Hi all,
Im 28, from NYC but just moved to northern NJ. I just purchased a 2004 black on tan ZHP, slick top, 4 door, 6 speed. 191k miles with 2 owners. Definitely needs some work but I wanted something that I had to work on. I have always been into cars but having grown up in NYC it was extremely anti-car. Grew up poor and my parents could never afford a car, got one when I was in my 20s, a 2004 Audi A4 with the 3.0 V6 (auto), but eventually the street parking drove me crazy and I sold it.
I've always wanted to learn manual and learn to DIY on my own car, I'm not getting any younger so decided to leave the city and move to a place with a garage where I can keep it/work on it. Joined the forum to ask any DIY questions and hopefully link up with any members in the area who could show me a thing or two. Willing to shut up and listen.
I do have a question though, for those who learned manual after automatic, when did it click for you and become 'fun'? I just got the car and have maybe driven it a dozen times, but hill starts and starting from first/going slow still feel awkward, I still have to look down sometimes to know what gear I'm in and shifting smoothly/rev matching is pretty difficult. It just sort of feels like work and like I don't know how to drive haha. Especially in NJ traffic where everyone is mashing the gas in their 300+ HP SUVs, and they all want to slam their brakes and ride your bumper in stop-and-go traffic. I would love to get to the point where I'm rev matching every downshift and can pull away from first quickly, but driving manual just sort of gives me anxiety.
I do find the throw of the clutch unnecessarily long, so I ordered a clutch stop, will be doing a CDV delete, and I am also trying the mason engineering short throw clutch pedal.
I know it's early and I'm going to stick with it but just wondering when it clicked for anyone here.
REF