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| Learning to drive
Posted: 6/29/2008 5:00:32 AM | Go out to a quiet parking lot or back road and practice shifting without anyone telling you how to do it. 
Practice makes it easier - and not having someone shouting or whining about how you're stripping the tranny makes it a lot easier to concentrate on feeling the friction point in the clutch. Once you feel somewhat comfortable changing gears and starting and stopping on flat ground, find a place with a gentle slope and practice some more.
Even experienced shift drivers occasionally grind a gear - they're lying if the say they've never done it.
Good luck and happy shifting! | |
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| Learning to drive
Posted: 6/30/2008 7:41:09 AM | 2 suggestions
1 don't buy a ford. Especially a ford focus.
2 go pay for proper driving school lessons. 45 an hour is cheaper than 2 grand + for a new clutch. | |
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| Learning to drive
Posted: 7/7/2008 4:57:50 PM | I'd avoid that car, but that's your choice.
I grind gears once in a blue-moon too, mind you I tend to do it when I "race" the clutch a tad too fast.
Go digging in your bucket of friends - find that patient one, who also happens to drive a stick car. I'm willing to teach any friend, relative, or otherwise that asks me to be instructed on my standard-transmission car. I never get mad at the grinding, it's normal for a beginner. I do up the ante as I see them progress, up to the faithful "coffee mode", which consists of them driving around while I drink a scalding hot Timmies - talk about pressure! Yet I've never had anyone go home as a 'failure'.  | |
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| Learning to drive
Posted: 7/7/2008 5:58:53 PM | Shifting is great fun, I will always prefer a standard. They are going to cost you more money though , new automatics last a lot longer than a clutch .
I have taught quite a few to drive, including standards. Have one daughter though who never did get the hang of it , will never figure out why, as she has excellent motor skills , very athletic. Some reason she got a block about manuals and never did master the art. One suggestion, is be careful who you learn from, many think they are good shifters, yet few are. Watch them at lights, you see the car jerk every time they shift. Pick someone who shifts smoothly, ask them instead of the jerky ones.
Focus is a pretty good car, its a pretty good choice .
Have fun, even as you learn! As the previous poster mentioned, every one grinds gears at times, for sure a novice will as well, just have fun and enjoy! If you ever get some extra cash, take a performance driving course, there are many around and last time I checked, you can get a 2 or 3 day course for a very reasonable cost.
It is a lot of fun, you learn from experts, and it could save your life one day. Do not know where you are from, but any where in North America there are very good schools, will give you a life time use of driving skills, for a very reasonable cost. Plus its a blast! | |
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| Learning to drive
Posted: 7/7/2008 8:40:05 PM | Falied the exam a few times & took a class just so I can can the I.D part to get into nudy bars. I dropped out when it was time to get behind the wheel. lmao. I don't know anything about cars. | |
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| Learning to drive
Posted: 7/9/2008 8:30:20 PM | | Right off the bat if you have never driven standard then budget for in the first year replacing the clutch atleast once. Standards are not ideal in high traffic situations where you are continually stop and go below 50km/hr. They are ideal when you do mostly 80km/hr distance driving but do offer better control of the car. Last piece of advice is check the Ford Focus in the Consumer Reports magazine and Lemon-Aid car guide. The write ups for this car is not the greatest. Lastly the libraries should have these and provide a general idea of what this car should be priced at, The Canadian Red Book on cars (I think). - 2 cents worth | |
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