Well, the conversation I've been expecting for about the last three months has finally arrived. My girlfriend hinted that she wants to drive the Stang, and therefore needs to learn to drive stick. I've never taught anyone to drive a manual but of course its second nature to me at this point. Does anyone have any best practices for teaching someone in a way that doesn't end with my drivetrain falling out of the car in the middle of a parking lot?

Also, she's a pretty good driver and is usually pretty good at picking things up.

 

let her get use to the clutch were it engages at then let her practice just lettin the clutch out and the car to pull on its own with no gas then throw in some gas when shes ready

 

dont teach her a mustang. A stock mustang has a much tighter clutch. If possible teach her on a 4 cylinder, much more forgiving more room for error.

 

I recommend Valium... for the teacher.

 

yeah a mustang is defenately not the right car to learn stick with. Even though I learned from one.

 

I would find a different car if you can, next have her practice with car turned off first, find a big open area (parking lot so on), brief her really well and have her repeat back to you what you said, then tell her to floor it! JK just take it nice and slow and stay calm

 

Have her "row" through the gears and comfortable shifting with the car turned off and the E-brake on.

Then have her start it and put into first. Without pressing the gas, have her slowly let her foot off the clutch until the car is "idling" along. Then have her brake, put the car into neutral, and repeat.

Do this until she can do those steps without the car jerking or shuddering. Once she has that down, take it to the next step, once 1st is fully engaged, have her gently press on the gas (or hammer it) then get her to stop and repeat that a few times,

Now have her do steps 1 and 2, then have her push the clutch in, get into second then slowly let the clutch out (no gas).

Once she gets good at that, now have her do the same three steps but after second is engaged have her give it gas.

Lastly , now have her practice giving it gas while she releases the clutch.

 

Been there, just keep your cool and remember "see saw" one goes up the other goes down

 

Like I said previously... Valium.

 

+1...This sounds like a good idea.

Something else I would add is to be calm and VERY forgiving. I was teaching my wife to drive the Stang and long story short one of my wheels ended up with a rash . She felt so bad that she eagerly bought a replacement wheel .
She will NEVER drive my car again.