Civic hatchback sport CVT owner wanting to switch to manual. No manual driving experience. Advice?

V-Angelus01

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Hi guys im new to the forum and also a recent owner of a 2019 civic hatchback sport CVT (got it last feb) loving everything about it by the way. And because of it, ive been really into cars lately.

Ive been looking around for performance upgrades i can do to a cvt and finding nothin else other than a tuner. I want to have more control over my driving and be more engaged so im thinking of learning how to drive stick so i can trade my civic in for a manual transmission trim after a year or so.

my concern is how beginner friendly is the manual transmission of civic hatchback?

i dont really have my own manual car to practice in but my friend is willing to teach me on his mazda.

another thing i can also do is purchase and old beater with manual transmission. just to practice in.

what do you guys think? i have zero manual driving experience but i am very much wanting to learn. Do you think its worth it?

Thanks in advance guys.
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Just a story from back in the day. I wanted a Honda CRX badly and ordered one with a manual transmission. When the car arrived at the dealer, I drove it home never having driven a manual before. I wasn't perfect but I made it. Honda makes great manual transmissions.

Fast forward to today. The gen X Civic manuals are even easier to drive with a very light clutch and built in hill hold. If you are in any way coordinated, you'll be fine.

The other side of this though is the money loss you'll take in a trade. I have only have a stage 1 intake and Ktuner and my CVT Civic turbo drives amazingly.
 
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iDerek2

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I have a CVT Civic currently and planning to trade it in to get into a Type R.
i actually learned driving Manual in a 2017 Civic Si (my Friends) as well as a Type R (friends as well), Once you get the hang of it, its super easy to drive.

Hondas in general makes driving a manual seem relatively easy as well as the Rev Match assist with the new 10th gens.
 
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V-Angelus01

V-Angelus01

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I have a CVT Civic currently and planning to trade it in to get into a Type R.
i actually learned driving Manual in a 2017 Civic Si (my Friends) as well as a Type R (friends as well), Once you get the hang of it, its super easy to drive.

Hondas in general makes driving a manual seem relatively easy as well as the Rev Match assist with the new 10th gens.
i thought the auto rev match are for tge type R and Si only? it also comes with the lower trims like sport?
 

iDerek2

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i thought the auto rev match are for tge type R and Si only? it also comes with the lower trims like sport?
I actually dont know about the regular sports but I've only driven the Manual Si and Type Rs.
 


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Honda's make an awesome manual but if you don't know how to drive one it's a learning curve depending on how good you are at operating machines that require mechanical feel and good body part coordination. Some people have a greater natural talent for it than others. My wife for example wasn't the greatest manual driver which gave our manual Honda Civic premature clutch wear and tear. My friend for example has a manual Civic with 260,000 km and still on original clutch. I would just keep the CVT and enjoy. Buy yourself a secondary beater car if you want to learn manual and depending what your future plans are, you may want to go with a manual car as your next. How long are you planning on keeping this Civic? Also take money into consideration on how much you will lose just to be able to smack a few gears around?

As for your question, no I don't think it's worth it.

Manual sucks for traffic.
 

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If you have zero inclination on rev match, downshifting, etc...

I drove 3 different street bikes prior to ever even being in the drivers seat of a manual car.

Bought the sport hatchback in manual and learned in the dealer parking lot at 8PM and then for a few mins near by on empty roads. Drove 200 miles home but from the experience, you can easily get caught off guard if you hit traffic or areas where you need to accelerate quickly for whatever reason and you are not comfortable — you can open yourself up to mistakes, especially if you get nervous and dont know how to get yourself out of certain situations. I came with knowledge, but just needed to get the different motions down. Same concept as a motorcycle.

TBH, go take a sunday driving class for a manual and go learn the basics from someone in a car. Get their feedback.

Go buy your car, get it home safely and then go out for the whole day and just practice on empty roads, take what you learned and practice. Point is, you cant just be comfortable getting by driving a stick, you need to be ready for many different scenarios or you open yourself to a much higher risk of getting into an accident that many could avoid if they were driving an auto.

I would have went with a beater manual first to learn for 800$ from craigslist had i not come with experience. I suggest you do this as a way to mitigate risking a brand new car.
 

geeeek

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if you're already considering it I don't think you will regret it. I got my 6mt sport hatch 2 weeks ago with no manual experience. Basically practice getting into first gear to learn the clutch bite point, and practice moving the shifter (can do this when the car is parked). For the first week I was super paranoid about going into the wrong gear because on my 3rd day I had to go to work and misshifted from 5-2 on the freeway, thank god it only went to 6k or I might have busted a brand new car. I was still scared because the car only had 100 miles on it at that point (break in period), but that's besides the point. After the misshift I learned: DON'T hold the shifter with your entire fist, just use your cupped fingers to push down or your palm to push up and let the center spring do it's work, then move sideways if you need to

once you're good with the clutch and shifter you should be able to handle most situations intuitively (although slowly at first) but like @Holtz said, it's good to expose yourself to different scenarios because preparation always beats no preparation. Imagine the awkward situations you'd have while daily driving and try to simulate them on an empty street at night
 

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I think it would be good for you to learn how to drive stick.

