peterm

Just pulled the trigger on an 04 but one issue- despite 6 prior porsches they were all tips or pdk I have never owned or driven a manual- How do i keep from looking like an *** when i pick up my car??? None of the rental agents locally have a manual to practice on nor do any of my car friends

Suggestions?

Dan87951

Wow! Good for you for pulling the trigger on a manual. I bought my first Porsche this way almost 18 years ago. The hardest part is getting going. If you can practice taking off in the parking lot before leaving it will be beneficial for you. Once you get the car going, its cake from there and as you practice you will get better.

God help you if you're picking the car up in a busy city or during rush hour traffic. Good luck!

ryanjboutin

Watch YouTube videos.

Easily let the clutch out and gently ease into the gas at the same time.
When in doubt, left foot (clutch) to the floor, coast to the side and recover.
You will probably stall it once or twice, not a problem.

Or go to the local high school and give a kid $20 to teach you. lol
Good luck not looking like a creeper though.

That's about all one can give over the internet.
If you can, mount a GoPro and submit the video of driving home in this thread.

KurtF

just tell the buyer/ dealer that this is your first manual and ask if he can spend some time with you at delivery. Being honest and upfront eliminates any need for feeling like an ***. Most Porsche people I know would gladly help you out.

VGM911

Bring a friend with you who knows how to drive a stick shift car. If you're in or near New Jersey, I'll volunteer to help in this regard.

peterm

I have mastered the art of shifting without a clutch over the last few days, Im just going to dive in and do it!

I would worry about paying a high school kid to help me with my stick shift easily could be misconstrued

Leuz

Also, hopefully you live in a flat area :P
Good luck!

Macster

And has a bank account that can stand tapping for a new tranny when the current transmission goes **** up.

peterm

only stalled once on the way home!

Macster

You did fine. The Boxster is a pretty easy manual car to drive.

When you can at an empty parking lot just let the warmed up engine idle and let the clutch out slowly/smoothly with no throttle. If you do this smoothly enough the DME will strive to keep the engine at its nominal idle speed and you will find the car moving off just fine.

'course this is not really feasible for everyday driving.

With my 2002 2.7l 5-speed car I have found just a dip of the toe and bring the RPMs up to around 1K and then as I let off the gas pedal smoothly release the clutch pedal has the car moving off rather smartly. Once underway with the clutch released then I can give the engine as much throttle as I want.

This technique gets the car moving without any drama and is not very hard on the clutch at all for while it slips some upon starting out the slippage is minimal and at a very low speed so the clutch doesn't get very hot.

The clutch in my car has over 304K miles so long clutch life is possible with the right clutch work.

Practice and you'll be fine.

Might mention that it is very important the 2 year brake/clutch flush/bleed service schedule be adhered to. The time I let this go is when I experienced a hard to work smoothly clutch and the shifting was crunchy.

After the brake/clutch fluid flush and bleed while braking was unchanged -- it was fine before -- the clutch was once again easy to operate smoothly and shifting was like moving a hot knife through soft butter.

LexVan

Great color, Arena Red. You'll need this next week, also check Sunset Porsche for better pricing:

http://www.suncoastparts.com/product/986CLUTCHKIT.html

hushypushy

^ Arena Red was only offered '97-00 on Boxsters. Since that's an '04, it's Carmon Red, which is admittedly very similar to Arena Red:

peterm

carmon it is-

Im working on this clutch thing and starting to get the hang of it- what's that funny smell?????? (Perhaps i should order 2 suncoast clutches)

BTW why does everyone love shifting so much??- I dont find it engaging but rather annoying

Macster

Shifting does get old (or just inconvenient/a bother) sometimes. The plus side is the Boxster shifting is quite effortless. That it is as close to automatic as it can be and still require the left foot.

Gary JR

In an era where machines are becoming more dominant shifting gives you more control over the machine.