New Fiesta ST owner in Rhode Island

[Ritual]

Hello all,

I just bought a new 2016 Ford Fiesta in Magnetic. For the past two months I have been planning buying my first ever new car. I learned about the Ford Focus ST and I fell in love. I started binging on youtube videos, car reviews, and reading the Focus ST forums everyday. I drove to dealers hours away when they received a Focus ST that matched the color and options I wanted. I was all set to pay $30,000 on a 2016 Ford Focus ST with ST3 package just last week. Along the way I ran into the Focus's little brother, the Fiesta. So out of curiosity I started binging on Fiesta videos, reading Fiesta reviews, and lurking in this very forum. My Focus purchase was put on pause because the 2017 production had started and I wanted to hold off to grab me the newest model. In that time the realization of spending $30,000 on a car started to sink in so I thought to myself, what about the Fiesta?

I paid more attention to the Fiesta. My local dealer .3 miles from my house had one sitting on the lot for three months. I went there and spent probably an hour just sitting in it. For $23,000 all fees and taxes it was over $5,000 cheaper then the Focus ST.

After spending a couple of months already committed to buying a car, and the fact the Fiesta was so highly praised; I said enough is enough and purchased a 2016 Ford Fiesta ST on Saturday 11/26/2016!

I pick it up tomorrow!

There is just one thing though, I have no idea how to drive a manual

This should be fun.

 

[MKVIIST]

Congrats, glad you went with the FiST.

 

[neeqness]

Congrats and welcome!

If this is your first manual transmission and you like it, you are going to be fairly spoiled... [emoji4]

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[Flaco]

Congrats, and welcome !

 

[D1JL]

Welcome Aboard.




Dave

 

[BoostBumps]

Congrats and Welcome Aboard!

 

[ron@whoosh]

welcome

easy car learn driving a manual
have fun and good luck....

 

[John9851]

Welcome !!!!!

 

[Ritual]

Car was waiting in my driveway when I got home from work!!!!

Had someone who knew how to drive manual drop me off in an empty parking lot.

Just sat there going from stop to 1st over and over again. Stalled around 4 times. Too tame on the gas. Too quick off the clutch. Also letting off the clutch too slow when its already in gear riding it a little bit too long. So I stalled two times going from stop to 1st. Half the time it was a little jerky. Stalled twice when I got brave and decided to drive it back home. Came to my first turn, yelled out "How do I turn", rolled it around the corner and put it in 1st, Going too fast for first I think, Stalled. Supposed to put it in second in that scenario. I should of knew that. Came to the next turn, stalled it before I even started to turn the corner no idea why, think I was going too slow.

Need to figure out the coordination involved in turning.

Stuck tail between legs and parked it back in its parking spot. Will be back at it tomorrow after work again.

I figure a week or two before I can drive this to work everyday, at least.

Once you get it to first going in a straight line up the gears is super easy. The hard part seemed to be downshifting smoothly, turning, and starting from a complete stop.

 

[Initial_Will]

Just sat there going from stop to 1st over and over again. Stalled around 4 times. Too tame on the gas. Too quick off the clutch. Also letting off the clutch too slow when its already in gear riding it a little bit too long. So I stalled two times going from stop to 1st. Half the time it was a little jerky. Stalled twice when I got brave and decided to drive it back home. Came to my first turn, yelled out "How do I turn", rolled it around the corner and put it in 1st, Going too fast for first I think, Stalled.

Congrats on the FiST purchase! The easiest way to learn the clutch is to sit on a flat surface and with no accelerator, let the clutch mostly take the car. Do it very slowly. Soon as you feel it start to grab, give it a little rev [1.5k - 2k] and you should be good. The rest is all practice! Being a beginner you will love the hill assist option on those steep inclines.

 

[Ritual]

Yeah I am way too tame on the gas when going into first.

As soon as I feel it start to grab I give a tiny amount of gas, sort of like I am trying to inch forward. Like a millimeter on the gas pedal. I haven't learned the RPM positions, never had to be conscious of it. I keep thinking that if I rev it too hard while going into first I am going to rocket off into the sunset and wreck my new car.

I can drive side streets but I still stall too many times to drive it everyday.

I basically have been staying up late and taking it out on empty roads in the middle of the night. I've probably stalled 20 times, 15 of those times going from stop to first. Reverse is so much easier for some reason.

in a way it sucks that I am not a good manual driver yet because I love the car, but I know the end it will be worth it.

 

[neeqness]

Yeah I am way too tame on the gas when going into first.

As soon as I feel it start to grab I give a tiny amount of gas, sort of like I am trying to inch forward. Like a millimeter on the gas pedal. I haven't learned the RPM positions, never had to be conscious of it. I keep thinking that if I rev it too hard while going into first I am going to rocket off into the sunset and wreck my new car.

I can drive side streets but I still stall too many times to drive it everyday.

