What is the Best Manual Transmission Car you have ever driven or owned???

The ZL1 will rock your world. Fair warning, that may be one expensive test drive if you wind up hooked and have to buy one afterward lol. The beavertooth M4 does look better in person, still not a fan but if it's fun to drive I'm good with it. P cars look good to me everywhere, in picture, in person, and hopefully in my garage ROFL. That new 911 Turbo S is borderline redefining physics.

 

S2000

 

I have an upcoming trip and am browsing Turo. There's an M4 MT which stands out as interesting. A shelby as well. I didn't see a single porsche MT for some reason.

 

Call me a casual but my $500 1999 5 speed Camry with 300k on the clock was arguably more fun in a few ways then the C5 supercharged Z06. Something about about sliding into trashcans at 20mph worry free really took the cake for me.

 

Very cool! Defintiely take the M4!! I am in the minority of people that absolutely loath over the the new car styling in person.

I have my first track day in the STI this coming Saturday with a pro driver in the car with me. Hoping to really learn how to drive. switched brake fluid out to some Motul 600 and some track friendly pads! I have a feeling I will be hooked.

Got away and took a nice 400 mile road trip in the twisty roads in the northwest corner of Illinois this weekend. The car really really is made for that stuff! The tight ration 6 speed and front travel was awesome. She did get super dirty thought!

 

That's awesome, have fun man! If you get hooked and decide to do more, check out Castrol SRF and Brembo HTC-64T brake fluids. They are both way more capable than Motul, especially once you are putting more thermal load on the brakes. There are also titanium shims you can add to reduce heat transfer from the pads to the calipers. That comes later though, for now just enjoy lol!

 

Best ever owned - 1991 Audi Quattro Coupe

 

2006 rubicon - easiest and best feeling clutch I’ve had

2013 4cyl Tacoma - definitely the best feeling shift lever after a quick shifter

2012 v6 Tacoma - worst manual ever lol

 

Lotus Elise was hands down my favorite to drive. Not just the gearbox, but the whole experience. Otherwise had a few Z cars, 240 and C5. The M3 was smg, so I obviously don't count that.

 

My best MT was a 2012 Ford Focus.
But the most satisfying one was an 87 Mitsubishi pickup.

 

I will refine my Turo search. Oh, wait, Mitsubishi has no hits. Lol

 

“Turo”?

 

S2000

 

I’d have to say my ‘93 Isuzu 5 speed, cable clutch, no power steering, or power anything. Love driving that truck and shifting/downshifting. Also does amazing donuts.

 

Definitely hooked... car was unbelievable... what i learned at the track:

1. Don't overdrive your car. I wanted to keep going 120mph into this one corner and would completely blow up the turn and miss my marks and heat the brakes way up cause I would essentially double brake... The track pads and fluid did its job but I learned as the day went on that backing off 10% probably added seconds to my lap time instead of trying to be a superhero in the straights. Video below was after I learned my lesson but I sucked in that corner anyways...
2. Manual transmission on track is a whole different game. Automatic crap boxes killed the art of driving 1000% and even the cars that autorev match downshifts kind of ruin it. Riding along with multiple advanced level drivers was eye opening and an absolutely awesome experience to see how they are able to drive at the limit.
3. WRX STI redline comes so so so fast. I was constantly on the limiter.... Thinking about the race line, braking, clutch, heel toe, shifting, and what's up ahead I would often lose track of how fast the STI motor goes from 4000-6500 rpms and hit that redline constantly... yikes! But that's what the limiter is for
4. I probably need to buy a miata.....
5. Fighting the natural tendencies to turn in too twitchy, brake too early, turn too sharp, not use the whole track (stay in the middle) and downshifting too early while braking were really really hard habits for me to kick.
6. S2000s are about as good as you get for a production car... with suspension and tires, man are they fast and smooth. They are like watching someone driving in fast motion in front of you.

Overall I learned an astronomical amount in 4 20 minute sessions and riding along with an advanced driver for 4 sessions as well. Here is a video of 1 lap and unfortunately I had gopro issues due to a faulty cord not running on battery in the cab view (thinking it would be more reliable) but was able to at least get one decent lap with both vantage points thankfully!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cPWE1RHeeE&t=34s

 

Nice machine!

 

I'm glad you had a good time. I can't tell you how many people quit after their first event because they realize they aren't the fastest (usually guys in heavily modified cars that drive terribly). I actually drove your gen STI a few years ago, back to back with a then new ND1 Miata. One of the things that most stood out to me was that I had much more fun with the Miata despite going slower numerically. I ended up well into crazy speeds in the STI due to constantly shifting, whenever it would crash into redline, in order to try to keep the fun going. It definitely runs up to that limiter quickly and I was left wanting a couple thousand more RPMs to go. The S2000 is an awesome car, even though all these hype kids are inflating the prices into the region of insanity. You will absolutely love a Miata if you drive one on track. I have talked about selling mine for years but just can't bring myself to do it lol.

 

'78 Porsche 914 - fun to drive but the worlds sloppiest gearbox and you had to know where the gears were or you'd skip them.
'00 Infiniti G20t - kick in the pants to drive, a little underpowered but fun
'15 BMW M3 (current car) - clutch is like butter and the shifts are as you would expect from the germans, precise. I do love the rev matching in everything but sport+ mode. Don't want to always have to heel toe unless I'm at an autocross or track day.

 

Think you’d swap that STI out for your Tacoma? Thinking about selling my truck for a Subaru .. trade values on these trucks are awesome right now!

 

Great input thanks! Everything you said about the STI I agree with. That low redline and fast shifts and relatively high boost rpm point just make it really hard to not bang that rev limiter. I also think the stock setup for pedals sucks for heel toe (not that I am good at it) but it just feels like it isnt made for it compared to my SI or the Mini. It seems to be better suited for like just jamming your foot between the pedals even though it is quite awkward for that too. They sell a pedal relocation kit I may try. But I think I may have to get a miata next and a bunch of track lessons... although I have a sick allure to an expensive P car.