any owners new to driving manual?

TennisFan19

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Ill admit that i don't have much experience in driving a manual. believe it or not the last time i drove a manual was 1997 (ITR). I guess I have about 150-200 miles of driving experience in a manual. Again that was in my teens over 20 years ago. I've never own a manual car. I plan on purchasing a CTR around spring 18. By then hopefully the hype will have died down some. Would it be wise to buy 3-4K beater to practice. Or should i just buy it and learn in the new car?.
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Adaman

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Honda's manual is very easy to get use to, and the clutch on the CTR is really well balanced. This car also cheats for you when you're on a hill and won't roll back when you take your foot off the brake - (I believe most newer cars have this feature though). Once you pick one up just cruise around and get the feeling of it. You will love it.
 

tuxmonkey

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Ironically, I learned to drive manual working at a Honda dealership in high school. I never owned a manual until my CTR, though I knew how to drive one. It took a week of daily driving to get use to it. You'll be fine.
 

tylermmorton

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I had never owned a manual car before I bought the CTR. I had an automatic 2014 Scion tC, which had paddle shifters and a manual shift mode, but obviously that doesn't help much in the way of learning how to shift with a clutch. Before I bought the CTR I went out with my boss for 30 minutes at a time and he taught me how to drive stick in the parking lot of our office. I was able to do that once with him before I left to go get my car from another state. When I went to pick up the car the salesman asked me if I wanted to test drive; I laughed and told him I had about an half an hour of stick experience, but he happily drove it to a parking lot for me and we were having stick lessons in the Type R - pretty awesome experience. By the end of our test drive I was able to drive it off the lot and make it home safely.

It will be slow at first if you have little to no experience. It's not easy driving stick when you don't have the muscle memory for it - but don't let that deter you, because once it becomes second nature to you, it's a great feeling. Just know that when you're on the road, you're probably going to stall quite a few times. In that scenario, be calm, don't overreact, just turn the car on and try again. If people honk at you, yell at you, make fun of you for not being able to drive your car, or any other stupid crap, ignore them. Your ego should be secondary to learning how to drive it properly.

Lastly, and maybe most importantly: In the end it's just a Honda - It was built well and was built to take a beating. One mistake here and there isn't destroying your car, so don't get frustrated with yourself! Just enjoy the car and enjoy the learning experience!

I need much more practice as I too haven't driven one in a very long time.

How easy is it to shift into R instead of 6th on the CTR? What would happen if you do?
I've never shifted into reverse while trying to get to 6th. I have gone to 6th by accident instead of reversing, but obviously that just ended up in me not moving anywhere! You'll never be in a situation where you're in 5th and you're pushing so hard right on the shifter that it will pop into reverse!
 

Tim818

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Haven’t driven a manual in 7+ years, when I eventually buy a CTR, I plan on getting use to 1st gear inside the dealer parking lot first lol
 


Infinity000

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I had never owned a manual car before I bought the CTR. I had an automatic 2014 Scion tC, which had paddle shifters and a manual shift mode, but obviously that doesn't help much in the way of learning how to shift with a clutch. Before I bought the CTR I went out with my boss for 30 minutes at a time and he taught me how to drive stick in the parking lot of our office. I was able to do that once with him before I left to go get my car from another state. When I went to pick up the car the salesman asked me if I wanted to test drive; I laughed and told him I had about an half an hour of stick experience, but he happily drove it to a parking lot for me and we were having stick lessons in the Type R - pretty awesome experience. By the end of our test drive I was able to drive it off the lot and make it home safely.

It will be slow at first if you have little to no experience. It's not easy driving stick when you don't have the muscle memory for it - but don't let that deter you, because once it becomes second nature to you, it's a great feeling. Just know that when you're on the road, you're probably going to stall quite a few times. In that scenario, be calm, don't overreact, just turn the car on and try again. If people honk at you, yell at you, make fun of you for not being able to drive your car, or any other stupid crap, ignore them. Your ego should be secondary to learning how to drive it properly.

Lastly, and maybe most importantly: In the end it's just a Honda - It was built well and was built to take a beating. One mistake here and there isn't destroying your car, so don't get frustrated with yourself! Just enjoy the car and enjoy the learning experience!



I've never shifted into reverse while trying to get to 6th. I have gone to 6th by accident instead of reversing, but obviously that just ended up in me not moving anywhere! You'll never be in a situation where you're in 5th and you're pushing so hard right on the shifter that it will pop into reverse!

