Question:

I hate driving stick! will i ever get used to it?

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i used to have an automatic for 5 years.. loved it...

now we bought a stick, thinking i'd pick it up in no time.

It's been 2 weeks and i'm having panic attacks just backing out of my driveway... i have to take the highway to and from work... and my hands wont stop shaking. My heart is racing, and i feel like an anxious wreck. I cant even imagine driving downtown...

will i ever get used to driving this, or even like it, or am i stuck with this feeling until i decide to get rid of the car and lose a few grand????

please let me know your experiences... i need to hear it from people who have no investment in my ability to get used to it... (ie. husband, work, etc)

I keep hearing don't worry, you'll get used to it... you'll learn... you'll like it...

well i drove to work and back yesterday for the first time, and nearly cried and my legs and hands were shaking.

This morning; i took the bus.

help!

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4 ANSWERS


  1. once you get used to it it gets fun i promise...


  2. I love driving a stick shift!  One of the reasons I love them is that you have more control when you're driving on wet, icy and snowy streets.  When you start to fishtail, put your clutch in and the wheels quit spinning while you regain control.  I drive an automatic, now, and I don't like it at all.  I also believe you get better gas mileage using a stick shift.

    You just have to practice driving it.  Calm yourself down and ask yourself: Who's going to win?  You or the car?  Then get in your car, find some backroads or a large vacant parking lot and practice.  Highway driving is actually easier, because once you hit the highest gear, you don't shift anymore until you've come to your exit [or a traffice jam of some sort].  Once you get used to it, I promise you won't want to drive anything else.

    EDIT: Ummmmm...  You asked "...will i ever get used to it?"  I suggested practicing, for the simple reason that everything gets better with practice...  As far as "getting off" being able to control my vehicle?  Have you ever fishtailed out of control into oncoming traffice or a ditch?????  Hand laundering verses washing machines????  So I can control the water???  What????

    EDIT: Sell the car and buy an automatic...

  3. i did the same thing. i hated my stick shift, never got use to it and will never buy one again. i drove it for 3 months and for 3 months i had the cold chills everytime i got behind the wheel. i even stopped going places that i didnt absolutely have to be at. i took a huge loss but for my sanity it was worth it!!!

  4. Er...Wow. You're never going to actually get the hang of it if every time you even get into the car you emotionally melt down.

    If learning something new makes you this freaked out, how did you handle school? And this is what it all comes down to: learning something new. Now you can either freak out about it and raise your blood pressure, which is so completely counterproductive, OR you can take every moment in your new car as a learning experience and make yourself a better stick driver.

    In all your replies to people you not once mention anything positive. You've already made up your mind that a stick is not something you're capable of learning how to do. Is that the kind of woman you want to be? Completely helpless over a stupid manual transmission? I wasn't, which is why I just bought a manual in October.

    All of my past cars were automatics. Ho-hum and a boring bottle of water. Then I was in a position to get my dream car, a roadster convertible, I knew I had to get a stick. Ho-Hum and a bottle of RUM! Not only that, it was something I wanted to learn. I know that in my lifetime random c**p emergencies are going to pop up and maybe one of those things is going to be a need for me to know how to drive a manual transmission and I wanted to be prepared, not the helpless damsel that needed a man. Plus, it would be a fun, new adventure. I suppose it's all in how you look at it.

    I took an hour lesson from a friend in her manual transmission car through neighborhood roads, I've never been on. I sucked! I kept stalling! It was so frustrating. I ended the lesson on a good note though and that was getting the car from a stop into first gear without stalling 3 times. That was the hard part for me.

    The next day I went to look at my dream car and the dealer, of course, offered for me to drive. I told him of my inexperience and short lesson with the manual transmission, so he took me around the block, then said it was my turn! Despite my inexperience I was able to drive around the block, insecure with traffic, red lights, turns, braking, etc., everything! Meh, I bought the car that night. lol It was a sweet deal, how could I not?!

    Anyways, I drove off the lot with my manual transmission and stalled like 3 times on the 20 mile drive home down the Interstate and neighborhood roads. I even had to pull off the interstate for gas and I stalled at the light. lol

    It's inevitable to stall out when you're learning and I didn't care. I thought, what's the worse that can happen? You're not usually going to stall out unless you're already stopped or coming to a stop. Big Deal. What if the light turns green and you accidentally stall out? OMG! Someone's going to honk at you and maybe think you're an idiot?! Who cares? That's their problem, not mine. You have to think of it that way. It's not your problem, it's theirs, so when you stall just stop for a moment and think, "Okay, I stalled. What next? Oh yea, push in the clutch and brake and restart."

    My friend, who gave me the manual lesson told me, "If at any time you're unsure, push the clutch in." which is what I do. It give me a moment to collect my thoughts and remember what my next move should be.

    Even during my drive home and subsequent 3 stalls (I still laugh about it), can you believe nobody once honked at me? I couldn't believe it actually. I didn't panic when it happened though. I just put the clutch and brake down, restarted the car and went about my way. No big deal, no freak out, no stress.

    The following days brought a ton of different situations for me to relearn how to drive, including through downtown, where I work. I stalled in traffic on the interstate. lol That was funny, but in less than a minute I restarted the car and went about my way. I'm sure a few people have honked at me when I've stalled, but I paid them no notice. They can go around for all I care.

    You have to learn at your speed. You have to learn where you're comfortable. If you're constantly stressing about it and thinking it's the worse thing on the entire planet next to spiders and runs in your panty hose, then you're never going to get anywhere. Every time you stress out, you set your learning back. Every time you stress out, you make it harder on yourself.

    I recommend going to a large empty parking lot. Say a school, and practice going from a stop into first gear then second and also practice backing up into a parking space or even driving backwards in a circle, slowly spiraling out to a large circle, and then spiraling back in to a small circle. Just have fun with it. Try to teach yourself to parallel park, lol that's hard too! Your shaking will stop. I promise, as long as you practice.

    I've never been afraid of my car and it's manual transmission. In fact, I enjoy driving to a whole new degree. I enjoy getting stuck in traffic. I enjoy long drives. I enjoy the interstate. I enjoy neighborhood roads. I enjoy shifting quicker to smoke those little boys trying to impress me on the road. I ENJOY MY CAR! :) I get into my bf's automatic car and I'm bored. My right hand is figety and my left foot falls asleep.

    Yea, I still s***w up once in blue moon and miss a gear, but I correct myself and think, "Duh, drive much?" and laugh about it. It's okay to make mistakes, that's how you learn. That's how you get better.

    Cheer up and stop thinking of your car as the enemy. Tackle that manual transmission as if it's your main goal in life to master. Stop being afraid of it. In the whole scheme of life, it's nothing but a flat tire to fix, something else every woman to should know how to do. ;)

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