Picking up my 06 STI Today, never owned a manual - any tips?

Unlike the crap in RS/OBS/WRX transmission in STI is buttery smooth. The tranny seems to be completely different. Or it feels that way. At least that was my impression after sitting in a car at the auto show.

As for the tips, they are mostly for people buying a used STI: beware of the people who learned to drive a stick on an STI. You might get stuck with a $2k bill for the rebuild.

You must be extremely talented to be able to evaluate a transmission by just sitting in the car at a car show. I wished I was that knowledgable about cars.

Some advice that applies to any manual: Push the clutch all the way down to the floor. Do not get in the habit of pushing it in just enough. You can ease off when you get good and don't make mistakes anymore.

Remember where you are in the H pattern. Pull to the left for 1 and 2 then up and down. Just up and down for 3 and 4. Pull to the right for

5 and 6 (I drive a 5 speed so I am guessing). Reverse is usually way over. You are guaranteed to get 3rd some day when you wanted 5th. Happens to everyone. Be fast on the clutch.

The car may have to more 10 feet before you let the clutch out all the way. With practice this will go down to a couple feet with the gas just off idle.

Practice pushing in the clutch and braking the car to a stop a few times. That way you can concentrate on traffic rather than the gear box. Sometimes you just can't be distracted in traffic. Example: if you put the car in 5rd instead of 3rd, you'll know how to stop, put it in nuetral and take a deep breath, rather than jerking the car bucking and stumbling upto 40 mph.

Since you own an STI find out about corner entry points, apexes, exit points, positive and negative camber, slope, crest of hills and traction.

Enjoy!

It is not too late to spend a final couple of hours in another manual car, honing your skills, before putting your hands on the STI.

M.J.

can give specifically related to learning on the STI? I > will be taking it on small residential roads this weekend while I > learn it.

Hi,

Despite the fact I learned on a stick and have been driving them for close to 40 years now, I find it helpful with any "new" or "new to me" vehicles to find an empty parking lot and practice the "what's it take to get this thing rolling" drill of putting the gearbox in 1st and learning where the clutch starts to grab and how much gas it takes to just barely start moving. Each clutch/engine combo's a bit different, but you'll be surprised how quickly your left foot "learns" after you've driven a few sticks. I figure since a majority of my driving's in heavy stop and go traffic, this is the most important part of learning the feel of a new car to me. The people I know who can drive a stick smoothly in stop and go traffic usually have few problems with the rest of the learning curve.

If the parking lot's got some reasonable uphill sections, they can be helpful to learn about "roll back" and using the parking brake as a "hill holder" (I'm assuming the STI does NOT have a hill holder feature?)

That part of the exercise shouldn't take more than maybe a half hour if you're really rusty, maybe just a few minutes for an experienced driver.

Then use the back roads to learn the shifting patterns, quirks and get the feel for the throttle and all that. Watch the tach, but also develop a "feel" for where you are in the rev band vs how the engine feels.

Go easy on the clutch and gearbox at first until you know how they react and you should do just fine!

Rick

First of all, the STI accelerates insanely fast in low gears. Boost will come on at about 2500 RPM and increase from there. If you are just learning, don't get too close to the car in front of you, or you both get a nasty surprise.

I would also advise short shifting at first; don't let the revs get too high. The transmission is very smooth, but the gears are very close together. Invariably, even people experienced with a standard, go from 2nd to 5th a few times. That's not a big issue, except that acceleration will be flat when that happens and the car may chug. However, it is worse if you are downshifting at higher revs. Hence, it is better to keep the revs low when you are learning and avoid damage.

You also have to learn to be soft with the shifts. The car doesn't respond well to ham-fisted shifting. But once you get the knack of it, it is one helluva lot of fun to drive.

Do NOT be tempted to 'light up all four' with a high-rev clutch dump on dry pavement. You might do it - you also might destroy a tranny.

Carl

Thank you for all the responses. They have really helped me, and I am going to try it all out.

I spent a good amount of time today on very light residential roads. After I got my confidence i went into town. Throughout my trip I did stall out twice: a) Once going on an uphill from a green light (I was the first person and there were 3 cars honking behind me - sorry guys!), I turned the car back on gave it another shot and it worked b) In a parking lot someone cut me off without even looking and my instinct hit the brake but not the clutch.

The tranny feels "Buttery smooth" SITTING in the car at the AUTO SHOW!! Great/right on target info there.....this is a joke...right?

Of course... not. It's easy though to weed out the cars you do NOT want to take for a test drive by checking how they shift on the floor. STI was not one of such cars. It was easy to put in gear and felt very smooth.

I don;t believe I ever made that claim. But crappy transmissions are easy to spot, They have a rubbery feel that you feel right away. Of course the lack of rubbery feeling may not mean anything. So my statement might have looked a bit ridiculous, I can give you that.

It's a moot point in this case, because the OP will be learning to shift on a $33k car. Therefore the joke, if there was one, will be lost on him.

I am now completely adjusted to the STI shifting - thank you. I have put over 200 miles on it already, and as I stated previously I am not learning on the STI I already had some experience in friends cars.

Hmm, the first car with 5sp i learned to shift on: bought at 92k miles needed a transmission rebuild at 166k. I hope you can do better.

I'd say the sturdy tranny of an STI may be an excellent choice for learning, and may be affected negatively only minimally. Of course providing he takes it real easy on it.

I hope the OP gives us some more feedback on how he is doing.

M.J.

Doing well. I am still trying to get the hang of the shift from 1 to 2. I am trying to do it without revving the engine too much (unless I am trying to pass). I have been stalling out about once per day from stops, but doing well.

The only other thing I am still working on is downshifting - right now I am shifting to neutral and braking when I have to slow down a good deal. For example, if I am going 50mph in gear 5, and I sense that I'll have to slow down quite a bit I usually pop it in neutral and then if I slow down to 30 before I can accelerate again I will shift to 3rd from neutral and with the clutch down rev the rpms a bit (to match 3rd gear) before dropping the clutch. Is this the proper method?

Thanks.

I wouldn't drop the clutch, and it is OK to brake with the car still in gear.

With an STI, I would go learn how to do heel-toe braking. It will allow you to brake, operate the clutch and match revs all at once. Takes a little practice, but its the best way once you get the hang of it.

IMO, shifting from 2-1 for a stop is the least important shift. I'll gear down all the way to second, but the shift to first is usually done in the last couple of feet before stopping, and the clutch stays in until it's time to go.

I prefer to always be in gear. You never know when you have to go from "stopping" to "going". Walk the car down the gears as you brake, easing the clutch out for each. That way, no matter when you have to accelerate, you're already in an appropriate gear. Don't use high rpm, but keeping the car in gear will help you stay connected with the road.

Blipping the throttle on downshift is good to match RPM, but it's tricky to nail, and takes lots of practise. More important is smoothly letting the clutch out.

You'll know you have the feel for your tranny when you can drive it up from first to 5/6 and back down again to 2nd without the clutch at all. Don't expect this to happen until you have a few years of familiarity with your car. I've been able to do it on all my cars except my current. I'm at about 60% success rate on clutchless shifting with my RS - likely will have it mastered in a year or two. :)

The STi tranny is completely different.

ADVICE FOR *ANY* OTHER CAR WILL BE COMPLETELY MEANINGLESS AND MOSTLY WRONG TO THE NEW STi DRIVER. PLEASE DO NOT OFFER IT. (I don't mean to direct this at you, Body Roll.. I mean to direct it at that grant fellow.)