Anyone taught their wife to drive a Manual Trans?

[John B+9]

I want to buy the manual transmission Badlands. But, my biggest concern with this being my daily driver, is there will always be a few times a month where my wife needs to drive my car (and me drive hers, for seating for our 4 kids).

Facts about my wife:

• We are late 30's, and she's never driven a stick
• She doesn't like trying new things
• She doesn't like the idea of a stick shift
• She would be mortified if she stalled the truck in the middle of an intersection - even if just for a few seconds

I'm assuming these newer manual transmissions are very very forgiving - compared to the 1990 Honda Accord I drove 25 years ago...?

I haven't owned a stick since I got married (17 years), but want to badly. Can I teach her? Or more likely, can I have my Dad (much more patient than I) teach her? Or is it not worth the stress and I should just get the Auto and 2.7?

Car & Driver just published a pretty good article on "Learn to drive a manual with this one easy trick". I had stumbled on this method with our 4th child after having a difficult time with the first three. I think you can learn to drive a stick on just about any reasonably powered vehicle. Harder on something underpowered or overpowered. Bronco with the turbo I4 and low rpm torque aught to be just about ideal. Have fun and happy family driving!

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[mikeandmiki]

Didn’t have to. She knew how when I met her. She won’t drive my manual Hellcat because she says the clutch is too stiff for her.

 

[L8apex]

I want to buy the manual transmission Badlands. But, my biggest concern with this being my daily driver, is there will always be a few times a month where my wife needs to drive my car (and me drive hers, for seating for our 4 kids).

Facts about my wife:

• We are late 30's, and she's never driven a stick
• She doesn't like trying new things
• She doesn't like the idea of a stick shift
• She would be mortified if she stalled the truck in the middle of an intersection - even if just for a few seconds

I'm assuming these newer manual transmissions are very very forgiving - compared to the 1990 Honda Accord I drove 25 years ago...?

I haven't owned a stick since I got married (17 years), but want to badly. Can I teach her? Or more likely, can I have my Dad (much more patient than I) teach her? Or is it not worth the stress and I should just get the Auto and 2.7?

Wife bought a Focus ST with only 1 or 2 lessons - has been driving it ever since. The amount of torque makes it tougher to stall - similarly teaching in a bronco with the crawler gear will make it near impossible and allow her to get a feel of clutch engagement.

Also the hill-start assist will alleviate some of the hill anxiety.

Having taught countless people stick shift I would recommend repeating steps 5-7 100x over to gain plenty of confidence and slowly picking up the rate of clutch release before ever adding the gas pedal or shifting to second:

1) Find flat parking lot
2) Place in first, shut engine off
3) Student hops in
4) Teach them how to start
5) Shift to neutral, foot on brake, other foot off clutch on the floor (newbies love to ride a clutch)
6) Shift to first, off brake, and as SLOW as physically possible release the clutch (NO GAS PEDAL)
7) Once moving, STILL NO GAS PEDAL, clutch-in, brake and shift to neutral once at a stop

EDIT: Also love this video

 

[Straight 6]

Just get the auto, not worth the headaches it'd take to teach her a dead skill

Is she going to teach you how to make your own soap next?

 

[John B+9]

. . . steps 5-7 100x over to gain plenty of confidence and slowly picking up the rate of clutch release before ever adding the gas pedal or shifting to second:

1) Find flat parking lot
2) Place in first, shut engine off
3) Student hops in
4) Teach them how to start
5) Shift to neutral, foot on brake, other foot off clutch on the floor (newbies love to ride a clutch)
6) Shift to first, off brake, and as SLOW as physically possible release the clutch (NO GAS PEDAL)
7) Once moving, STILL NO GAS PEDAL, clutch-in, brake and shift to neutral once at a stop

EDIT: Also love this video

L8apex, GREAT advice!! Love the moniker, BTW

 

[Used2jeep]

I mentioned that I might be getting an auto rather than the stick and she said "Oh, I was hoping that you would get the manual. I miss the manual in the driveway."

 

[Wanted33]

Taught my wife (then my girlfriend) years ago. But she wouldn't drive one unless it was a case of life, and death. In other words she hates a manual.

As stated above the roadblock you face is your wife doesn't any interest in learning. And the first time she stops on a hill, and tries to start off you're gonna lose her. As bad as it sounds I say just move on, buy an auto, and save your marriage.

 

[Jmgunn0124]

I want to buy the manual transmission Badlands. But, my biggest concern with this being my daily driver, is there will always be a few times a month where my wife needs to drive my car (and me drive hers, for seating for our 4 kids).