I learned driving with a manual and was only driving manual for at least the first decade of my driving.
And on my experience, the most difficult part to get used to is the stop-and-go in an incline - something which as mentioned earlier is made a lot easier with the hill start assist.

Of course there are some other things to get used to (example, using the clutch before you get to a complete stop, engaging the clutch and giving gas before you move from start) but you will eventually get use to them. You can practice this on a parking lot - stop, slowly go, stop, slowly go, rinse and repeat - and in no time at all, you will be operating the clutch by reflex alone.

And the skill will stay with you - I was using selespeed and then CVT for at least 5 years, and when I drove stick again in a vacation last month, it only took me 10-15 minutes to get used to the car's clutch (and it is mostly on how deep the clutch is).
 


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Hi guys im new to the forum and also a recent owner of a 2019 civic hatchback sport CVT (got it last feb) loving everything about it by the way. And because of it, ive been really into cars lately.

Ive been looking around for performance upgrades i can do to a cvt and finding nothin else other than a tuner. I want to have more control over my driving and be more engaged so im thinking of learning how to drive stick so i can trade my civic in for a manual transmission trim after a year or so.

my concern is how beginner friendly is the manual transmission of civic hatchback?

i dont really have my own manual car to practice in but my friend is willing to teach me on his mazda.

another thing i can also do is purchase and old beater with manual transmission. just to practice in.

what do you guys think? i have zero manual driving experience but i am very much wanting to learn. Do you think its worth it?

Thanks in advance guys.
I follow "Drive Manual" on youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9vvzqgfupUvAT-_ATPtr4Q

Very detailed and patient lessons with daily driving with a stick shift.

My previous car was an automatic until recently I got my first stick shift. 10 years ago, I first trained on a pc driving similator where car would stall and using the Logitech clutch pedal and shifter. Last year I got in my friend's VW GTI to learn stick driving for a couple of weekends. I haven't driven stick 6 months between that time before I got my first stick shift.

I would encourage you during outside practice time of manual driving in your friend's car, to set your seating position in your current car and do a lot of image training as if you drive Manual, doing all hand motions as if you had a shifter in your car and clutching into the floor and how to react to every driving situation. It really helped me transition a lot easier once I got my manual.
 
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V-Angelus01

V-Angelus01

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I follow "Drive Manual" on youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9vvzqgfupUvAT-_ATPtr4Q

Very detailed and patient lessons with daily driving with a stick shift.

My previous car was an automatic until recently I got my first stick shift. 10 years ago, I first trained on a pc driving similator where car would stall and using the Logitech clutch pedal and shifter. Last year I got in my friend's VW GTI to learn stick driving for a couple of weekends. I haven't driven stick 6 months between that time before I got my first stick shift.

I would encourage you during outside practice time of manual driving in your friend's car, to set your seating position in your current car and do a lot of image training as if you drive Manual, doing all hand motions as if you had a shifter in your car and clutching into the floor and how to react to every driving situation. It really helped me transition a lot easier once I got my manual.
Funny enough, im actually trying those motions on my cvt civic. im pretending i have a clutch and a shifter, but instead of doing the arm motion for the shift, im using the padle shifters instead lol.

i like the idea of practicing on a driving sim game. i have the pc hardware since i also build PCs for a hobby. thanks for the ideas!
 
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V-Angelus01

V-Angelus01

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Honda's make an awesome manual but if you don't know how to drive one it's a learning curve depending on how good you are at operating machines that require mechanical feel and good body part coordination. Some people have a greater natural talent for it than others. My wife for example wasn't the greatest manual driver which gave our manual Honda Civic premature clutch wear and tear. My friend for example has a manual Civic with 260,000 km and still on original clutch. I would just keep the CVT and enjoy. Buy yourself a secondary beater car if you want to learn manual and depending what your future plans are, you may want to go with a manual car as your next. How long are you planning on keeping this Civic? Also take money into consideration on how much you will lose just to be able to smack a few gears around?

As for your question, no I don't think it's worth it.

Manual sucks for traffic.
im planning to keep my cvt civic for a year or two. i dont want to get one before i actually get the manual driving motions down.
 

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im planning to keep my cvt civic for a year or two. i dont want to get one before i actually get the manual driving motions down.
From a financial standpoint, I’m glad you are sticking with it. I bought a automatic Honda Fit 8 years ago and always regretted not getting a manual. Next car 6 years later is my Civic Sport 6MT and I love it. The wait kind of builds suspense lol.

But for real, if you really want an MT badly, get an old Miata (or something similar) to have fun with. By buying cheap, when you go to sell you’ll only have lost a little bit of money, VS losing on early trade in etc.
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