Do you remember the first time you drove stick?

[94Corolla5Speed]

I was just reminiscing about the first time I drove a manual. It was about a month or two before I bought my car. My friend had (and still has I believe) a mid-90's 4Runner with a 5-speed. He pulled into a Dominick's parking lot and tossed me the keys. After reversing out of the spot fairly well, he put it in 1st for me (or so he thought). I stalled about 3 times while other people looked at me like I was an idiot before we realized it was in 3rd. Once I got a move on, it went pretty well. I even got the car to peel out at a stop sign because of my overzealous clutch misapplication

So, do you guys remember losing your virginity with the stick?

[tdotkid]

It was two weeks ago and I ended up launching from a red light @ 4000 RPM in my civic. I was so afraid of stalling that I gave it way too much gas. It wasnt that bad though, the guys next to me were loving it.

I have gotten much better in a short amount of time and I dont expect to be in that range for a long time.

[mugen13]

i remember my first time i drove around the block with my uncles 199something festiva. stalled at every corner of the block. I thought it was funny... my uncle not so much though lol.

[watkins]

Once or twice around the block in my friend's early 2000s Outback. Clutch was messed up. I didnt stall.

[LHOswald]

my dads dakota. driving it now its probably the smoothest easiest thing to drive of all time. of course i was absolutely horrible and stalled it constantly. of course the first time he handed me the keys, it was parked on a hill at about a 15º angle.

moral of the story, i will now do this to my kid

[1974Alfa5spd]

It was before I had even completed drivers ed. We went to the school parking lot and dad and I swapped seats. The only thing he taught me were no-gas launches. Didn't stall it once.
First time on the road, we went down to the locksmith to have another key made for our station wagon ($40, yikes!), made it down there through a slew of stop signs. This is also where I taught myself 2nd-gear downhill launches and launching with the application of the accelerator. Lots of bucking. >.<

[AHTOXA]

Yeah. It was a 1986 Civic Wagon with about 225k miles. Clutch was slipping too, from what I remember. This was probably around 2001. I drove myself to school in it, bucking around at first. I fully taught myself how to drive manual. No one even gave me theory. Just based on what I heard here and there and trial and error.

I remember one day after class I was driving in front of a bunch of students that just got outa school. I stopped at the stop sign, took off (bucked like crazy), shifted to second, bucked some more and left. I'm sure I got a lot of looks at that moment.

[buster]

I was de-virginized in 1993. Car was my brother's 1990 Ford Thunderbird SC. That thing was a beast to learn on. For a while I was convinced I would never learn to drive it. It eventually became my car for about 1/2 year, but I found it just way too big to be practical in NYC.

[Tinton]

I remember one day after class I was driving in front of a bunch of students that just got outa school. I stopped at the stop sign, took off (bucked like crazy), shifted to second, bucked some more and left. I'm sure I got a lot of looks at that moment.

Hahahahaha yeah a giant dude driving a tiny old car and bucking like crazy...

[AHTOXA]

Yeah. I was pretty embarrassed, too. We all know how it feels to publicly stall out during the learning stages, especially in front a a TON of your peers.

[Tinton]

Once or twice around the block in my friend's early 2000s Outback. Clutch was messed up. I didnt stall.

Was the clutch slipping? That'd make it easier.


My first time driving stick was back in 2004 I think. I was looking at learning to drive stick and since my Dad and no one else I knew really had a standard car, I had to buy one myself. At the time I only had my old automatic '88 Fiero GT and my slush '00 Camaro Z28, I wanted to get a cheap car with a 5-speed. So I went and looked at this '87 Fiero 4cyl 5-speed that a friend of mine had for sale.

The tach didn't work and the car was pretty rough. All the bushings were shot (MUCH worse than my '86 SE too!) and it bucked a lot. I only drove it around a parking lot so I barely got it out of first gear, but it was nice. I wasn't really hooked on driving stick though, not having a tach made it very hard to launch (as a noob) and it seemed too complex for me at the time. About a year later I was getting bored of my slushes though and needed to learn to drive stick (my cousin, about the same age as me, had learned on my aunt's Miata ) so I ended up getting my '86 Fiero 4-speed. That's when I learned to drive stick and I haven't really looked back, I hate driving slushes now .

[watkins]

Once or twice around the block in my friend's early 2000s Outback. Clutch was messed up. I didnt stall.

Was the clutch slipping? That'd make it easier.

If only. The clutch felt like it was two-staged. You would push it, and it would stop. But the clutch would not be disengaged. You actually had to push even harder and what felt like up into the dash a bit to get to the true buttom of pedal travel.

[Caramel]

I stalled about 20 times in the car when I drove it for the first/second time.

In my defense my friend taught me later and said it was GAS FIRST, CLUTCH NEXT.

The first/second time I drove was with my dad.. he said Clutch first gas, second.

[comingbackdown]

2006. First time I drove the Cavalier after it came to live here.
Bucked and stalled like a mother.
I loved that car, and was honored to be in the driver's seat for its last ride to the junkyard.

[Tups]

It was a Mercedes-Benz Atego delivery truck in 2003. I stalled it couple of times - something people usually don't do considering the fact that it had a shitload of torque on low rpm and could easily be launched on 2nd without gas.

In 2004 I drove a (normal) car for the first time. It was an early 2000s Toyota Corolla. I stalled it only once, when I tried to launch on 2nd from an intersection.

I gradually got better over time, but still stalled in the driving test couple of times. I really wonder how I managed to pass it.