Facts about my wife:

• We are late 30's, and she's never driven a stick
• She doesn't like trying new things
• She doesn't like the idea of a stick shift
• She would be mortified if she stalled the truck in the middle of an intersection - even if just for a few seconds

I'm assuming these newer manual transmissions are very very forgiving - compared to the 1990 Honda Accord I drove 25 years ago...?

I haven't owned a stick since I got married (17 years), but want to badly. Can I teach her? Or more likely, can I have my Dad (much more patient than I) teach her? Or is it not worth the stress and I should just get the Auto and 2.7?

I tried once about 7 years ago. Wasn’t great lol. About a month ago my dad (also more patient than me) started teaching my wife how to drive my manual 2 door wrangler. She is pregnant and I have no intention of putting a newborn in the bank seat of my Jeep, so if she’s going somewhere without the kids she needs to take the Jeep.

All that to say, definitely have your dad do it! My wife ended up picking it up super fast.

 

[icavedin]

My then girlfriend, now wife, taught me how to drive a manual when we were younger and rented a car in Europe. Learned on a right hand drive. Stalled it a few times in miraculous fashion in traffic but had it down by the afternoon.
My then girlfriend, now wife, taught me how to drive a manual when we were younger and rented a car in Europe. Learned on a right hand drive. Stalled it a few times in miraculous fashion in traffic but had it down by the afternoon.

Same thing we did, except roles reversed.

Flew to Paris for a friend’s wedding, rented a standard wagon to putz around in, got a lil too drunky @ the reception, then boom bae had to limp us back home while I sloppily navigated her through the foreign roundabouts.

Moral of the story: fly to Europe -> rent a manual -> get drunk -> bae learns = profit??

 

[SmallStranger]

Some really good advice in the thread.

I taught my wife a couple years ago. She wanted absolutely nothing to do with learning, until I got her the Subaru she wanted on the condition it was a manual. She hated it for the first two weeks but once it clicked she became a total convert. Now she won’t even consider a car without it being a stick.

 

[JerseyRuss]

I want to buy the manual transmission Badlands. But, my biggest concern with this being my daily driver, is there will always be a few times a month where my wife needs to drive my car (and me drive hers, for seating for our 4 kids).

Facts about my wife:

• We are late 30's, and she's never driven a stick
• She doesn't like trying new things
• She doesn't like the idea of a stick shift
• She would be mortified if she stalled the truck in the middle of an intersection - even if just for a few seconds

I'm assuming these newer manual transmissions are very very forgiving - compared to the 1990 Honda Accord I drove 25 years ago...?

I haven't owned a stick since I got married (17 years), but want to badly. Can I teach her? Or more likely, can I have my Dad (much more patient than I) teach her? Or is it not worth the stress and I should just get the Auto and 2.7?

successfully taught my wife to drive my old Honda Accord from the 90's when it was in its later years and struggling. Now she drives a 6 speed manual JK wrangler and loves it. She doesn't want to go back to auto. She likes when the doors are off and everyone can see her shifting, thinks it makes her look hard core.

 

[Blksn955.o]

The wife's dad had a early 80's f350 diesel with a manual. My wife could drive that but when I tried to teach her how to drive the mustang she quit. The clutch is stiff with a tricky release point. She smoked the clutch a little and got scared. I told her don't worry...I launch at the track on the bottle and don't lift off the throttle when shifting (power shift). I said you are never going to treat it as bad as I do. She just did not want to be the one to break it. I will probably try again with the bronco as I think that will be closer to the f350 she learned on.

 

[Squatch]

This has to be in the top 10 of how marriages end right along with remodeling a kitchen.

 

[bobbleheadguru]

I want to buy the manual transmission Badlands. But, my biggest concern with this being my daily driver, is there will always be a few times a month where my wife needs to drive my car (and me drive hers, for seating for our 4 kids).

Facts about my wife:

• We are late 30's, and she's never driven a stick
• She doesn't like trying new things
• She doesn't like the idea of a stick shift
• She would be mortified if she stalled the truck in the middle of an intersection - even if just for a few seconds

I'm assuming these newer manual transmissions are very very forgiving - compared to the 1990 Honda Accord I drove 25 years ago...?

I haven't owned a stick since I got married (17 years), but want to badly. Can I teach her? Or more likely, can I have my Dad (much more patient than I) teach her? Or is it not worth the stress and I should just get the Auto and 2.7?

I stalled out several times the first few months with my 2016 Manual Trans Mustang. That 4th bullet is the one that I would be worried about. It is hard to avoid that... It is not instinctive (at first) to push the clutch down at intersections then release, then push the clutch in again to get going.

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