Quote:
Originally Posted by xghsfh
 all you stick drivers out there, do you enjoy driving manual after a while? or do you feel lazy or it gets tedious and draining from time to time? How long does it usually take for a newbie to pick it up and start driving comfortably without looking at the RPM dial, and also learning hill starts?  |
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...