The clutch? Or my silly ass driving!?

Hey All..I recently got a Red prelude '99 SH 5spd. This is my first manual car, and one of my friends taught me how to drive. He told me I did pretty good when he taught me, and that I knew all the basics, and knew enough to be able to test drive a car, and if bought, drive it home. I listened to him and about 1.5 months ago got this car. It's got 63k on it with service done, and it had only one owner. IT was taken care of well. The problem is, after 1.5 months of driving experience with MT I still suck at it! I rarely shift in smoothly, and when I do it seemed like an accident. Most of my shifts have a bump to them, not a big one, but a noticable one. I've gone out practacing for HOURS, and I cant fix it, no matter what. Recently I had to re-park a friends car, which is a 2000 Accord, and took it around the block without him knowing, and it seemed like I drove it a lot smoother, although there were some bumps, but no where near as noticable as in my Lude. I was wondering, is this the problem of me driving like a dumbass, or could it be something in the car? I'm not known as an idiot drive, usually I learn very quickly, and when I drove automatic, I drove very well. I'm naturally a good driver, it's just this MT, I can't master it for some reason..frustrating..

well theres a post about whether or not your cluch is worn....you can check that but i dont know if that will give you your answer......otherwise you can check what kinda clutch you have....if you have a stage 2 clutch or higher the "g spot" will be much smaller and that might be why you found it more difficult.....otherwise try shifting to first then letting go of the clutch til you start moving a little bit then start giving gas that worked for me when i just started usually gives you a very nice flawless transition from neutral to first. k hope this helps, gL bro.

Did u post this on H-T too? or am i just seeing things?

Well I've been driving stick for a while through several cars, Civic DX, Accord LX, then Prelude. I noticed many differences between these cars in terms of how stiff or sensitive the clutch. Heck, I've even driven a few M3's and their clutches are even better! They make the ride smooth even if you're releasing too quick or too late.

I know some people that drive with heel down on the gas, so they never step off the gas between shifts, but I'm assuming you do release the gas, shift, then depress the gas again.

I think it takes some experimenting with each gear and with the rpms to actually know the right rpm each gear will shift into comfortably and their respective differences in how much gas to apply when shifting in. For me, 1st to 2nd goes in smoothly when I'm at 3k rpm, If I go past that to 3.5k rpm, then you will feel a slight pull slip of the clutch.

When I shift, I like to shift fast too. I don't like relying on the synchro to match the rpm so when the rpm drops to 2.5k in 2nd, it is equivalent to 3k rpm in 1st. So just let it slip as you get to know the sweet spot, then eventually add more gas so you can release the clutch quicker and eliminate that slipping so the clutch grabs on just right.

Another thing, the bump you feel, is this during the engaging or disengaging? If it's the engaging, work on how much gas to match that gear ratio. Most likely it is not enough gas when releasing, then it'll feel like when you release the engine is pulling the car back. From my experience, more gas allows you to engage quicker.

Also sports cars are supposed to have stiffer suspension and a rougher ride, including louder wind noise on the freeway. Since it's a new car, can't be the clutch.