Been a great 3 months of ownership, but still have a lot to learn. I'll make an update video at the 6 month period to see if I still love driving a manual on a daily basis. Let's me know if you want to see a 3 month ownership review/update. Love driving this car but there's some minor quirks about the VB that I'm beginning to not like.
Bought my 03 wrx in wellesley right off rt 9 and drove it back to worcester 9 years ago not knowing how to drive stick. what an experience lol. still driving it to this day i love it
I daily my 23’ WRX in Dallas. After 8 months of ownership I can 100% agree about the planning and awareness of traffic. Having owned several manual transmission vehicles, my experience is a bit different, but I do not mind being stuck in traffic for 45 min and enjoy trying to eek more MPGs out of it. My best combined MPG was 26.1 calculated after a week of driving.
I bought a 2023 WRX on Friday. I absolutely love it. My favourite car I've ever owned and driven. It's so much fun to drive. I also have the 6 speed standard transmission in mine and it is an easy car to drive. Only thing that fucked me up was there's no rev hang in the WRX (which is a good thing). Lol. I had a 2020 Si Coupe before the WRX and there was tons of rev hang (which I absolutely hated) and I'd have to let the clutch out a lot slower in the Si than I do in the WRX. That resulted in me letting the clutch out too slow in the WRX and jerking the car but I've been starting to get the hang of letting the clutch out faster (I've been driving standard since 2017 but I drove the Si for 2 and a half years so I got really used to the rev hang even though I hated it so it fucked me up when I drove the WRX and it had none but I love the WRX a lot more because there's none). I'm getting used to the clutch on the WRX though and I'm loving every second of driving that car. Clutch seems to be good (clutch was garbage in the Si) and there's no rev hang which I absolutely love so I'll be keeping this car. It's a blast to drive.
Love the car. I did almost the exact same thing. Bought a 2023 WRX premium in Ignition Red last May with no stick shift experience. Now, after 12k miles, I can say I am a pro lol
Great video! I actually just picked up a new 2023 WRX last Saturday, and it’s my first manual transmission. One thing that I’ve noticed is that driving a manual can be very “feel” oriented. It’s so much fun learning all of the nuances that make a manual transmission such an engaging experience!
Honestly VB gen is nice, VA gen is more raw and I personally own a VA WRX and since I work at Subaru dealership, I do a lot of PDIs on VB gen. The only thing I don't like about VB is not about the big screen, the clutch is the one. Clutch is a little bit too light for my opinion (or may be because I have ACT clutch on mine) but I would love to have a bit for feeling on the clutch.
4:28 Why the attitude towards Neutral, as if it were something to avoid...? Neutral is always fine. It's never a bad habit. It's only bad if you want the engine to drive your wheels, because, in neutral, it won't. That's it. If you want to know, I'm a 48yo European who has never driven an automatic.
I was going to comment the same. When coming to a stop, put the car in neutral. Holding the clutch down will cause premature wear on your throw-out bearing and your left leg.
@@OmnipotentJC Ah yes, even being comfortable with neutral and not abusing the clutch, my left leg still knows that feeling of premature wear, in traffic. 😀 And again, I do use neutral, imagine pushing on your clutch-pedal the whole time, while in traffic! Ouch!
Apologies for the confusion, I failed to elaborate on rolling into an intersection in nuetral rather than staying in gear. Which that will be based on the situation, but it's not a habit you'd want to develop.
@@mike_cerra Ah, well, like you said, that will depend on the actual situation. If you are slowing down, coming to an intersection, but thinking you probably won't need to stop, then yes, it would make sense to keep in gear, possibly having the clutch-pedal fully pressed. And I do feel a bit wreckless saying this, as if it were perfectly normal... But we do do it, in locations and times where we know there will hardly be any traffic... If, on the other hand, you are coming to an intersection with the intent of stoping, then you could stay in gear and, by doing so, do some engine breaking (which is seemingly controversial, but fine in this way), then shift down if needed, and eventually you'd be in 1st and about to stall the engine. In this case, you'd either press the clutch pedal, or switch to neutral - in most cases, the later would be better. Did I understand you correctly now?
i did the same thing man, i decided after failing to learn on friends cars that i would just take the plunge. i bought the wrx and forced my self to learn and daily. its been about 7 or so months for me
@@mike_cerra the feeling of manual being more difficult when tired does infact go away after a while. after about 5 to 6 months of driving it became muscle memory to drive my car. now a days it feels almost like an automatic where i dont think as much.
Anyone can learn to drive manual, but not everyone has the patience to learn. My mom could only afford a manual at age 46, and she taught herself in week, then fell in love with it. That made me fall in love with it so my first car was a manual and I learned in a week
Give it a year you will be automatic at driving manual. Seriously I don’t even think about it while doing it now but it takes time. Three month in I remember still using my head now it’s all reflex
I'm 47 years old man now. I drove a stick shift back when I was 14 years old. it was my dad's brand new Sedan 1982 Mazda 626. Since then I have always driven stick-shift Vehicles. only in the last 10 years, my last Vehicles were Toyota automatic.
