I hardly use any gas to get mine going. 1100 RPM is the usual for me.

Also, do not use the clutch to hold the car on a hill.

 

I was new to driving stick last year,it was my first car was a 94' Man. Saab 900s.
Don't think you're taking too long to get used to it, and don't be afraid to take it slow.

It's best you practice and get comfortable with the car than jump into the mix of things and potentially ruin it and or yourself.

1) I did creeping, I don't think it is particularly good for the clutch, you can wear it out over time IIRC (much quicker than normal use.) Creep if you can't possibly go forward with gas.

2) As for speed bumps, take it slow, but not too slow... - Someone said that the car keeps it from stalling? I don't know if that is just a generalization, because as far as I was concerned (granted my car was 15 years old.) 1st should be enough for a speed bump, 2 may be comfortable and if the car doesn't feel shakey then you're fine.
If you don't feed it enough gas or stay at a high RPM (It was above 1.5k for mine. And shift at every 3.5k) it will stall out.
I don't know how the newer cars operate so I can't vouch for them or yours.

3) My car was strange, being a Saab I HAD to put it into reverse to take the key out of the ignition. It had a separate gear orientation on the shifter to get to it, you had to pull up on the shifter and then Down diagonally to the right.

The Trans should be doing most of the support when in Park.
E Breaks are intended for exactly their meaning; Emergencies.

Don't become accustomed to just that, I never had the luxury of one till I got my Cobalt a month ago.

My linkage would get caught between 3rd and 1st every time I put my E-Break up and I couldn't lower it unless fighting with it for 10-15 minutes.

 

This is not good advice and is totally false.

This should say "The E brake should be doing all the support when the car is parked". You never want the transmission gears to be supporting the weight of the car, you will screw up the gears and the synchros. The reason you put it in gear is so that if the E brake fails the car will not roll, but the idea is to NEVER have the weight of the car constantly resting on the gears. Automatics don't have you park them in "DRIVE" you put it in "PARK", which is a specialized "parking gear" that is not part of the drive gear system.

 

Automatic transmissions use what is known as a parking pawl to lock the output shaft. A manual trans lacks this and instead it is your gearing that takes the abuse.

 

the new SS/TC's have that manual shift, where u dont have to lift off the gas. u can be gassing it, and shift at the same time, so u dont lose power!

 

That my good sir is called "no lift shift"....not manual shift lol All SS/TC's are manual shift

 

so you still doing well with the manual transmission Acey

 

dont TC balts have no lift shift?
u still go threw gears like a manual tho,
its not like an suto where u put it in D and go.
that is whut i was kinda trying to say!

 

You basically just repeated what i said. Yes, tc balts have no lift shift. But they are also 5spd only, so i guess you could say "it's like a manual" considering it IS a manual lol

 

Pretty much everything has been covered but there has been some misinformation on the parking issue. A couple guys have already said it but if your facing down hill you park in reverse. If your facing up hill you park in first. When im on flat ground I park in reverse although I guess here you could park in either.

 

if you're on a flat you're on flat surface either or will be ok, but I have a preference for 1st.

Another tip I didn't really seen mentioned in the thread is to let the car roll on the parking brake 1st before putting it in either 1st or reverse

 

umm huh?

 

like put the car to a stop then let off the brake while pulling on the ebrake until it dont roll. then put it in gear. i think tht what he meant

 

Yes, that is what I meant to say.

put the parking brake on first then put it in gear.

 

i use about 1500-1800 to get going, its a much smoother launch, wen i get it moving at basically idle, it will bog down sometimes and i know thats not good for the clutch.

 

It's pretty smooth at around 1200. I do agree that any lower the car starts to bog a bit.

 

1200-1500 im sure isnt going to make much difference