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Is driving a car this awful all the time?

I'm doing the driving lessons and I dread them every time. I don't feel like I'm improving much and it's just stressful. I feel like giving up. I'm only going because I passed the theory exam with that school, and i would had to spend more money (that I don't have) if I start again with other school, basically I'm too deep into it to stop.

Btw I now understand the hate towards manual cars. Automatic should be the only option, one less BIG distraction on the road, especially when you're new on these things, being too soft or too rough on the clutch is a matter of millimeters is ridiculous, watching the road, the signs, the traffic lights, the cars around you, the stupid people with their bikes, while fumbling in the car with the pedals is the worst... (unfortunately you must learn manual where I'm living).

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  • Manual transmissions are operated almost entirely by "feel". Once that sinks in, it's a lot easier.

    If you can, go find a quiet street, parking lot, or any place with an incline. Practice stopping in the middle of the incline and taking off without stalling. Don't stress out when you inevitably stall. You will and that's ok. If you can master starting on a hill, you'll find that the rest of it comes a lot easier.

    With the transmision in 1st and your foot on the brake, release the clutch very slowly until the engine starts dragging just a little. Slowly take your foot off the brake. You'll know the clutch is in the right spot if it keeps you from rolling backwards. At that point, start to accelerate and let the clutch out slowly. Continue to accelerate and up the hill you go.

    Don't hesitate to hit the brakes at any time if you feel like you're going to roll backwards. Better to stall than to roll back into someone behind you. Depending on the gearing, you may be able to start in 2nd and that will keep you from having to worry about shifting in the middle of the hill.

    Don't panic. Learning is good. If someone gets upset with you because you're inexperienced and stall out then screw them. They should try to remember what it was like to learn how to drive. It just takes practice, practice, and more practice.

  • I learned to drive using a manual transmission vehicle. I spent a lot of time in empty parking lots, then in empty subdivision roads. It sucked, and having my dad as a teacher made things worse (he had a bit of a temper). As you stated, learning the clutch friction point for your vehicle is crucial (and it's different in every model of car, so that's fun), but once you get that down, the rest falls into place pretty easily.
    I have had 4 vehicles since I got my license, and only the most recent one is automatic. I much prefer driving manual, but they're getting increasingly difficult to find outside of sports cars.

  • As with most things, it gets easier with practice. After enough practice, you'll find many of the actions and reactions of driving will become habits you do automatically. Which is one of the reasons it's a good idea to practice good habits now, as practice makes permanent. Take your time, and try to be predictable to other drivers (use your signals, don't make radical maneuvers). And don't let the assholes who think the horn is an "I'm annoyed at you" button get to you. Fuck them and the camel that came on them. Take your time and make sure you are driving your car in a way you can control.

    As for learning on a manual, yes that increases the difficulty. Depending on the specific vehicle, it can make it easier or harder. Some clutches will let you get away with murder, others will murder you for being less than perfect. Many years ago, my brother owned a car with a clutch that was just brutal. It would go from "not engaging" to "fully engaged" within the slightest movement. My truck, on the other hand, the clutch was so forgiving, you damn near couldn't stall it. Thankfully, I learned to drive a stick on my truck and when I tried my brother's car, it took a lot less time to get used to it. As above, take your time and it will come to you with practice.

  • FUCK NO. I hated driving lessons, but I love driving ever since I got my license. It took me almost a decade to figure out why. First, I hate other people telling me where to go. GPS, no problem, but Kevin over here telling me to take a left 1 second before I'm past the intersection iterates me so much. I can't concentrate on signs or the road if I have to constantly anticipate so arbitrary direction.

    Also, not driving my own car makes me anxious. It feels like the car is 2 ft wider on the outside but more cramped on the inside. My field of view narrows, and I get clumsy on the clutch. All because my brain is on a constant loop of 'this isn't mine, don't wreck it, this isn't mine, don't wreck it'.

    Driving isn't stressful, doing it by the book is. On the road you just go with the flow. If you turn the wrong way into a one way street, you wave, say sorry and back out again. If you take somebodies right of way and nothing bad happened then you just move on. Its not like the police is waiting around every corner. Driving lessons hold you to a way higher standard then most people adhere to on the road.

  • The most important skill for driving is learning to observe your surroundings calmly, but alertly. The things you mentioned as distractions are the things you need to be paying attention to because those are the things you must navigate around.

    It's easy to get worked up about all the things demanding your attention. A lot can go wrong while driving, from road hazards, to accidents, to traffic, to mechanical problems with your vehicle. My advice, take it at your own pace. It's a speed limit, not a speed requirement. Highways and some types of special roads have minimum speeds, but the worst that happens if you drive slow enough to feel comfortable behind the wheel is some asshole who is in a hurry is grumpy.

    It just takes time and practice, just relax and keep your eyes on the road.

  • When I first started driving, it was with manual. And it really helped once I realized two things:

    • Being shitty at gear shifts won't make me fail at the final test. Instructor told me as much. If I wear out the clutch and cox up the engine through repeated stalls, that's my problem - I can torture and destroy my car through ineptitude, as long as it's done in accordance with road safety.
    • Getting used to the clutch is half the battle. Not clutches in general, but the specific one you're driving. Once you get used to know how insensitive or sensitive it is, the rest will be a lot easier. With time (and not a whole lot of it, actually), you'll be shifting gear without having to think much about it, just like the rest; right now you're struggling with you many areas that require your focus. As you practice them, you will do all of them without thinking about them.