Love the channel Mike, the new WRX will be my first manual car and I was wondering if you think I would be okay with driving it home from the lot? I understand 1st to 2nd is difficult, but once you get going is it still challenging?
Thanks Tom! A couple of days before taking delivery after I signed the papers I took the WRX out for a quick drive on public streets and the highway for the first time ever just so I knew I could get home. It does get easier once you get moving and at that point your only concern would be downshifting and not stalling when coming to a stop. I had a friend follow me home which eased the apprehensions I had. Just from personal existence, the WRX is one of the easiest cars to learn manual on.
I just picked up my 23 WRX in Solar orange and made it home after practicing in a lot for an hour. Only stalled at a light once lol. Your videos helped me make my purchase and this car is perfect to me. You rock Mike!
I’m also relatively new to manual driving and I’m relatively comfortable with upshifting and I’ve gotten to the point where I can do it smoothly. However, downshifting still is a bit stressful at times. When I typically downshift, I depress the clutch, shift into the appropriate lower gear, and I then hold the clutch at the bite (engagement) point to get the engine’s RPMs to rise. This is the most comfortable way for me to downshift, but I have heard some people say that is damaging the clutch. I started to practice with rev matching when I downshift by blipping the throttle, but I’m not very good at it yet and I’m not confident in my abilities to do it smoothly just yet. Sometimes I rev match downshift pretty good, but in other cases, I blip the throttle too much or not enough. I’m still working to get better at rev match downshifting, but my question is this. Do you think that it is okay to do the basic rev match by downshifting and holding the clutch at the bite point to do a smooth downshift (while I downshift, my foot is off of the gas so I shouldn’t be excessively heating up the clutch).
Keep practicing and you’ll eventually notice the depressed clutch pushes up against your left foot as you blip the throttle with the ball of your right foot. It’s the balance between gas/clutch. One goes up while the other goes down. Eventually you’ll start to feel the gentle bite point instantly and know the EXACT moment to start applying gas. That feeling when you and the machine become connected is nuts, and you’ll trust yourself a lot more in everyday driving situations
I agree 98% with everything you've described. Its like an extension of your body at some point & its just like being with a woman,byou start of slow and smooth and keep the rhythm in sync
have to dissagre when your tired and exhausted. Once you get used to it and it becomes second nature, you can really enjoy the lower gears. After long days at work nothing feels better then getting to cruise in 3k rpms and feel a the turbo spool once you give abit more throttle. You feel even more connected and the car is just carrying you home and makes it more dramatic and emotional event.
When learning anything new, the brain works harder. But eventually, it's just instinct Personally, I hate automatics. They make me feel like a slob Think of the roads like a really dull roller coaster. If you need to stop on an incline, time it so you stall at the perfect spot without touching the brake. Long downhill section? Leave it in 3rd or 4th without touching the brakes. etc, etc
Im currently driving a 2022 WRX CVT, I got the car last year from a lease takeover and in November my lease is done. I am trying to decide what I should do and I was hoping you might be able to help me. My 2022 will have around 40k kms on it when the lease is over and the buy out price is around 30k. So I am trying to decide whether I buy my current car at that price or if I opt for the 2024 manual. I do not have any experience driving manual but I live in Montreal and there is always a good amount of traffic especially on my drive home from work. I'm a salesman and I drive quite often as a result so I am wondering if the manual might not be ideal for me.
Learn what the engine and clutch and gears do and the diff too … road speed and engine speed … accelerating the engine drives the diff and car, coming down gears the diff and car drive the engine revs. Learn how to go back a gear to accelerate by blipping the accelerator and revving the engine while in neutral or clutch disengaged (pedal down).
11:00 This will go away with more time. It was only difficult because it's still a new experience and you are having to actively think about what you are doing. It will eventually become muscle memory and you will be shifting without even realizing it.
Watched this again … money shift is when you’re driving hard and go to change up and slot a lower gear not the higher gear than drop the clutch and buzz the engine … ouch!
Manual is great but high traffic areas make it challenging. I drive my manual Veloster N Monday-Thursday then my automatic work van Friday-Sunday. Traffic is tough where I live in San Diego.
That's what I was thinking. He says he bought a new WRX for the purpose of learning how to drive manual? Seems so weird to me. Then he says knowing how to drive manual is helpful if you want to drive an old muscle car. Why that specifically? Most people I know buy manuals to save money.
@@GlacialLake I work in the industry and photograph and film cars during the week. My motivations to drive manual are obviously going to be different than a majority of people
