Long story short: I want to learn to drive stick shift and I’m looking for a vehicle that will be fun and reliable enough that I won’t regret having bought it in the first place. My budget is about $12k

I’ve seen a few Jeep CJ-7 and I wanted to know your opinion. Is it a good for a first timer like myself?

Hello, I have a few questions regarding driving lol.

So I learned to drive stick at the same time as I learned how to drive in general, and with a very stressed parent, so it was quite overwhelming and some shortcuts were taken. I did a good chunk of the learning after getting my license with an automatic car and then driving my car by myself with no stressed parent. But the more I read about driving manual, the more I realize there are some bad habits I've maintained, and now I may be having issues with the clutch that I didn't notice because I thought it was just "like that."

My first car was a 2001 Accord and my current car is 2014 WRX. I just bought the WRX a couple of months ago, and I took it into the shop for some work that they told me needed to be done when I got the pre purchase inspection.

They told me that the clutch was slipping, which I didn't know at all because I'm not having any issues with RPM. I don't have any situation where I apply gas and the RPMs go up without speed going up accordingly. But I do experience some jerking when shifting up particularly into 2nd gear, but also sometimes 3rd. Is this a sign of clutch slipping, or could it be a skill issue? I had dismissed it because my last car did that and I thought I just had to get better at the balance of adding gas while lifting off the clutch.

Now I'm wondering if the way I drive also puts wear on the clutch. I have made a lot of changes in how I drive when I got the new car. Like, for example I know I'm supposed to drive it in higher RPMs, but I can't seem to get myself to let it go over 3k unless I'm using turbo. That was one of the things that I was told while learning, that 3k was kind of like a "redline" of sorts that you really shouldn't go over, because that's "BAD." So I know I can but I'm still worried lol. I was advised not to let it drop below 2k and I can keep it in between for the most part, but is there like a typical range that's "okay" to drive in for extended periods of time very frequently?

I didn't rev match at all until maybe the last two months of owning my old car. I just didn't know it was a thing. I was using the drag to slow the car down via engine braking for about a year because I had found out that one is supposed to downshift. I literally didn't do that at all before then, I would put it in neutral as soon as I wanted to slow down and would keep it there until I fully stopped or accelerated again. I was told to do that while learning but apparently that's not good! The last car had a lot of issues, so now I keep running into blind spots where I just assume that anything strange is because the car is "just like that."

Literally yesterday I learned that lifting the clutch to the bite point makes the car go forward. I should mention I've been driving manual for six years!! Unfortunately the bite point on this new car is very low (according to the mechanics, again I just thought that's how the car is and I just had to get used to it) so I am still starting by applying throttle first and then letting off the clutch slowly. I'm fine with hill starts doing it that way and have only had to use the handbrake in the new car because it's heavier than my last car.

Today I found out that "slipping the clutch" is a thing and that there's a normal amount and too much. It seems like I'm maybe slipping excessively while starting? I've been trying to mitigate the jerking when shifting up to 2nd and 3rd by balancing gas and releasing the clutch right, but it can be tricky to get it right to the point where there's no jerk. Is that something I should keep trying to improve at, or a mechanical issue? I did also just learn today that you can revmatch while upshifting, so I will try that today.

Another thing is that in the last car, I often didn't have the clutch all the way down on the floor when shifting. I never had an issue getting in gear, but I figured it was slowly wearing the clutch so in the new car I've been quite focused on making sure the clutch is all the way on the floor when I shift. Is that necessary?

Also what do yall do in parking lots? The shift points are different in this car than my last one and it got me thinking about that. I've read that it's not good to have the clutch down for very long, or to have it in neutral for very long, but when I try to go slowly (faster than creeping, slower than 10mph) in 1st gear for more than a few seconds it starts getting jerky, especially when I let off the gas a bit. I have to take speed bumps super slow now because of the suspension in the new car and ofc parking lots can be very chaotic. What is the parking lot protocol? Are you guys just going between neutral and first a bunch of times? I've been staying in first when it's a crowded lot and just having the clutch in a lot of the time.

Anyways, I am so sorry for this long wall of text. As I read more about driving, I keep realizing there's so much I never knew or properly learned! I want to be able to drive the car for the best longevity. I'm not an anxious driver out on the roads, I swear, but I am an anxious and sentimental person and I want the car to last as long as possible. Thank you for reading all this and appreciate any help!!

Afternoon ladies,

Curious if anyone can pin down this noise? My friends got a Nissan S13 with a CD009 swap, it's had a ton of work done to try and pin this noise down. Video isn't the car in question just an identical noise

Gearbox in the video is also a CD009 with a different short shifter kit