Overhaulin'

learning to drive stick shift on a new car?

is it really that bad to learn how to drive stick shift on a new car? ive heard people say your going to burn the clutch, mess up your car etc. but i also heard people say they learned on there new car, its not bad. i just dont wanna go out and ruin the new car i bought. thanksssss ive drivin a manual dirt bike for a couple of years back when i was little, i do know the basics of driving a stick(ive practiced maybe three times) and im thinking about getting a dodge neon srt 4. i know alot of people dont like it but i got great reviews on this car, look for yourself.

Public Comments

1. They are assuming that you will make mistakes and ruin the clutch (or grind the gears). So if you did that with an old car with little value, then you are not throwing much value out the window. And you say you rode manual dirt bike. Again they don't have the kind of shifter as cars and you can easily grind the gears on a car (not on a bike). And you didn't mention if your dirt bike had clutch (I think some of the smaller mini-bikes don't have clutch) - so that not going to help. Just be careful and you might get away with it. My nephew (a good driver) went through 2 cars and still ruined 2 gear box, so sometimes it makes no difference. :-) Good Luck...
2. no not at all why do people always complain
3. As long as you remember how to use the friction point with the clutch, you should have little problem. The bike experience will be valuable. Go get back on and practice on a dirt bike to help your confidence.
4. To start off, just go to some isolated spot and start and stop while in Reverse. Reverse is the easiest gear to get the hang of on a manual trans car. Then you can graduate to moving forward. lol
5. that car doesnt have enough power to burn the clutch, you are fine. i learned on a chevy crapalier
6. Unless you're a terribly slow learner (and it doesn't sound like you will be), you're not going to harm the car in the short amount of time it takes you to get the hang of it. The car is not that fragile.
7. What you are going to do is learn to drive the same as 90% of the rest of the world do. Only in USA are most cars Automatic so you will do it the same as the rest of the world do. We manage without damaging cars ! Have someone teaching you who knows what they are doing and you will be fine.
8. You'll have slow starts for a while and once you grind a gear once or twice you'll figure out whats happening and not do it again.