I'm new to this forum and i'd like to get some advice on my newly acquired 2004 C4S.

I'm bit hestitant to admit this, however this is my first manual transmission vehicle (yes, seem foolish) however i have driven a manuals a lot in the past. I've just never owned one on my own.
It's been only 3 weeks now (in which i really only drive it on the weekends). The reason why i'm posting is to ask anyone out there to advise on ways i can improve on getting out of 1st gear. I haven't perfected the timing on it yet and it feels like the sweet spot is 3/4 up on the clutch however i think i just need more practice to get the timing right. I thought i throw this out there to see if someone has any secret tricks of trade to overcome my challenge?

 

(In my opinion) The best thing to do, is get out there and drive it more! Take it easy and try not to change gear to quickly! Eventually you will get used to the gear change and not have a problem with it!

[sm=burnout.gif]

 

You just have to go out and drive it. It will come around in time. The 996 line has a very easy to drive clutch.

 

Practice practice practice..

 

sak..

I am in a similar boat, except I just bought a brand new 2007 Audi RS4. A buddy of mine who is cross shopping the RS4 with the C4S (and therefore lurking here) told me about your post and I thought I'd share my story.

I drove stick a long time ago, but barely, I never owned a stick.

I took one refresher lesson a week before I went to pick up my RS4. Of course I had to go to NJ (I'm in NY) to get my RS4, which meant driving back on lots of local roads, highways and intersections.

Needless to say, I stalled a few times, especially on hills. It took a while to get comfortable, but as of last week I was feeling a lot more confident.

I'm at the point now where getting up hills, reversing, parallel parking, is all easy.

The one thing I am not sure about is shift patterns. The RS4 is a loud beast. Sometimes I feel like why bother with 1st gear, however I've heard its bad on the clutch to start in 2nd. These are the little things that I also need help learning.

I also sometimes shift from 1st to 3rd, because 2nd is not as smooth a shift.

I am working on learning a whole lot more about all this, so I'll watch your thread here, let me know how it progresses, and best of luck with your new C4S, awesome car!