SuperdadZ06

Sir you are a brave man in my book. I can not imagine teaching anyone that has never driven a manual on my Z06

owc6

I actually think it would be a pretty forgiving car to teach someone.

Much easier than the car I learned on in the '70s. That Datsun B210 clutch was a killer!

C7s

Join in for a livestream Weds night at 9EST where CarGirl11 will talk about her experience plus some good old Corvette talk!

TKgs2010

Yes it is, nobody builds a better sports sedan than the Germans. I've had Audis, BMWs and Mercedes, all great driving cars. I'm thinking maybe next year I'll get an E63 AMG, that has AWD where the C63 does not, the C is decent in the winter with the traction control and all season tires, but the AWD of the E63 makes a HUGE difference.

redrider28075

I have been teaching my 15 year old daughter to drive my Z 06 in the school parking lot. It's been kind of fun watching her get the hang of it. Seems like a good way to get my kid interested in cars.

I Fly Low

My kids learned on a Boxster, an RX-7, an RX-8 and a C6. And I have gray hair, probably a coincidence!

Navy01Coupe

So...given the choice...a C7 or a C3? My wife "says" she can drive a standard, but I have never witnessed it. Now she is dropping not so subtle hints. Which do I "test" her on?

dork

I taught her in two steps. Sitting on the driver's side, I told her I would work the pedals and she would shift the gears when I told her to. I told her the whole goal was to make the stick shift quickly while I had the clutch down and eased off the gas. She picked it up in less than 5 runs through the gears (from a stop through 3rd and into 4th). Then we switched seats.

From the passenger seat I told her that I'd tell her when to put the clutch in; at the same time, she was to let off the gas slightly and when I saw her knee locking straighter, I'd shift the gear. When I told her I was finished, she was to let out the clutch smoothly and get back on the gas. This, too, took about 5 runs from a stop. Yes, she had a harder time figuring out how to feather the clutch from a standing start, but we were on level ground so it wasn't too challenging. She stalled it twice. One thing that helped her a lot was practicing just getting the car to initially roll from a stop by finding the sweet spot in the clutch; over and over (maybe 7-10 times) all we'd do is start from a dead stop and practice sensing when the clutch pedal release would start the car forward; then we'd push the clutch all the way in and stop and repeat the process; after that, her sense of how the pedal functioned was much better.

I coached her on driving solo--when she worked both the clutch and the pedals--she was to concentrate on the driving, I'd cue her when it was time to shift gears.

After she got completely smooth at the pedals from a standing start, I told her to listen to the engine and keep an eye on the tach for her cue to shift--anywhere between 2000-3000rpm would be a good time to start. She got it all down so she could do it solo in about 10 minutes.

It was the third time I've taught someone how to drive a manual; the first two times were "harder" because it hadn't occurred to me to break the tasks into two learning chapters. But it sure doesn't take an Einstein.

I think the c7 is one of the easiest to learn on; it's got so much torque you don't need to gas it to start from a stop. It's got the hill brake to hold the car in place on an incline. The pedal is buttery smooth and light; and though the stick is rather sloppy, it's precise enough to find the first 4 gears easily if you're not banging in a vicious hurry.

Even the old VW bug was (marginally) harder because one was required to maintain gas input to keep a start smooth.

Dundon929

My wife does not drive my 19 GS...not enough power and torque she said. She drives a Hellcat

Billy346

That's a good pointer to start by just letting out the clutch slowly on a level surface. Thanks!

LimeRay

Oh hell no.