Worried

My daughter was living on the mainland when I bought a used Miata for her on CL in California. I flew over, picked it up and drove it down to where she was living. I had about a week to teach her to drive a manual transmission in CA traffic. We practiced in her Grandmother's gated retirement community first before getting into real traffic.

You need to stay calm and reassuring and NOT worry about your truck. Any anxiety you have will make your wife more nervous. My daughter was worried about stalling in traffic. After I said it's no big deal, just turn the car back on and try again she calmed down and realized everything was fine.

A week later she drove me to the airport in dense LA traffic rocking out to Flo Rida's Right Round.

She is the only one in her group of many friends that can drive a manual.

 

Teach her in a flat M T parking lot - graduate to inclines then hills.

 

Parts are easily replaced. A good woman is not.

 

My dad taught me to drive a manual after I paid $800 in cash for a 1980 Nissan 280ZX. While traveling down the interstate (at speed) he demonstrated how downshifting a couple gears is as good as slamming on the brakes. Scared the crap out of me, locked up the tires, and slowed us down VERY quickly. And even on that old beast (this was in 1998/1999) it didn't hurt a thing.

If my dad can do that in a 19yo car you should be able to teach your wife to drive a manual just fine without destroying anything.

Be patient with her. If you, as her husband, get anxious she's going to quit.

 

Please teach the staff at my local Toyota dealer too. Yikes - I nearly freaked out saturday when I watched a kid jump my new truck around and squeal tires in the repair bay!
Don't assume Toyota oil change guys know how to drive.

 

The *WORST* she can do, is burn the clutch. They can take a lot of burning over a long time before completely wearing out. Not like she's going to rip it all the way down to metal on metal in a couple of days of learning.

But even if she did, clutch job is $200, 6-pack of beer, and a saturday afternoon. Not exactly a big deal. If the wife burns the clutch down, have her serve the beer in a bikini.