My step dad just bought a 05 g35 sedan 6MT. I just learned manual about a month ago so I'm fine tuning my skills on this car. Seems like the clutch throw is really long. It's still in the breakin process but I'm just wondering when everybody shifts normally? I'm only going to be a part time driver and likely he won't get any mods but I still love driving it.

 

Congrats and welcome to the boards. Shifting normally? . . . Everyone has different shifting patterns and habits. However, as the Owners' Manual recommends, keep the revs below 4k rpm for the first 1200 miles.

Drive safely and enjoy!

 

It would probably be pretty easy for you to shift around 3,000-3,500 smoothly. Just don't cook the clutch. If you smell a burning dead animal while you are driving - it's probably the clutch and you are letting it slip too much. Once you are in a gear and the clutch is out, take your foot off the pedal so you aren't inadvertantly putting pressure on the throwout bearing.

These cars have enough power that you can really smoke the clutch in a few seconds if you let it slip too much while trying to put down some power. A better car to learn in is a civic - easier clutch and less power.

You will learn the amount of RPM drop between shifts so you can match rpm pretty close as you shift. once you can do that you will be able to shift very smoothly and have very little clutch slip time between shifts.

I am trying to teach my wife how to drive this car. She was doing pretty well until she tried to pull out into traffic once letting the engine rev at about 4,000 rpm, and slowly let the clutch out over about 3 seconds. I thought I was going to either die or kill her. The car stunk all the way home. I think she is going to be relegated to Maxima driving only.