    I still need a while getting used to new gearboxes whenever I'm using someone else's car.

    Oh, and a tip: be sure to memorize the gear positions, and while standing still with the engine off you can practice shifting from and to any gear without looking. That's one less thing to pay attention to.

  • It gets easy, manual is better because I'm more focused on everything. It doesn't take that long to learn.

  • To make driving more appealing, I suggest living in an unwalkable American Midwest purgatory where there's fuck-all to do but watch tractors circle fields or meth

    You will begin to associate the positive emotions of escape and freedom with driving, which will make you enjoy it a lot more

    Your mileage may vary, but it worked great for me

  • And I hate automatic. After a few weeks or months, you won't even realize there's a clutch or shift. It's actually easier, as with automatics I have to actually look at it to determine which gear I am in, eg. reverse or drive.

  • Driving manual takes BOTH Theory and Practice.

    1. Replay potential scenarios in your head and try to predict how you will react.
    2. Re-examine your realtime reactions on the road.
    3. Learn both rules of the road and real-life motorists reactions to rules.
    4. Safety - Safety - Safety. If it feels unsafe, get off the road safely and wait it out.

    Manual driving tips.

    Use the emergency-parking-hand-brake for hill-assists.

    Practice dual-brake-accelerator press/release.

    Practice clutch-release-hold with no brake-accelerator ( fully depressed clutch, quarter-release, half-release, no-clutch .... does the vehicle jump forward, at what point does it start creeping forward, what noise is the engine making, how does the gear-stick/shaft feel smooth or vibrating or extremely-stuck, etc etc )

    Practice a reliable gear-stick-shift-shaft action. Turn your wrist outward and push horizontal, and up for 1st-gear. Neutral with a downward wrist and wiggle along the central neutral line. Turn wrist upward and firmly push straight forward for 3rd-gear, and tap gear-knob down and wiggle along central neutral line to confirm gear-stick is in the neutral, etc etc.

    So by judging how traffic behaves and by establishing clear personal good gear/manual habits, you can improve your reactions.

    Look forward of the vehicle for less than 10 meters ( 30 feet ) and drive below 60 kmph ( 40 mph ) if you can't smoothly handle the manual transmission. Increase by 5 feet look distance as you get more comfortable over several months.

    Don't drive in traffic, park if you feel unsafe without causing problems.

    Avoid steep shopping mall parking lots and narrow spaces until you are comfortable handling the manual vehicle.

    Add wing mirrors and antenna at the edges of the vehicle corners to help visually identify the area around the vehicle.

    Best of Luck and Have Fun once you are good at it. If after 2 years you aren't getting any results, then manual may not be the best choice for you and you may need to give it up. Automatic transmissions are now making amazing progress and reliability.

    No shame driving automatic transmission vehicles.

  • I was very daunted by driving when I started, especially when I had to drive a really old clunky low-power diesel Mercedes with my overly critical dad and big brother yelling at me.

    Didn't take long for it to become second nature, and I actually drove taxis for several years.

    It literally just takes a while for your brain to get accustomed to everything. Yes, youre right in that a manual can be a distraction from learning traffic, but it really doesn't take long for the shifting to become very natural, and then you can pay attention to the traffic.

    As for actual tips on the clutch, it's not really as much a matter of millimeters, as it is about the balance between throttle and clutch. Don't be afraid to give it a bit more gas to makeita sure you won't stop the car even if you let go of the clutch slower. Yes it will sound a bit like a student driver, revving the car "needlessly", but you are a student driver and it isn't needless revving, because you're still learning the feel for the clutch.

    It also depend a lot on the make and model of the car the school has. It's a bit of a personal preference, but clutches are really different in different cars. You might really like a 90's Mercedes with a reeaally long clutch, but that too takes getting a bit used to. I remember the cars my car school had were fairly new Ford's, and they had really short clutches. Annoyed me as well.

    Honestly took me less than a year of driving and I knew how to shift without a clutch. Some really old 70's sand lorries my dad used to drive didn't have clutches, so he taught me how to (in some cars it works some don't really like it, but basically you could do it in all manual cars, without damaging the gearbox if you do it properly); when accelerating, just as you let go of the throttle, like 0.5sec after that there's a short period where you can just pull the gear to neutral without any resistance. That's easy. Shifting into gear from neutral without clutch isn't as easy, but in some cars, not much of a challenge. You need to rev the engine to match the rpm, but like with a short press of the gas pedal, which revs the rpm higher than it needs to, then when the rpm is coming down there's a window where you can shift into gear really easily.

    I ramble, you don't need to thin about that.

    I would suggest, if possible (idk if you have a learners permit or smth and can drive under parent supervision), to practice driving on highways and country roads for less traffic to learn the car better. If not, maybe ask your teacher on the next lesson if you could do that.

    And if not, if you have to drive in the city, the most important is just to remember that the panic and rudeness you feel isn't something which should make you hurry. People will be annoyed, but you have a right to annoy them, as you're learning. It's a shit thing, being a learning driver, but once you get your licence and get to take the car on a long drive yourself on some chill roads, you might actually enjoy the driving because the stress won't be there. And then learning will become easier as well, when your heart isn't beating through your chest with someone watching over you.

    Just keep at it. You know what to do. Now it's just a bit of repetition.

    Edit oh and ask anything if you like, 3rd gen taxi driver, drove since 2007 (not driving currently). No stupid questions exist. So anything at all, go ahead.

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