cleoent

congrats, good choice

beachdog

congratulations
enjoy

was wondering where you went...

RX8rider

Congrats! You definatly won't regret it. I bought the AT first but I was actually quite disappointed with the enormous lack of low end torque and the really tall second gear. I too bought a brand new MT not having driven manual before. Let me tell you, the 6 speed is a whole different car compared to the AT. It really wasn't all that hard to learn and from what I hear, the RX8 is an easy car to drive manual.

Here are some decent sites to help you make the transition

http://www.10w40.com/individual/100186.asp
http://www.standardshift.com/faq.html

Some heel-toeing once you're comfortable
http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/how...2/article.html

williamngRX8

same here.
traded in my GT auto for a brand new white 6 MT.
today is my 4th day of manual driving. still rookie :D

alderran

Wow and in San Fran.... stopping for a red light going up hill is fun

truemagellen

don't spook off the possible MT guys

everyday my girlfriend and/or I have to stop at atleast two monster hills that are totally undrivable in winter here...she has a 5sp mazda3 and I the 6sp 8...we have to problems moving forward and we don't even use the e-brake

my girlfriend rolls back about 6-8inches and I don't even roll back at all

it is all about proper throttle/clutch control...you must finesse it

Hard 8

You ... STUD! What a great, ballsy thing to do. I "made" my brother do the same thing when he bought his WRX wagon, and he's totally proficient and happy with it now. He's turned into a veritable snob on the subject! Never going back into the slush. Please check in and let us know how it's going in a few weeks, when you're really used to it.

crisis

Well I'm going to pick the car today after work and get the salesman to give me a lesson for an hour or so. Then I'm going to drive home (mostly highway driving, I live about .2 miles away from the highway exit). I was all excited when I signed the final paper work yesterday (I didn't pick it up yesterday cuz they are swapping out the trunk for one without the factory spoiler) and they brough out the car to show me and the head sales rep (who I only negotiated price with) was like here you go, drive it around for a bit while we get your paper work together. It sucked having so saw...well I'm not that good at driving manual so can you just put it back in the lot and I'll get it tomorrow when the sales rep gives me a lesson.

I case anyone wants to know I ended up playing $28,700 (more or less) after tax, tags and licensing. They took the e-mail rebate I received (think it was the gerber one) and didn't ask for the original coupon at all. Not sure if I got the best price, but it was the only place I could get the car I wanted (without the spoiler).

buzzardsluck

id say to change your gearbox fluid once your done learning/grinding gears. you will have fun w/the 8

Dinhx8

Congrats! good choice! congrats and good luck with the manual. I live in the DC metro area, and sometimes you get stuck, but you'll find that the car is so fun to drive, whether you're cruisin at 65 or in a bit of traffic, you'll get used to it.

As for the seats and clutch- try pushing the seat up close, almost a bit closer than normal to the steering wheel, but lean the back of the seat back so its a bit reclined...you'll 'feel' further from the wheel, but your legs are closer to the clutch..thats what I do in most manuals....

crisis

Yeah, I already noticed when I test drove a manual (that was a rough lesson) that I need to put the seat quite close to be able to reach the clutch well and I definitley plan on doing something to extend the clutch soon, either an aftermarket piece or do the DIY clutch extension.

williamngRX8

absolutely :D
if one can drive MT on SF street, they can "conquer" virtually any terrain :D

Hard 8

There's a great thread right now on the Miata.Net on driving a manual. I really liked this advice:

"Here's what you do:

"In a wide open empty parking lot where you have NOTHING else to think about, get behind the wheel, get comfortable, clutch in, brake off and NO GAS. Practice getting the car going in first gear without using the gas. Any car in a reasonably state of tune can do this, you just have to be smooth with your clutch release.

"What this teaches you is how to feel the release point of the clutch. Learning where that point is, what it feels like, and how to quickly find it is the key to smooth starts. It will help you get started more confidently on a hill, too. It's all about being at that point and working it smoothly.

"Once you get that down, you can start adding throttle to speed the process up a bit. Just give yourself some time to get to know your clutch."

See http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=147346

crisis

Well I went to get a lesson driving my car last night after work. The sales rep had me drive around the parking lot for about 20 minutes juts learning to start from a stop in first gear, really just trying to get a good feel for the clutch. Then he drove me to a very large parking lot that also has a small hill. I practiced starting and stopping for about another 20-30 minutes including starting on a small incline. That wasn't his idea, but I wanted to get a feel for it. Then I started learning to shift (the parking lot was quite long) and I could get up to 3rd gear before I ran out of room. So I practiced for another 30 minutes starting, shifting to second, then third, then turning a corner, downshifting to 2nd and then park the car in a spot. Then I'd practice backing out of a spot, coming to a complete stop and start moving again. After about an hour and 45 minutes I felt fairly comfortable.

Next he wanted to take me on the highway, but it was getting late. I told him I felt comfortable driving on the highway. He suggested that he drives me home in his car and I leave my car at the dealership and get another lesson tomorrow from him. I felt confident that I could figure out highway driving and at 8:30pm I knew there wouldn't be much traffic anyway. So I drove the 20 miles back to my house (about 19.5 of those miles are on the highway) and basically just stayed in 5th gear the whole way home, because in 4th I was going like 52 miles an hour and the rpms were at 4,000 and I didn't want to drive that slow. I want to break the car in properly so I shifted to 5th and could go around 60 something and keep the rpms below 4,000.

I made it home fine, but decided to still borrow a car to get to work today since I want to practice this weekend more before I drive in rush hour traffic. Hopefully I'll feel confident enough on Monday.

After practicing to drive my car for about an hour I totally knew I had made the right decision. This weekend I'm buying some mesh to put over the oil coolers and in the next few weeks I'm going to have to decide between getting a new set of rims with winter tirers or just getting better all-season tires.

A BIG THANKS AGAIN!!!!!! to everyone on the forum who helped me feel comfortable in just buying a manual car even though I don't really know how to drive one. I'm already having fun with the car and can't wait to get good driving it to be able to take it everywhere.

Hard 8

Righteous, brother. Represent.

Vertigo-1

iTrader: (3)

You got yourself a very good salesman there I must say, if he was willing to spend that much time with you AND even try to convince you to take a 2nd lesson. I hope you treat him right.

StewC625

Other than that 40 HP difference, the drive exactly the same.

Hard 8

:D

No More Oldsmobiles

<plants yellowjacket nest in Stew's trunk>