Hi,

First time posting, and I want to say right off that I don't know much about mechanics and such, so forgive me if I tend to use terms like "thingy" and "doohickey."

I've had my Mazda 5 for 20 months and I love it. I've got a couple of issues, one major, but otherwise it's the perfect car for me.

So, I was worried I'd broken my transmission with my crappy driving, but when I posted on another forum, all the replies I got suggested that it wasn't my driving that did it. Someone suggested I ask here, and just imagine my glee when I discovered there's a whole forum dedicated to my favorite car!

Here's the gist of my other post -

I learned how to drive on a stick, and both my first vehicles (trucks) were sticks, and I prefer to drive a stick.

However, I've never in my life driven a "new" stick. When I got the car and the clutch felt "tight," I figured I'd just get used to it.

Well, I haven't. I can't seem to figure the stupid thing out. And I drive a LOT (40K miles in 20 months), so it must be something I've just never considered - clearly, I'm missing something.

Here's the problem - when I shift and don't rattle the entire car (keep moving smoothly), I'm "leaning" on the clutch. This is mostly a problem when shifting from 1st to 2nd. It sometimes makes a whining protest when I do this, so I know it's not good.

But when I try to avoid the whining protest, I either peel out or rattle my brains. I can't seem to find the "sweet spot," yk?

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions? I'm going to have my best mechanic (my Daddy!) check it out, but if someone else has had this issue, it would be a nice starting point.

 

yep. you will need to let someone else drive it, to make sure you aren't "crazy".
if you don't know someone who drives a stick........get new friends?
no, seriously, i'm sure the shop you take it to will tell you.
If the shop's name is "daddy", then you will probably see if it's serious or not

I just flipped my first 5k miles on my car
(ho hum. no more new smell....)

 

My 5 is also a stick, but I have zero problems driving it. Was a piece of cake, and never any problems shifting at all, very smooth (but maybe I am just really good)

 

I figured it out - I was shifting way too early. The guys on my other board talked me into waiting until it was past 3-4K rpms to shift up (which nearly killed me - it sounds too loud that high!) and the problem not only went away entirely, I could just "feel" that it was right. It felt like driving my trucks.

Now I feel silly. But I'm also really glad!

Thanks for the input!