My daughter is the proud new owner of a learners permit. I would love some advice on teaching her to drive. We just had our first parking lot session and it was a little rocky. Initially, I was thinking I would start her off on my manual transmission BMW 330i (which is what she drove this afternoon) but now I am wondering if it would be better to let her get the basics down in my wife's Jetta (auto) before asking her to also learn how to clutch and shift.
Advice welcomed!
In reply to dyintorace:
No. That makes it too easy. Keep working with her on it.
Do you have any unfinished neighborhoods around. They work perfectly for teaching kids to drive. Stops, turns, shifting, use of turn signals, the works.
Stick with the manual. It will make her a better driver in the long run and you'll get over the wiplash. 
Stick with the manual. I made it through learning in a column shift ford truck with no power steering. And today I can drive about anything with wheels. Too many people these days are handicapped by their lack of a fundamental skill when driving.
I tought a few to drive stick by concentrating on learning the engagement point first. Idle on a flat surface, slowly lift the clutch until the car barely creeps forward, push clutch back down and let the car stop, repeat. As soon as she can do that move to getting it fully moving with no throttle. Then move to slowly adding a bit of throttle and cruising around in first. Basically start with as few variables as possible and master those. Then move on to the bigger stuff. Sounds fun man. I can't believe she's that old. Holy cow!
Did those come with the idiot valve in the clutch line?
Most countries on earth with a general population that actually knows how to drive, start everybody on a manual.
I'm going to dissent and say it's OK either way. I let my daughters practice in automatics, and also took them out in a stick until they got a handle on it as well. Seat time in general is the best thing you can give her, no matter the transmission choice.
Another vote for a manual.
I taught my wife and brother in laws at the local University's parking lot. Once they got the hang of it we moved to the parking garage to practice on the ramps.
I say you use the 911 to teach her 
Thanks for the input folks. She was pretty nervous today. I'll have her back up on the horse tomorrow!
Slippery wrote: I say you use the 911 to teach her
No chance! Not to mention that the damn clutch is so stiff in that car that I'm not sure she could even depress it! 
We only had manuals when I learned. My $.02? "Stick" with it.
I agree with Duke, seat time is most important and making her familiar with different cars can initially be confusing, but will help her should she ever have to be the DD or drive someone else's car in an emergency. So I wouldn't sweat too much about just starting her out in an auto.
I've also used MrJoshua's technique with helping people learning to drive a manual. It's very successful.
You could also consider trying this...
Some guidance for Jetta training tomorrow:
I'm gonna buck the trend on the manual question. IMHO it makes more sense to become comfortable with basic driving and traffic in a car where the student isn't worried about shifting the manual transmission. Once she has her license and some experience, she can learn to drive a manual.
Remain calm. Keep your voice level, and make suggestions about the stuff that you don't even think about. "Ok, sweetie, when you are following another car, its easy to get focused on their rear bumper. You need to be looking ahead of them, at what lights may be coming up, or who may be entering from a side street..." Speak calmly about how important you believe good driving is, how its the one thing you do every day that can kill you by being bad at it. Don't get too preachy about it...
She will make mistakes. Give her the automatic so there's one less thing to screw up at a 4 way stop. She can learn the stick in a month. I taught 2, and there's 12 years of driving between them with only one very minor parking lot bump.
And for chrisssakes, don't let your wife in the car with her. (Based upon having an exwife and two daughters)
I learned in both automatics and manual vehicles. I think it's best to get a lot of seat time regardless of the transmission. It's all about logging those hours and getting comfortable. Looking back I was a bit spoiled with some diverse vehicles.
Moving the car around the parking lot while only using the clutch is the best way to get comfortable driving manual.
codrus wrote: I'm gonna buck the trend on the manual question. IMHO it makes more sense to become comfortable with basic driving and traffic in a car where the student isn't worried about shifting the manual transmission. Once she has her license and some experience, she can learn to drive a manual.
Agreed. They have enough sensory and control overload just being on the road. Let them figure all that out, then introduce the manual. That's how I learned.
My twins are taking driver training in June. Once they get their licenses next summer, I plan on putting them in Street Survival.
Start with the auto. Manuals are intimidating to new drivers. Those of us who have been driving for a few decades tend to forget that a lot of the stuff we do without thinking requires conscious input from a new driver. When you stop denting the floorboards pushing the "phantom brake" on the passenger's side, start working on the manual.
codrus wrote: I'm gonna buck the trend on the manual question. IMHO it makes more sense to become comfortable with basic driving and traffic in a car where the student isn't worried about shifting the manual transmission. Once she has her license and some experience, she can learn to drive a manual.
This was the way my Dad did it with all of us. He started us on the automatic and then when he felt we were relatively competent at driving he started teaching us to drive the stick. He started us out on the stick in the high school parking lot, as we progressed he would have us pull up to a speed bump and use that as the beginning prep for hills. One one side of the school the lot was essentially flat and on the other there was a 1-2% slope. After practicing on the speed bumps we'd do stop & start on the slope. Eventually we got on the road with the stick again working on hills in neighborhoods where there wasn't much traffic.
I don't see anything wrong with learning on a manual. Everyone in my family learned that way. I have taught brothers and sisters to drive like that. I say pick a large parking lot or out of the way industrial park that is closed down on a weekend. Do as others suggested- get the car going without using the gas. The plus side of training on a manual is that it takes a while before the can get going too fast. Each new gear becomes an accomplishment.
One advantage of using a manual to learn is that the learner has to pay a lot more attention when they start driving, in my opinion.
Day 2 was better. I put her in the Jetta (DSG) and went to a mostly empty neighborhood, per Toyman's suggestion. We spent ~30 minutes driving back and forth, stop signs, turn signals, left hand turns, right hand turns, etc. Then we went to the gas station and I made her pump the gas (actually diesel). Went well. Without the clutch to worry about, she did much better!
Very cool. 
I'm of the "teach her on the auto" school. Teach her to drive, then teach her to run a manual.
I taught my sister to drive in a manual. We started off on dirt roads, helped a lot. She could spin the wheels instead of giving us whiplash.
MrJoshua wrote: I tought a few to drive stick by concentrating on learning the engagement point first. Idle on a flat surface, slowly lift the clutch until the car barely creeps forward, push clutch back down and let the car stop, repeat. As soon as she can do that move to getting it fully moving with no throttle. Then move to slowly adding a bit of throttle and cruising around in first. Basically start with as few variables as possible and master those. Then move on to the bigger stuff. Sounds fun man. I can't believe she's that old. Holy cow! Did those come with the idiot valve in the clutch line?
Agreed on the "I can't believe she is old enough to drive" part. I will definitely try your plan regarding the engagement point, once we go back to the manual. As someone else pointed out, driving a manual is so sub-concious for me now that it's hard to explain it to her.
Good question on the clutch delay valve. I can't remember if these had them or not. I find it easy to engage, so maybe a previous owner already pulled it.
And this cracked me up. I even have a goatee!
Tactical Penguin wrote: Some guidance for Jetta training tomorrow:
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