Carlos is an excellent instructor! Very approachable and patient and especially knowledgeable. He taught me not only the fundamentals of the manual transmission but the fundamentals of driving. I don't regret my time at Shifters, and would recommend them to anyone not only wanting to learn to drive a manual transmission, but driving in general. Read Less

I don't usually post reviews, but Carlos is an amazing instructor! He explained the mechanics of what is going on underneath and was very clear and calm in his instruction. I never drove manual before, but I had some theory in my head (always wanted to learn growing up). After these lessons I feel confident that I can drive manual in a variety of situations and actually enjoy driving and being more connected with the car. Highly recommend for anyone looking to learn manual! Read Less

I felt very nervous and not confident going into Standard lessons, but Carlos instantly put me at ease and continued to do so throughout my entire experience. He is very calm, knowledgeable, and humorous. He clearly outlines each step involved in each skill, and encourages practice until it becomes almost effortless. He demonstrates and talks about how the clutch and engine work, so it is easier to understand the reasoning behind the skills. I went from having no ability to drive standard, to having the ability to manage traffic and hills by the end of the 4th hour. I highly recommend lessons from Carlos! Read Less

I had a pleasure of taking manual driving course with Carlos. I had very little exposure and experience with manual transmission before the lessons and after the course i was confident enough to rent a manual minivan for my 8 day trip to France ( with wife and 4 kids as passengers:). With the price difference between the manual and automatic rental vehicles in Europe the course paid for itself. Carlos is very knowledgeable and patient instructor and i will recommend him to anybody interested in stick shift lessons. His mazda 6 is professionally equipped with second cluth and brake pedals on the instructor/passenger side. When you drive on the busy road the first time it will give a bit of extra confidence and safety. His prices are reasonable and Shifters is a registered and insured driving school( unlike a lot of people with ads on kijiji). Read Less

In just a couple weeks I went from thinking that I would really struggle driving standard to driving the 8 hours to my cottage without any problems, even on steep hills. Carlos really helped me understand not only how to drive standard, but all of the mechanisms behind how it works. I would definitely recommend Shifters to anyone wanting to learn. Read Less

I took three lessons with Carlos and can now drive standard, and can even start our truck from stop on busy hills without panicking. Carlos explained the mechanics so that I understood, and then got me practicing in his car in a quiet neighbourhood. After the lessons, I needed to practice for maybe 20 minutes in my own truck just to get the feel of the different clutch pedal, but I knew exactly what I was doing. Shifters is Carlos' business and he's been doing it a long time, so he actually cares and is professional. A previous reviewer called his business "scammy" and that is certainly not true. He's an excellent teacher and I highly recommend him. Read Less

I registered for a 90 minute lesson with these guys. Came to just under $150 after taxes. What a waste! I have been driving for 10 years, and all I really wanted to do was practice driving manual under the eye of an instructor. Instead, the guy insisted on talking for the first 30 minutes, droning about how the clutch works. $2/minute to explain the first couple of paragraphs of an article on Wikipedia. The rest of the lesson wasn't much better. Every 2 minutes, he would insist I pull over to explain some more theory. Before long, it was obvious what he was trying to do. This was just an "introductory" lesson. If I really wanted to learn, I would have to sign up for the $500 package. I estimate that I got to practice actual driving for a total of about 15 minutes of that 90. The guy even had the gall to say, "If you are committed to learning properly, you should probably sign up for our 5-lesson package." Carlos is running a scammy business. Stay away. A few days later, I went out with a different company for a $55/hr, got some solid practice, and happily drove rented cars in Europe a week later.Read Less