Teaching folks how to drive a stick shift...

[zahc]

I don't remember ever learning. Between mountain bikes, dirt bikes, tractors, and so on by the time I was old enough to drive I just knew.

[sm]

*Sigh*

Well...I can still  stall out a stick shift.
Wait! I do have an excuse!

I was backing into my garage when about five really nice does come around the barn and into the yard.
Okay, actually I did not stall out, I was just checking to see if my vehicle would quit running if I released the clutch. Honest!

Note: it quits.

[cambeul41]

A few years back, my wife wanted to learn to drive a stick shift "just because." It went amazingly well.  We started in an industrial park on a weekend when there were roads a plenty, large parking lots, and almost zero traffic. She was already a good driver  — taught by her father, a Honda engineer then executive from when he got out of college, who took driving seriously. The only problem, quickly solved, was that she tried to shift too rapidly. That was cured by comparing it to learning to draw a handgun: slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

Now she does not want an automatic: "I have to drive, so I want to have fun while I am doing it.

[Hutch]

Had a coworker the other day ask if he could borrow my brand new 2013 outback with a stick shift to teach his kid to drive one.  No...  go buy a beater truck.

The nerve of some people is just astonishing.  They should have been raised better.

[Tallpine]

I didn't grow up on a farm or in the country   

When I got about the age to drive, my mom had a 1969 C-10 with the then new 350 and a three on the tree.  That thing was very difficult to get started rolling with the clutch.

Then I worked at an RV lot on Saturdays.  I still didn't have my DL yet, but they had a ~1963 Chevy pickup with a 283 and a 4 speed.  I used that thing to move travel trailers around the lot, and never had any trouble with the clutch including while backing 25 foot trailers.

The junker 1989 K-1500 with the five speed that I bought this year is a pain.  I kill it a lot even with all my experience.  You have to rev it up a fair bit before you ever think about letting out the clutch.  My old 1976 C-20 you can pretty much start in 2nd without even touching the gas.