Just drove a fiesta st, and wow, the clutch and gearbox were really hard for me to engage smoothly...

Just drove a fiesta st, and wow, the clutch and gearbox were really hard for me to engage smoothly. Coming from a 20 year old manual shitbox, is this normal? Will I get used to it? There was literally no resistance to the clutch, fucking air light. In my car, you can pinpoint the grab real easy.

Clutches have stupid servos that numb out the feel nowadays.

Shit sucks.

I own a FiST. It was all normal to me by 100km, and I'm at 5000km. A rear motor mount upgrade and shifter bushings really improved the shifting feel of it though.

didnt know that. i couldnt even tell whether or not i was burning the clutch cause the only time i could smoothly engage gears was with a long, slow release of the clutch

everything else was awesome though, handling was super responsive

cool, i knew someone would be on that had one. definitely think im gonna purchase it as i figured it was something to get used to. thanks for the recommendation, currently researching that

I went from a sloppy AX-15 5 speed in a '98 Wrangler to a tight Getrag MT82 in a '14 Mustang GT and it took some serious getting used to. The clutch throw on the mustang has a very small engagement range compared to the wrangler that it took a while to build new muscle memory and I spent a week or so fighting lurchy mcgurchy starts and shifts. The shifter throw is way different too. 1st gear and reverse are in the same spot in the mustang as 1st in the wrangler. You push the shifter down, then left and up for reverse. The way I was used to gripping the shifter in the wrangler caused me to push down just enough to accidentally go into reverse a few times at stop lights while looking for 1st. Then I'd accidentally shit up into the wrong gear from time to time.

tl;dr - Yep, totally normal. It takes a little time to re-train your muscle memory for the new vehicle.

I highly recommend it, I love my car. If you mod it, don't waste it on stupid shit like intakes or exhaust like I did, the stock ones aren't restrictive at all. Tune, intercooler, maybe a high flow filter, all you need for another 35ish extra reliable and safe horsepower.

If you can believe it, the clutch is even more difficult on the BRZ which I also tested. Engagement zone is so small it feels more like an on-off switch.

I actually remember it being not quite so bad after a few minutes. It did definitely feel more vague though, way more vague. I drive a 2003 stick shift saab and I feel fucking everything through the clutch pedal.

Now the new WRX, holy fuck I couldn't do smooth shifting from a stop into a usable gear.

What does this mean? Servos doing what?

lol i kept jerking it from first and second, the salesguy thought i was a fucking noob.
and the placement of 3rd gear was odd, i twice switched to first when aiming for 3rd .. felt like an idiot

a few things

>stock shifter slop sucks
>ford has rev hang
>clutch pedal has a spring assist

+1 for getting a RMM on STs. I got one for mine and I was surprised it even had an effect on shifting. Mostly under hard driving, but still feels more confident. I could do bushings but I don't feel like taking apart the center console in mine

subaru clutch feel sucks. test drove a new brz and my friends 16 wrx at 5k miles. 0 feel in the clutch compared to other cars.

I think you will just get used to it. I DD a manual 2000 focus and its a huge piece of shit and I hate everything about it and its fucking rubbery awful shifting. I've got a Miata as my fun car and its completely different shifting. I frequently drive a friend of mines Mustang GT. I stalled out the GT so many times when I was first learning manual but I also test drove a Fiesta ST and loved it. I hate the lack of feedback in modern cars but your get used it.

its a strange kinda feel when my 20 year old german sedan feels like a tank compared to new cars. if only it wasnt a money pit to own

>rev hang

It has rev-matching for upshifts which is kind nice for driving lazily. Basically it'll hold the RPM's in the perfect spot for a couple seconds when you push in the clutch, so when you shift up, it's perfectly smooth. I usually use it on every gear besides 1st.

I had the same experience here. Fun car but the tranny/super light clutch felt very weird.

When I got back in my civic it felt like my clutch was a leg press machine for the first few shifts.

fiesta st is my first manual car

its easy to learn the clutch

Softer clutches can be a bit easier to use, but they definitely don't have as much feel. I drive a mk6 Golf which is quite soft but I prefer it, it's nice for traffic if you're lazy

I had the same experience when I test drove a 2011 Sentra SE-R Spec V, coming from a bunch of 1990s cars (including my '98 Civic beater I was gonna replace with it), the clutch had ZERO feedback. I couldn't tell when exactly it was grabbing and couldn't take off without a slow long release of the clutch.

The only feedback I felt was putting my hand on the shifter and having the shifter feel "tensioned" through the shifter cables once the clutch started grabbing.

>A rear motor mount upgrade and shifter bushings
Warranty void

If your shitbox was a honda, i understand.

Fiesta ST's ditch the only unreliable part of the Fiesta: the automatic tranny. What's left is plenty reliable, and issues are not widely documented. If there is a problem, it's a fucking Fiesta, it won't cost much to fix. So who cares?

This reminds me.
>Look to test a used VW GTI MK4 I want to buy.
>Previous cars I owned were shitbox 1994 Civic and 1985 Celica Supra(Damn I miss that thing), both manual.
>Get in and engage the clutch.
>Shit feels like butter compared to the shitbox Civic.
>Try to advance.
>Stall.
>mfw

audi. vw makes tremendous manuals

Literally not even true.

They have to prove that the upgrade/mod caused the failure and the RMM and shift bushes aren't failure points for other systems.