Sooo I have 2 cars one is my daily 01 Mazda 626 work beater that is overheating at the moment and my weekend/fun car a 04 g35 sedan 6mt.Recently my 01 Mazda is overheating and I tried fixing it but it still over heats in 10 mins of driving and I honestly don’t want to invest anymore money into it.Now I’m forced to drive to my 6’mt g35 sedan due to not having the funds at the moment to buy another daily.Anyways I’ve only driven my G in traffic once and i stalled a couple of times but I’m slowly getting the hang of it.Im considering driving the G this week to save money and not take Uber’s everyday to work but I’m still not comfortable in traffic.I get super nervous especially on downhills or small slopes.What advice would you give me as a first time MT driver?? How do you down shift??? I only know how to upshift and usually when traffic slows down I put it in neutral and slowly start braking which I heard is unnecessary. Let’s say I’m on 3rd gear going 30-35 mph and the speed limit turns to 20mph how would I down shift back to 2nd gear?

 

Just down shift. If you are in normal RPM range than you shouldn't have to worry about breaking traction.

You need to find a parking lot and learn how to use the clutch. Once that is easy than practice on hills.

 

Make sure you understand what is going on when you clutch and shift, and practice rev matching on downshifts. That's the only proper way to drive manual, giving you greater control, saving your clutch from wear, and increasing passenger comfort to the point it feels like an automatic.

Get comfortable using the e brake on hills and you won't worry as much.

The G has a terrible stock clutch feel which can be massively improved by removing the spring in the clutch pedal and adjusting the stops so there isn't excessive free play. Once you can actually feel the bite point traffic becomes much less annoying.

 

Rev matching is for more experienced manual drivers isn’t it?? I heard you could use a blip like for example being in 3rd gear and let it go down to 2krmp and then hit the throttle a bit and down shift is that right?

 

Rev matching is the best way to downshift (for the purpose of slowing and to place the RPMs in the best power-band for acceleration) without putting stress on your drivetrain or passengers. There is a really good sticky (https://g35driver.com/forums/g-spot/...-drive-mt.html) and tons of tube videos that describe rev matching pretty well with fancy split screens. I learned to drive manual and have taught several people to drive manual in an empty office park/multilevel garage on the weekends and was never hassled because I wasn't doing burnouts, drifting, or ripping donuts (yet)...just lots of stalls and cursing until my feet and brain could get the coordinated effort down...then it's just up to building up muscle memory and getting to know your particular car.

For someone just starting, I would say just get comfortable with normal starts and hill starts. Get used to using that third pedal (to the point that when you go back to an auto, your left foot feels a bit lost). Get used to the gear pattern and where they are in relationship to each other. For hill starts, there is no shame in using your e-brake until you get used to the clutch point of engagement and getting the right rev and clutch release transition to not stall or roll back. I would focus on smooth starts and gear transitions - imagine you're driving your grandmother to church. This will get you around town with minimal stress.

When the traffic clears, you can work on rev matching (blipping) to downshift to 2nd when approaching red lights or stop signs...this requires more forethought than using the brake, so just be safe while learning. Maybe down the metaphorical road, you can advance to fancy heel-toe work so you can blip and wave byeeee out of corners and you'll be enjoying your 6mt more and more in no time.. Good luck!

 

All of his videos are gold

 

I attempted to drive today in traffic and I still suck.Super heavy traffic around a school area I stalled about 3 times with cars honking at me and getting super nervous.I then parked near a corner and I couldn’t even reverse it out to leave the spot.I honestly feel like giving up already and sticking to auto. I felt like I was doing damaged to the tranny and the car.

 

Keep driving the car, it is all about muscle memory. Once you are used to driving it, you will enjoy it more. You will regret selling a manual G years from now.

 

If you keep stalling let the clutch out really slowly with your foot off gas, and when the RPMS start to drop push it back in again. That's the bite point.
To get moving rev the engine up to 1500 RPMS or so and release the clutch to the bite point. With practice the gas and clutch becomes simitaneous and you're not revving the car while not moving line a noob. Keep it at, manuals are a dying breed and in the future more than ever will distinguish the "real" drivers from the posers

 

i Keep stalling when I’m reversing out of my garage I can’t even get out lol but I’m the street cruising I do a bit fine.I had it in my mind that I was going to learn and daily the 6mt but now I have buyers remorse and thinking to myself I should’ve just bought an auto G37 like I was originally planning to

 

Dude good things take time. Kids and grandma's can drive stick.

I learned to drive manual commuting in bumper to bumper Boston traffic in a 120 hp Corolla.... Stalled plenty of times but by the end of 6 months I was heel toeing that thing round every corner just for practice... Just keep it up man

 

^^^^^

When stopped in traffic on level ground or even in your garage with the clutch pedal fully depressed and your right foot lightly resting on the gas pedal slowly let out/ raise the clutch pedal until the RPM's start to drop slightly. On level ground the vehicle should begin to move, then fully release the clutch and give just a little gas.
Practice taking off by keeping the rpm at 750 while letting out the clutch. Do not raise the rpm and allow slipping the clutch when getting underway
When properly driven a MT clutch should last to 200k miles. Excessive slipping the clutch and smelling it will vastly shorten its life.
As for downshifting notice your rpm's and speed when shifting. At 60 mph and seeing a red light ahead you can downshift to 5th, and as the vehicle begins to slow down at 40 downshift to 4th, then 3rd, 2nd and at 10mph you can even downshift to 1st and almost stop the vehicle at that light with a very light touch of the brakes.
On my previous 06 G35 6 speed manual I got 86k miles on the OEM brakes and that first replacement set were still on the vehicle with 4mm left on those pads when I traded it in at 171796 miles. Still on the original clutch
On my 2012 G37S 6 speed the original brake pads and clutch were still on the vehicle when I traded that in for my Q70 at 95k miles.
Been driving stick shifts for over 50 years and my first stick shift was a 3 speed 1940 Pontiac, a1953 Studebaker three speed, a 1955 Chevy three speed, two 4 speed Volkswagen Beadle's, a 1980 Diesel Rabbit that died at 241k miles, a 88 Mazda 929, 5 speed with 200k miles, a 92 Lexus ES 300 5 speed with over 100k miles and now on my third Infiniti

And just in case you are wondering I am a grandpa and my grand kids notice red lights, stop and yield signs and ask lots of questions when driving them to little league and soccer practice.

Telcoman

 

I’m freaking out my car doesn’t want to go to reverse no more. I’m pressing down to to the right and it just keeps going forward nvm it was on 6th gear lol anyways I feel more better now I did laps around my neighborhood when there was no traffic and practiced on my 1st gear.I stalled at least twice in a 30 min cruise but other than that I did good.My 1st gear is still kinda jerky but I’m slowly adding less gas so it could be smooth

 

The smoking tire tutorial on manual transmissions is a good time.

 

Engine on, clutch pressed to floor, shift lever in neutral, shift into first, then back to neutral, press shift lever down & to the right into reverse

Back up

Telcoman