Well, no, they're not like actual college courses because a) your entire grade doesn't depend on 1 or 2 exams and b) you're given a year to learn a semester's worth of material. You learn the same information, though because you use a college text book. For example, high school biology is not even close to AP biology... I'm not sure how that's related to anything we were talking about, though.

 

ahhhh the good old days of learning stick.........i had to learn on an 87 fc rx7 with a slipping clutch, flooding problem and to top it off the car was overheating like a ****..... ..........although it was one of the most embarassing moments of my life......it is hilarious now :D

btw congrats on the car and just concentrate on getting the car moving.....the rest is a peice of cake....

 

Excellent advice, Abbid. You can put three friends in this one, which makes it a recipe for disaster. But if you're taking a bunch of AP classes (kudos to you), you must be smart enough already to not do something stupid.

You'll pick up the manual pretty quickly. I was in high school when my Dad taught me to drive a stick - it was a lime-greenish Fiat Strada! When I got my RX-7, I tried to teach my wife to drive it, but when I pretty much turned the color of the Fiat, she decided to give up I also tried to teach her on a rental car, but she never got the hang of it. The 8 seems pretty forgiving to me, so you'll be able to get around in no time. Just make sure you practice hill starts somewhere isolated before you get out into traffic! Congratulations!

 

Get the manual. If you can learn on a beater, great; if not, that's OK too. The RX8 tranny will take some abuse before crapping out... the worst thing you'd probably do is grind down a few teeth and maybe wear down the clutch a bit. And it's more likely you wont even do that. It's really not a big deal and once you learn stick, you wont want to go back to an auto... well, if you're a true sports car enthusiast, that is

 

The car is in my garage now, safe and sound with a car cover on it. Now I know what you're all thinking... what in the heck is it doing in the garage?! Well, it's raining outside and I don't want to get my car all dirty. It's depressing, but it's for the best I suppose. I can be patient... I guess. Oh, but whenever you all bought your RX-8... did you find that all of your valve stem caps were gone/stolen? We got home and realized I didn't have any of mine so we had to order some rotary shaped ones online :D. They're purty, but I was just wondering...

 

New MT driver here. Just so that I understand, is riding the clutch driving around town with your foot resting on the clutch? Also, what exactly is excessive slipping of the clutch on starting from a stop? Is it wrong to slowly release the clutch until you reach the catch point while increasing the throttle at the same time? I guess what I'm worried about is am I wearing my clutch by increasing throttle as the clutch is released but hasn't yet reached the catch point and engaged fully? I think I'm doing this going from complete stop to start in 1st as I'm worried about stalling.