Tips for driving a standard better?

[Justinw303 10+ year member]

I've driven a standard before, my dad's 93 Ranger and a Jetta I borrowed from my uncle over the Christmas holidays last year, but not much. My truck died so I bought my brother's Cobalt, which is a standard.

The two things I'm the worst at are reverse and shifting into 2nd.

When I reverse, it's VERY jerky and sputters a little. I'm giving it the same treatment I give first gear, and first is a lot smoother for me, but not perfect yet.

And when I shift into 2nd it's no where near smooth...

So besides practice, what can I do to make these two gears a lot smoother?

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[Injected54 10+ year member]

give it some more gas and let the clutch out slower.

 

[TribeX85 10+ year member]

maybe your leaving the clutch in when you accelerate after going into 2nd.

 

[Justinw303 10+ year member]

give it some more gas and let the clutch out slower.

for both gears?

 

[Injected54 10+ year member]

yes

 

[Injected54 10+ year member]

you might be letting the clutch out too fast and not have enough rpm's to keep up with the clutch dumping. hard to say without seing how your doing it.

 

[Justinw303 10+ year member]

yes

Alright, I'll give it a try. Thanks.

 

[Tiger Bass 5,000+ posts]

Honestly dude, it's like every standard has a mind of its own and each one is different. You have to learn how to drive your car just by feeling these little unique things out for yourself. If you already understand the basic mechanics of how to drive a standard, which it appears you do, nobody is going to be able to tell you anything worthwhile on here.

That, or you might need to replace your clutch.

 

[Injected54 10+ year member]

Alright, I'll give it a try. Thanks.

Yw

 

[89montero 10+ year member]

when you go into second try releasing the clutch before you push the gas.

Mostly it just takes practice, some people get it faster than others. I'm really good at driving a stick but it's hard to explain it, especially when I'm not in the car with them.

 

[Trey803 5,000+ posts]

you need to learn to find the friction point....once you get a feel for it clutching becomes a breeze

 

[jnralp00 10+ year member]

every clutch acts differently

 

[peas247 10+ year member]

grind m till ya find m

 

[IgnoreMe 5,000+ posts]

Honestly dude, it's like every standard has a mind of its own and each one is different. You have to learn how to drive your car just by feeling these little unique things out for yourself. If you already understand the basic mechanics of how to drive a standard, which it appears you do, nobody is going to be able to tell you anything worthwhile on here.
That, or you might need to replace your clutch.

exactly. ive driven manuals my whole life. each one is a little different. and when i get into someone elses manual car i will get it jerking a little here and there. after a little while of learning the little unique things about that particular car it gets smoother and within about 5-10 minutes its seemless.

other than that, just practice. youll start to learn the little things about that car and you'll be fine.

 

[Injected54 10+ year member]

Check out some of the instructional videos, might see somethen you don't know about.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=how+to+drive+a+stick+shift&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wv&oi=property_suggestions&resnum=0&ct=property-revision&cd=1