Should I teach stick-shift with my new yaris?

[Flex12]

I recently got a new yaris hatchback manual and i love it. My girlfriend doesn't know how to drive stick shift and i was thinking about teaching her with my car, but I'm concerned. Will the inexperience/revving/stalling cause my car trouble? I just passed the break-in period but i kinda want to drive like the break-in period forever to keep my car in prime shape. Let me know if there are wear-and-tear issues or if I'm just being a protective wus.

[supmet]

It will do some damage, that's for sure.(if anyone tells you that you can shift improperly without doing ANY damage to the engine they are smoking something) If you're a good teacher and she's a fast learner it shouldn't be that much of a problem, and most of the damage will be on the clutch, which is relatively cheap and easy to fix.

[Bob Dog]

Stick shifting is usually best taught on a rust rotting relic with large clouds of smoke issuing from the back, just before it is taken to the crusher.

[hachi-roku_fan]

You can do it, just be careful. Teach her the basics, by going forward in 1st for a solid 20ft, stopping, and going in reverse, doing this over and over will get her use to the engaging point of the clutch. After she masters that, take her to an empty lot or late at night on the road so she can run it through the gears.Good luck

[SilverBack]

Agree with supmet on being a fast learner. Education on the clutch function also makes it easier to learn

[CtrlAltDefeat]

I think the yaris is not a very good car to learn on. You have to rev it higher then some to get it going... seems like a more forgiving, lower revving car would be more appropriate.

[Astroman]

My girlfriend learned the stick with her '09 yaris. She still hasn't mastered it yet, but she's doing well. Hills are still a problem though. Told her just to keep practicing.

[YarisOwnersDad]

Man, my Jeep Wrangler would be a great vehicle to teach someone to drive a stick shift on. It has so much low end torque that you can just about let the clutch out and take off from idle speed, and if it is in four wheel drive low range, you CAN take off without giving it any gas.

Tom

[detroiter]

Originally Posted by Astroman

My girlfriend learned the stick with her '09 yaris. She still hasn't mastered it yet, but she's doing well. Hills are still a problem though. Told her just to keep practicing.

If it's a steep hill, she can always cheat it until she gets it down pat. Just pull up the e-brake to hold the car in place and then it'll help keep the car from rolling backwards until she takes off, then she can release the ebrake as she's starting to pull away. If done right, would do very minor wear, if any at all, to the rear brake pads.

[marcus]

oh GOD NO!!... synchro is gonna be messed up with one improper shifting. yikes i did that with my wife on my celica..newly installed tranny nad grinded it like crazy..not enuff pressure on the clutch did it..or she maybe didnt even press it at all..*headache* coming back.

oh by the way stalling a couple of time i believe will still damage the synchro.but i could be wrong.

[firemachine69]

Originally Posted by detroiter

If it's a steep hill, she can always cheat it until she gets it down pat. Just pull up the e-brake to hold the car in place and then it'll help keep the car from rolling backwards until she takes off, then she can release the ebrake as she's starting to pull away. If done right, would do very minor wear, if any at all, to the rear brake pads.

This is the correct way to start on an uphill FYI.


I heel-toe the brakes and gas to get going, but that's not the legit way to do it.





To the OP:


You'll experience some wear, yes, but I wouldn't worry about it. Myself and my brother both learned on my dad's Jetta, the thing has over 160K miles, and the clutch is just starting to slip (the clutch disk / flywheel combo is what takes the brunt of the abuse).

[yaris-me]

If your girlfriend REALLY wants to learn, then by all means. If she is not interested, don't waste your time or Yaris.

[aca72]

Originally Posted by yaris-me

If your girlfriend REALLY wants to learn, then by all means. If she is not interested, don't waste your time or Yaris.

This is the best answer.

[Loren]

I'll add that the true question is "should YOU be teaching her to drive stick?" The answer to that question can be "no" for several reasons, the largest of which are that you may not be a good teacher, it's stressful and might wreck your nerves, and being stressful, it can put a strain on your relationship.

IF you are the right person to teach her, it doesn't matter what car you do it in.

The very first thing any new stickshift driver needs to be taught is that they can start off in first gear without touching the gas. This teaches them where the clutch release point is. Teach that first, the rest is cake... and all the nonsense with over-revving and smoking the clutch is minimized.

Best advice: START IN A BIG EMPTY PARKING LOT and have NO expectation of allowing her to drive out of that parking lot before at least a few days of practice. From there, progress to low-stress residential streets. In other words, you should be less worried about the clutch and transmission than you are about THE CAR getting crunched due to putting an inexperienced driver on the street in a car they don't know how to drive before she's ready.

[scape]

i find the 1st gear in my hatchback to be unrelenting and geared to low, but that's probably just me. when i was learning stick shift years ago, all the people told me the wrong things, and it took a motorcycle class and independence for me to figure it out-- now I can shift no problem, once I took it into my own hands without someone over my shoulders, per se. I agree w/ other's here though, I had a gf learn to drive in my old volvo..and thank god it was an old volvo... ;D

[IllusionX]

I tried to teach with my yaris. It just doesn't work. I think the yaris is very hard to begin with because of the DBW lag.

I guess a Civic or a Jetta/Golf would do a better learner's car.

[nemelek]

The biggest problem in teaching my wife the stick was the clutch. I had a hard time convincing her that the clutch should be either in or out. When shifting fron 1st to 2nd, or 2nd to 3rd, etc she would pause leaving the clutch 1/2 way engaged. Now were all automatic and it's no longer an issue.

[MUSKOKA800]

I've driven manuals for ~38 years and can say that if she can learn the Yaris clutch she can drive em all. I stalled it periodically until I put the TRD exhaust on and then could actually hear the engine rev's. In stock form it was soooo quiet and the clutch seems to grab at one spot rather then transition slightly allowing the driver to feel it start engaging and add some rev's to move away from stop.

Oh yea, as Loren suggested, stay off the streets and away from obsticles and pedestrians for a while. Many years ago some friends and I was nearly mowed down by a girl learning stick in her boyfreinds hopped up Starsky and Hutch mobile. She came over the curb and shot across the sidewalk 10' behind us, flattened a 3" thick maple while passing us and crushed a baby carraige against the brick house beside us. Mom had lifted the baby out just seconds earlier.
Her first try a standard. Confused the gas and brake so pushed harder when she wasn't slowing. Nobody was injured but oh, so close it was.