This was me as well almost. Wife took me out with a friend's older stick chevy truck a month or so before buying the car and I drove that around a bit. After getting the CTR I stalled it a number of times in the first week or so. My issue was letting off the clutch too fast in first. After two weeks or so I managed to learn to ease the clutch in first. Even here though I would sometimes stall when approaching a 4-way stop where you had to start/stop a number of times before going through the intersection. A few weeks after that I learned how to properly apply gas while also letting off the clutch. My ride is so smooth now when I'm not flooring it. It is wonderful to hear the hum of the engine as you start off.

Also, I'm not sure that the car will even ALLOW you to go into R while heading to 6th. I've actually moved the stick around while heading to 6th to see if I could so I knew what to avoid, but have never been able to do this. Maybe someone can confirm?
 

Infinity000

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I had never owned a manual car before I bought the CTR. I had an automatic 2014 Scion tC, which had paddle shifters and a manual shift mode, but obviously that doesn't help much in the way of learning how to shift with a clutch. Before I bought the CTR I went out with my boss for 30 minutes at a time and he taught me how to drive stick in the parking lot of our office. I was able to do that once with him before I left to go get my car from another state. When I went to pick up the car the salesman asked me if I wanted to test drive; I laughed and told him I had about an half an hour of stick experience, but he happily drove it to a parking lot for me and we were having stick lessons in the Type R - pretty awesome experience. By the end of our test drive I was able to drive it off the lot and make it home safely.

It will be slow at first if you have little to no experience. It's not easy driving stick when you don't have the muscle memory for it - but don't let that deter you, because once it becomes second nature to you, it's a great feeling. Just know that when you're on the road, you're probably going to stall quite a few times. In that scenario, be calm, don't overreact, just turn the car on and try again. If people honk at you, yell at you, make fun of you for not being able to drive your car, or any other stupid crap, ignore them. Your ego should be secondary to learning how to drive it properly.

Lastly, and maybe most importantly: In the end it's just a Honda - It was built well and was built to take a beating. One mistake here and there isn't destroying your car, so don't get frustrated with yourself! Just enjoy the car and enjoy the learning experience!



I've never shifted into reverse while trying to get to 6th. I have gone to 6th by accident instead of reversing, but obviously that just ended up in me not moving anywhere! You'll never be in a situation where you're in 5th and you're pushing so hard right on the shifter that it will pop into reverse!

This was me as well almost. Wife took me out with a friend's older stick chevy truck a month or so before buying the car and I drove that around a bit. After getting the CTR I stalled it a number of times in the first week or so. My issue was letting off the clutch too fast in first. After two weeks or so I managed to learn to ease the clutch in first. Even here though I would sometimes stall when approaching a 4-way stop where you had to start/stop a number of times before going through the intersection. A few weeks after that I learned how to properly apply gas while also letting off the clutch. My ride is so smooth now when I'm not flooring it. It is wonderful to hear the hum of the engine as you start off.

Also, I'm not sure that the car will even ALLOW you to go into R while heading to 6th. I've actually moved the stick around while heading to 6th to see if I could so I knew what to avoid, but have never been able to do this. Maybe someone can confirm?
 

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How easy is it to shift into R instead of 6th on the CTR? What would happen if you do?
You do not have to worry about accidentally shifting into R when shifting into 6th. When the car is moving (> 5 mph?) reverse is locked out. So just slam the shifter into 6th with no worries.

I know the Si has this feature; I assume the R does, too.

Heh, TurboR types faster than I do. :rolleyes:
 


Infinity000

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Also, anyone new to the CTR, don't forget the electronic brake, it can be the reason you stall attempting to move to, haha. Got me a few times.
 

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It's been a long time since I learned to drive a manual - I think I was 17 or so (I'm 45 now) - but for me, it did take a little time to get comfortable with it. It's not necessarily "intuitive," but once you get it, it becomes second nature. In fact, when I get into one of our automatic cars, I sometimes find my left foot searching for the clutch, or my right hand wanting to shift.

I would caution you to make sure you actually enjoy driving a stick before committing to the Type R though (not that it would be difficult to unload one). For most of us, the manual is no longer a quicker or cheaper option than modern automatics, but it is still infinitely more engaging. If you don't find that you enjoy it for the mechanical experience, it may become more of a chore.
 

tuxmonkey

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I would caution you to make sure you actually enjoy driving a stick before committing to the Type R though (not that it would be difficult to unload one). For most of us, the manual is no longer a quicker or cheaper option than modern automatics, but it is still infinitely more engaging. If you don't find that you enjoy it for the mechanical experience, it may become more of a chore.
This is good advice. The Type R has an incredibly smooth transmission, but the shifter wants to be engaging with the driver. To me, it's as if it wants to be shifted like a racecar. I feel like you get more out of it by being just a tad more aggressive with the shifts, snapping the shifter into the next gear with some purpose. I love that about this shifter, I just don't want to come across as if it's hard or annoying, because it's far from it.
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