Its very easy especially with the S and how if you have DSC (or DTC) there is hill assist. Enjoy the car is blast you'll never want an automatic again!!!

 

I learned by buying a car , and taking it on backstreets, just by myself, by the end of the day I was able to drive anywhere. That was 30 years ago

 

Too bad no one got your point. I too cringed when I read that you need to rev to 2500 rpm and feather the clutch. No wonder I read about all the burned up clutches at low mileage.

YD

 

I learned to drive at age 16 on a Fiat 5-speed. Dad showed me the basics, but neglected to instruct me on how to handle stopping and starting on hills...he figured I'd figure it out. Well, I did, and I am still alive to tell the tale, although the Fiat succumbed to a rust infestation a few years later.

Moral of the story - make sure you learn to handle hills, preferably on a quiet, low-traffic road, and use your hazard lights while figuring it out...or grab one of those "student driver" signs...

 

I had been driving about a year when I learned to drive a stick (MG) in a parking lot by a girl I knew.
It is easy to learn the stick if you already know how to drive already because you can just concentrate on the shifting.

I learned in one afternoon and a few weeks later took a '63 Jag XKE out on a date (the young lady's father offered me the car and I could not resist).

Good suggestions hear about listening to the engine, and learning on a vehicle with more torque, like a small truck or Jeep. Renting a vehicle for a day is a good idea also.

Best and enjoy your MINI.

 

Im actually surprised the OP isnt going for the Auto, i mean i would always choose the manual cause i know how to drive it and i prefer it but most people just go for the auto instead of learning stick, i assume thats why they even have it

 

I think the OP originally started this thread back in '04 when the auto wasn't readily available in the S.

 

Learn it the way I taught my kidlings:
Find a large parking lot with a gentle slope. (enough so that when you release the brake, the car starts rolling)
Start on the high side, let the car roll on it's own with the clutch in and the tranny in first. Give it a little gas and ease the clutch out.
With this method, gravity becomes your friend, you are far less likely to kill the engine, and the wear and tear on the clutch is significantly reduced.
Keep making big circles in first and starting over at the top of the parking lot until you are comfortable with starting out in first. Then do a little upshifting and downshifting from first to second, second to first until you are comfortable with that.
Go try it on a flat parking lot. Both kids learned in 30 minutes, and now they are hell-on-wheels drivers. (I created some monsters.)

 

I had never driven a stick shift before the day I went to test drive one in Charlotte, NC at Hendrick Mini. I had ridden a motorcycle so I understood the idea of gas clutch action but I had never driven a stick shift car. I test drove a Mini Cooper S manual (without them knowing I had never driven a stick) and had no problems what-so-ever. They had no idea that I had never driven one before. My pont is that everybody learns differently. You could get the car and have no problems or you could struggle for weeks. The only way to know is to just hop in one and drive. VDon't be nervous, just do it!

 

Do what my Dad did when he taught me - go rent a cheap manual transmission car for a couple days. Your Mini's clutch will thank you for it.

 

Another good reason why not to buy a used car from a car rental company, hehe

YD

 

My $.02 on the MCS Clutch and 6 speed.

The 6 speed is pretty silky smooth and shifts better at higher RPMs >3000

The clutch is... Hmmmm, "heavy", "sporty" in other words, I can't push it in w/ my big toe and need my foot/leg to push it in. It is not like a Toyota or Honda Sedan Clutch. It is like my BMW 325I clutch. That car loved to be driven hard!

I also think that the "drive by wire" throttle gives me a hard time managing the blending of the throttle and the clutch because the throttle does not seem to respond the same all the time. This causes me to over/under rev sometimes coming from a dead stop.

This is a topic for another thread I want to start. "My Mini is Moody!"

 

+1 on the starting out at a mall parking lot after hours. Someone mentioned revving to 2750 rpms, sounds difficult at first to look at rpms just to engage a gear at the same time looking at the road, then you'll eventually get to the point where "you don't even think about it" and rely solely on engine sound and feel. Like walking, you don't think about it.(actually it becomes 2nd nature) But if you have no one to teach just practice 1st and reverse in your driveway, until you build confidence. (thats what I used to do around 6th grade when the folks were asleep) If you visualize what the car is doing mechanically as you engage each gear and clutch the act becomes easier. Hope you don't live in SF, cause with them hills your sol.

 

I just bought my mini about 2 weeks ago, never had a manual car before that...after a nerve wrecking week or so, im ok, i really am!!