I learned how to drive at age fifteen in an old Volkswagen beetle. It was a stick and my dad started me out in a big flat parking lot, just like BadNick's method. By the time I got out onto an actual road, I already had the clutch down pretty well. Plus, my Dad was always good at explaining why things worked the way they did. Like on a hill you have to let out the clutch more quickly, to keep from rolling backwards, and give it more gas, to keep from stalling . There weren't many hills where I grew up, so I was already pretty good with the clutch before I encountered a stop on a steep hill.
Xerxys made a good effort, but to paraphrase what kinsaj said, even a few minutes with an experienced stick driver sitting next to you beats 20 pictures and a thousand words.
I've always had a stick shift, currently a 2002 SAAB 9-5 turbo. Shift point varies depending on how I'm driving. If I want top acceleration, I'll shift at about 5500. For economy and smoothness, shift at peak torque, about 2500. Either approach works. But the thing is so quiet and smooth that sometimes I just forget to shift out of third or fourth.
I guess that it's nice to know that it'll do 80mph in third, though.
And like shakran said, it is hard to even find American made stick shifts anymore. Sad.
And stickshift drivers too. I've gone car shopping with guys that were embarrassed because I (a girl) could drive a stick, and they couldn't.
Lindy
on the road in Kansas