I basically have been staying up late and taking it out on empty roads in the middle of the night. I've probably stalled 20 times, 15 of those times going from stop to first. Reverse is so much easier for some reason.

in a way it sucks that I am not a good manual driver yet because I love the car, but I know the end it will be worth it.

I was about to say that you probably should practice it in reverse too.

Once you get a little more comfortable find a lot with a slight incline and practice going into first and out of first while on an incline (You don't have to travel far - just enough to feel the tranny catch and push the car a bit) then disengage the clutch slowly to feel how it disengages and allow gravity to back the car up to where you were and repeat. Getting used to that feel is important on inclines.

This can be fun too once you get the hang of it (I still do it now occasionally at stop lights and stop signs on inclines). It will get you used to how the clutch engages quicker and help prepare you for driving up inclines with the side benefit of warning cars behind you that you drive a manual and might slip back. Yes I know there is a feature to prevent that but it doesn't work everytime.

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[Initial_Will]

It's always getting going that's the hardest. Took me a while to learn too. Try not to kill it as much as you can. It's always better to rev a little more than not enough. 1500-2000rpm is the sweet spot of the engagement. Roll off the heel rather than using your whole foot if you do that. The pay off feels great too, when you finally get the hang of it. My first standard was my first car lucky enough...a '01 ford escort zx2. Once you learn, you'll never forget! Just keep practicing!

 

[MrFord619]

Welcome and congrats from a fellow Rhode Islander!

 

[Ritual]

3rd day of driving and I only stalled it three times.

One was on an uphill start, one was at a stop sign. I have no idea why it stalled since I had just said to myself "I finally get it! I'm never going to stall at a stop sign again". The third time was pulling into my driveway it stalled halfway down it and I was in second gear. I think because it is gravel that the momentum of the car was slowed too quickly that it stalled out and I should of just went neutral and glided it down the rest of the driveway. I was trying to go by the mantra of never go into first unless you are starting from a stop.

100% improvement from last night, but I am not ready to drive in traffic yet. I can only take it around residential areas.

Driving a nice car is really painful to learn manual on because I sincerely don't want to hurt the car.

Everytime I downshift I cringe when it makes that little lurch. That is going to be the next thing I try to master once I master the starting and stopping part.

 

[neeqness]

3rd day of driving and I only stalled it three times.

One was on an uphill start, one was at a stop sign. I have no idea why it stalled since I had just said to myself "I finally get it! I'm never going to stall at a stop sign again". The third time was pulling into my driveway it stalled halfway down it and I was in second gear. I think because it is gravel that the momentum of the car was slowed too quickly that it stalled out and I should of just went neutral and glided it down the rest of the driveway. I was trying to go by the mantra of never go into first unless you are starting from a stop.

100% improvement from last night, but I am not ready to drive in traffic yet. I can only take it around residential areas.

Driving a nice car is really painful to learn manual on because I sincerely don't want to hurt the car.

Everytime I downshift I cringe when it makes that little lurch. That is going to be the next thing I try to master once I master the starting and stopping part.

Don't downshift yet. You can put a lot of wear on the clutch if you do it wrong. To slow down, coast and/or brake. Then shift into gear for acceleration as needed until you've "mastered" the rest. You won't have mastered it until you've driven in traffic for some time and feel comfortable with it. Downshifting is not really necessary for driving in traffic anyway, but if you want to learn it, it's best waiting until you know how to engage the clutch somewhat intuitively.

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[Ritual]

Don't downshift yet. You can put a lot of wear on the clutch if you do it wrong. To slow down, coast and/or brake. Then shift into gear for acceleration as needed until you've "mastered" the rest. You won't have mastered it until you've driven in traffic for some time and feel comfortable with it. Downshifting is not really necessary for driving in traffic anyway, but if you want to learn it, it's best waiting until you know how to engage the clutch somewhat intuitively.

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Good point. Yeah that was how I started to do it just using brake to slow down and then shift. The person who is teaching me said to practice shifting down each gear one at a time and that's when I get the little lurches, especially going from 3rd to second. The car seems to really want to be going super slow when going into second. Like 10-15 miles per hour, I figured 20 miles per hour would be ok to shift into 2nd but it does give that little lurch when I do that.

I have my new set of wheels and tires coming today (Winter tires with Sparco rims), as soon as they get here I'm going to put them on and head back out.

I knew Manual wasn't going to be easy, I allocated myself a month of keeping my old automatic on the insurance to get to work and stuff; I'm just so eager to finally be able to use my ST as the daily.

 

[MrsDHM]

Congrats and

My Focus ST was my first manual car as well and I did not know how to drive it when I bought it! Had to have someone else drive it off the lot for me haha. You'll get the hang of it pretty soon. You can help calm those lurches by rev matching but I agree with neeqness, dont focus so much on learning to down shift now. Keep practicing!