Learning to drive manual
 

So i'm looking to buy a cheap Insight with the 3-2 synchro grind. But i have next to zero experience driving stick. Wat are my chances of driving it back home 100 miles?

That depends--how many stop lights/stop signs on your route?

If you have 98 miles of traffic-less highway, then you'll do just fine. If you have 98 miles of stop and go then it will take forever to get home, but 100 miles later you'll be a pro just like you've been driving a stick for decades!

Agree with Jeff. One thing I would note, get down the 1st gear start, and find a hill to practice on. Spend about 20 minutes practicing on the hill, then you'll be good enough.

Underscore (guy you met at GGP, twice lol) did that. Tuesday before GGP, I took him to a lot. In an hour, he was manageable in those two aspects. Wednesday, he drove 9 hours to Ohio with me, Thursday, solo from OH to NY, then solo from NY to southern OH, then OH to NC.

Don't be ashamed to mess up, just be careful where you do until you are comfortable enough to start. A parking lot for a warehouse, with a lowered dock, will work perfect. 1-2,2-3,3-4,4-5, any other combinations are easy. Just make sure you can get out of your own way from a red to green :)

If you understand the concept, you can get the car moving. If you can get the car moving once, you're driving and the rest is just practice.

And if you understand disc brakes, you understand the concept. Don't let it scare you.

i'm having some reservations abut doing this. Do you think it's possible to learn enough in one day? Could you guys give me some tips?

What i worry about is getting it into 2nd from 3rd double clutching into nuetral inbetween. The Ima battery is toast so I won't have any instant restart luxuries.

I don't quite understand the best way to get it to stop at a stop light or a toll booth- what exactly i'm supposed to do.

Once i have good momentum going can i shift with the clutch and not worry about stalling the engine?

I had one lesson a while back where i only took it to 40mph that lasted a half an hour.

This is a 2000 honda insight. wht rpm should i shift and what mph between gears going up and down. i need to create a cheat sheet.

Route should be mostly highway, with a few stop signs and toll booths before and after. Then a long climb up the mass pike that's very steep gaining a couple thousand feet in elevation over 15-20 miles at freeway speeds.

Car has over 200k miles with bad ima, think i can get it for $1,200. Body looks good though. Want to strip all ima, interior etc. Get Peters ima light overide, fix the synchro and use it as a base platform for aeromodding. I'd have another insight to drive while one could sit in the garage. A the very least i could recoup what i might buy it for if I found it unsuitable for my purposes.

spend an hour or so on youtube

Have the seller show you how to do it. I once sold a manual car and gave the buyer a quick lesson. It was his first manual.

Unfortunately, it's harder to learn to drive stick on a low-torque car like this (I learned on my father's 1984 Nissan truck--those were some times...). The best car I've seen for teaching someone to drive stick was actually a Viper, because you can get the car moving quite easily in first (or second, or third) without touching the throttle, just learning to manipulate the clutch.

This shouldn't be a problem; once you're up to speed, you'll have plenty of time to complete shifts without the car losing too much speed.

Well, you can either press the clutch, take it out of gear, and use the brakes to slow the car, or put it in the next lower gear, let the clutch out and let the engine braking slow you down. When you're slow enough that the engine wants to stall in second, put it in neutral and use the brakes. To leave, clutch in, first gear, release the clutch slowly while you give it some gas. If you aren't comfortable doing that yet, you'll probably want to practice on an empty street or parking lot.

Yep.

I haven't driven an Insight, but most cars anywhere between 1500rpm and redline is fine for shifting. If the engine lugs or stalls, you shifted too soon. I learned in cars that didn't have tachometers, and I think it's easier to just listen to the engine and ignore the tach, YMMV.

If the Insight gearing is like the Civic, probably:

1st: 0-15mph
2nd: 10-25mph
3rd: 20-35mph
4th: 35-50mph
5th: 45-infinity and beyond!

All measurements with a big "-ish" at the end.