Should I learn manual for a Civic Type R?

It may sound strange but you should start by driving bare foot, it’s easier to feel where the friction point is.

Definitely worth it even if you don't get the R. Driving manual is a rare skill these days, at least in the US.

Poweredbyhonda said:

It may sound strange but you should start by driving bare foot, it’s easier to feel where the friction point is.

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^This.

And drive naked. Need your balls to be making contact with the seat so you can reallyyyyy feel when the car is moving forward.

I’m now 15 months in as a manual driver and for the most part I can drive it smoothly. Sometimes my feet get out of sync when I’m upshifting, and sometimes I still have jerky starts, but for the most part it’s fine.

Stalling is a thing of the past. I can somewhat rev match by myself but it’s still a clunky motion for me. I still think 1-2 is the most annoying shift on the planet.

My clutch seems healthy at 18K miles so that’s a positive note, especially after sucking so hard in the beginning

I spent about $150 for a driving instructor to teach me manual for 3 hours the day before I picked up my R.

I had driven manual cars before but not very far and not daily. I also have a great understanding of driving manual so that helped but I personally thought $150 was worth it to me

ipeefreely said:

^This.

And drive naked. Need your balls to be making contact with the seat so you can reallyyyyy feel when the car is moving forward.

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And you’ll be going faster too since there is less weight.

darrvao777 said:

Having some difficulties with a smooth 3 -> 2 downshift, seems like the car won't automatically revmatch when I'm performing this under 2000rpm in 3rd gear. Any tips?

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If you want to use auto rev matching, you need to downshift before the revs drop below 2k, otherwise you'll need to blip the throttle to rev match yourself. I've been learning manual on the CTR as well (got it in November), and so far I've just made a point of keeping the revs above 2k so I can use the auto rev matching.

I've also found that in a pinch, you can double clutch to get auto rev matching even if you let the revs drop below 2k, but for some reason this only works going to 3rd or higher, at least in my experience.

I learned to drive manual on my CTR. If you don't have somebody to teach you, maybe negotiate that into your purchase of the CTR. They teach you manual on another loaner car they have?

Ah the nostalgia of learning to drive stick. I remember sweating through my shirt because I was so nervous getting on the road for the first time when I was 15 in a manual Celica. Helps having a Marine brother screaming, "Don't F*** up my car". I grasped the concept pretty quickly. But then again, might of been hereditary since all of my family drove a manual(including my mom!). Best thing to do for practice is to find a hill, preferably a very inclined hill in a VERY empty parking lot, and practice rocking back and forth with out the hill assist. This teaches you how to get comfortable with the most difficult part about driving manuals. I used a traffic cone and pinned it very close to the rear of the car so that I could get the smoothest start possible without hitting the cone. Of course, you'd probably be nervous about marking up the rear bumper but definitely worth a try to really perfect getting that ideal release point of the clutch. Its all about feel more than anything else. ignore the tachometer and listen to what the car is doing.

Soooo if you haven't got a good handle on what's being suggested... Get a damn manual, even if you don't know how to drive one... And learn!!

OEM Honda clutches can take a bunch of abuse before they fail. I don't mean doing burnouts or 5000rpm clutch dumps, but for regular driving, they can take a lot of clutch riding and stalling and you'll likely never have issues.

And as countless people have mentioned... You won't find an easier car to learn on.

Buy one. Buy one now, dammit!!

SixxSpeed said:

Soooo if you haven't got a good handle on what's being suggested... Get a damn manual, even if you don't know how to drive one... And learn!!

OEM Honda clutches can take a bunch of abuse before they fail. I don't mean doing burnouts or 5000rpm clutch dumps, but for regular driving, they can take a lot of clutch riding and stalling and you'll likely never have issues.

And as countless people have mentioned... You won't find an easier car to learn on.

Buy one. Buy one now, dammit!!

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You can't even do a 5000RPM clutch dump on a Type R.

spacemanspiff said:

If you want to use auto rev matching, you need to downshift before the revs drop below 2k, otherwise you'll need to blip the throttle to rev match yourself. I've been learning manual on the CTR as well (got it in November), and so far I've just made a point of keeping the revs above 2k so I can use the auto rev matching.

I've also found that in a pinch, you can double clutch to get auto rev matching even if you let the revs drop below 2k, but for some reason this only works going to 3rd or higher, at least in my experience.

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I’m the same way, I downshift so much because I’m trying to take advantage of the auto rev match feature. It’s a lot of fun

spacemanspiff said:

If you want to use auto rev matching, you need to downshift before the revs drop below 2k, otherwise you'll need to blip the throttle to rev match yourself. I've been learning manual on the CTR as well (got it in November), and so far I've just made a point of keeping the revs above 2k so I can use the auto rev matching.

I've also found that in a pinch, you can double clutch to get auto rev matching even if you let the revs drop below 2k, but for some reason this only works going to 3rd or higher, at least in my experience.

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It will auto rev match if you go down two or more gears (with the exception of going into first) regardless of RPM.

Honestly I bet if you waited it'll be automatic soon or acura will have a type r variant that's automatic..rdx sh awd might be it

I'm 100% fan of manuals tho go for it