranny. The learning curve is extremely fast, you'll be driving like a pro in no time. And those items are both designed to withstand a HUGE amount of abuse from aggressive drivers and drag racers. You simply getting the "hang of it" is nothing, it's child's play for the clutch and tranny. It's like worrying that your kids are going to scrub their teeth right out of their mouth when they learn to brush them him/herself. Just use common sense. Don't take five city blocks slipping and burning the clutch trying to get rolling. When you're switching gears up or down, um DUH, make sure the clutch pedal is depressed! All I'm trying to say is that there's simply no way you can hurt the car, unless you physically TRY to hurt it, or you are hopelessy uncoordinated and have two left feet. My 1st stick shift Mustang was an '88 GT. That car got POUNDED on a daily basis. Dragstrip launches every weekend, powershifting every day, abuse abuse abuse abuse. The tranny and clutch didn't give up until I hit 70,000 miles. The day or two it will take you to get good at driving a stick is nothing, your car won't sweat a single solitary bead. Everybody has to learn sometime. How many times have you heard about the family car being ruined in the course of teaching a teenager to drive stick?? You don't, it never happens. If it did, my sister would have been the poster child

Tupperware said:

...I've looked and looked and can't tell what the windshield wipers are gonna be like on the '05.

Would this affect my decision to buy one? No. However, my current car has wipers that open in what I'll call the "gate" method (from the center, opening towards the outer edges of the windscreen) and tend to bind up in cold weather, causing the timing to get fuX0red. I much prefer the "parallel" wiper pattern (wipers move symmetrically from right to left).

Like I said, I know it sounds silly, but I'm hoping someone here can satisfy my curiousity.

J

Click to expand...

What the hell are you driving, a 1955 Chevy?

Most American cars since the mid 1960s have wipers that run in parallel. This is the way the 2005 Mustang wipers are.

Perhaps he's thinking of the Buick's that have wipers that pivot at the outer edges, thus the 'gated' action he's talking about. I could be wrong, but I believe they were still on one or two cars in the last couple of years.

Jay
Waiting to actually see and drive one before I order

Like my wife's 03 mazda MPV van

What the hell are you driving, a 1955 Chevy?

Most American cars since the mid 1960s have wipers that run in parallel. This is the way the 2005 Mustang wipers are

Click to expand...

The mid size GM's of the mid and late 90's had windshield wipers that worked from the middle out. Lumina, Regal, Grand Prix, Etc.

By the way, My dad has a 55 Chevy and the wipers also run from the middle out.

TheEvII said:

The mid size GM's of the mid and late 90's had windshield wipers that worked from the middle out. Lumina, Regal, Grand Prix, Etc.

By the way, My dad has a 55 Chevy and the wipers also run from the middle out.

Click to expand...

No wonder I don't bother to look at those POS GM vehicles when I'm in the market for a a new vehicle.

Yea, my dad had a 55 Chevy too. POS rust bucket I6. It didn't even come with an oil filter, he had to put on an add-on kit. The old I6 stovebolts were netorious for having their oil passages plug up so all the oil got pumped up into the head and nothing would drain back into the pan.

And IIRC, the wipers were vacuum operated so when you stepped on the gas; the wipers quit running until the vacuum built up again.

The front top of the fenders rusted out so bad the headlights fell out of it!

Yea, they don't build them like they used to, THANK GOD!

RICKS said:

All I'm trying to say is that there's simply no way you can hurt the car, unless you physically TRY to hurt it, or you are hopelessy uncoordinated and have two left feet.

Click to expand...

Aren't you supposed to use your left foot for the clutch? Therefore making it worse to have two RIGHT feet? [/sarcasm]