Any cars with a clutch and a foot-operated parking brake?

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Keef
I can feather the clutch and gas simultaneously while pulling away to make for a perfectly smooth transition, but it's simply impossible to not roll backwards without the hand brake.
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You could work to perfect the brake/gas transition using a heel-toe technique with your right foot, but that is a complete waste of time if you have a handbrake, and a much higher risk of stalling.
 
I don't think the pedals in either of my cars would work well for "heel-toe'ing" a hill start.
 
In the UK you'd fail your driving test for jumping from brake to gas in a hill start like Joey is condoning. The handbrake is there - among other things - to prevent the car rolling back even an inch on hill starts. Again, for the reasons mentioned above - if someone is sitting right behind you in traffic, for example. And it's easier on the clutch.

Plus, people who sit on the brake at stop lights are a pain in the arse, particularly at night, and even more so at night and in the rain. Again, it's something that's discouraged in the UK as it dazzles drivers behind.

I know it's more convenient to do so with an automatic as it's a nuisance shifting quickly from park or neutral to drive and not using the handbrake, but there's no excuse in a manual vehicle since you can cover the pedals and be ready to slot the gearlever into first fairly quickly.
 
homeforsummer
In the UK you'd fail your driving test for jumping from brake to gas in a hill start like Joey is condoning. The handbrake is there - among other things - to prevent the car rolling back even an inch on hill starts. Again, for the reasons mentioned above - if someone is sitting right behind you in traffic, for example. And it's easier on the clutch.

Plus, people who sit on the brake at stop lights are a pain in the arse, particularly at night, and even more so at night and in the rain. Again, it's something that's discouraged in the UK.

I know it's more convenient to do so with an automatic as it's a nuisance shifting quickly from park or neutral to drive and not using the handbrake, but there's no excuse in a manual vehicle since you can cover the pedals and be ready to slot the gearlever into first fairly quickly.
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I completely agree with you, however it's scarcely ever taught in the US, every time I do it with someone else in the car they get very confused followed by very enlightened.
 
Azuremen
I do it all the time in Seattle.

That is, not use the E-brake. There is no need if you are smooth with using pedals, especially if you are comfortable with heel and toe.

When I was 16 and had no clue what I was doing in a manual, I use to get a bit nervous about it, but I mean it didn't seem that hard to sort out.
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I haven't had any problems in Seattle...Tacoma, on the other hand...

I don't know the last time I used the handbrake trick though.

And now I oddly have the urge to go do a bunch of hill starts.
 
homeforsummer
Plus, people who sit on the brake at stop lights are a pain in the arse, particularly at night, and even more so at night and in the rain. Again, it's something that's discouraged in the UK as it dazzles drivers behind.
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This must be a total UK thing, I have never seen anyone ever do this in the states and if they did I would look at them funny. I know the brake lights on my Cooper were insanely bright, so I'm guessing it's a European thing? The Focus's tails are pretty tame, as is every other American car.
 
homeforsummer
In the UK you'd fail your driving test for jumping from brake to gas in a hill start like Joey is condoning. The handbrake is there - among other things - to prevent the car rolling back even an inch on hill starts. Again, for the reasons mentioned above - if someone is sitting right behind you in traffic, for example. And it's easier on the clutch.

Plus, people who sit on the brake at stop lights are a pain in the arse, particularly at night, and even more so at night and in the rain. Again, it's something that's discouraged in the UK as it dazzles drivers behind.

I know it's more convenient to do so with an automatic as it's a nuisance shifting quickly from park or neutral to drive and not using the handbrake, but there's no excuse in a manual vehicle since you can cover the pedals and be ready to slot the gearlever into first fairly quickly.
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I never use the handbrake, uphill or downhill. Approaching 100k miles on the OG clutch on my DD, never slipped once, lots of city driving.. It amazes me how long time it takes for people to start moving their cars from the light goes green. Just an observation..
 
I remember my dad borrowed an old Honda CRV and it had a foot operated parking brake. One time he was going to press the clutch instead press the parking brake :lol:

We thought of buying the car but because of that, he changed his plan and bought a Honda Odyssey RA1 instead.
 
land sea air
I completely agree with you, however it's scarcely ever taught in the US, every time I do it with someone else in the car they get very confused followed by very enlightened.
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I almost stand on my brake pedal at lights because I've seen too many people rear ended at those.

Maybe I'm just a bit paranoid...
 
Man, I live in the hills outside Seattle AND my uncle has a 2005 Ford Ranger with four pedals. From what I can tell, my brother and my uncle both do a sort of heel-toe balance of the three important pedals, ignoring the completely useless parking brake.

And, no, the truck's got the weakest engine in the lineup.
 
eiriksmil
I never use the handbrake, uphill or downhill. Approaching 100k miles on the OG clutch on my DD, never slipped once, lots of city driving.. It amazes me how long time it takes for people to start moving their cars from the light goes green. Just an observation..
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Anyone with any sense can see that other traffic streams from different roads are stopping and be ready with the car in gear and your hand ready on the handbrake by the time your own light goes green.

Worth pointing out that in the UK, the traffic lights pass through amber on their way back to green. If Norway is more like France where lights go straight from red to green (and I recall this happens in the US too?) then I can understand a little more. In the UK, the amber signal is enough warning to be ready by the time the light goes green.

The handbrake is there to hold the car, whether you're sitting in it or not.

Frankly I find it pretty rude of people to sit on the brakes, particularly at night, when you're behind them in traffic. You wouldn't sit there with your high beams on in someone's mirrors so why you'd fire brake lights - worse in modern cars when it's dozens of bright red LEDs - at them for half a minute at some lights is beyond me.

Azuremen
I almost stand on my brake pedal at lights because I've seen too many people rear ended at those.

Maybe I'm just a bit paranoid...
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When I'm stopped at lights on a faster road, I'll hold my foot on the brake pedal until the car behind me has stopped, just to make sure they've seen me.

In a place like the UK where there are still more manual vehicles than automatics, you're much more likely to be rear-ended by some twonk riding the clutch at the lights and his foot slipping than you are by someone who hasn't slowed sufficiently for the traffic ahead.
 
-> My moms late-'90s Chevy C/K (Silverado) 1500 4WD has a 5 M/T and a foot e-brake. ;)
 
homeforsummer
Frankly I find it pretty rude of people to sit on the brakes, particularly at night, when you're behind them in traffic. You wouldn't sit there with your high beams on in someone's mirrors so why you'd fire brake lights - worse in modern cars when it's dozens of bright red LEDs - at them for half a minute at some lights is beyond me.
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21w bulbs in the brake lights, and in the indicators.. I see no difference, they're if the brake lights are hard on your eyes at night, indicators will be too. They gotta be even worse actually, pulsing on and off.. I'll stop using them as well, just to please ya :)
 
Joey D
I don't even drive a manual and I have no problems with hill starts when I do, it can't be that hard.
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Coincedence or not? You decide... :dopey:
Joey D
The MINI needed a new transmission, front driver side wheel bearing, struts, and CV joints. I didn't want to spend the kind of money it would cost to repair all of that, the trans was almost $10,000 alone because apparently you can't rebuild MINI transmissions for whatever reason.
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Joey D
There is a TSB out for the Focus to make the transmission work correctly instead of banging gears like a teenage girl driving a stick for the first time. I mean seriously I bet fall down stairs is smoother then the way this car shifts. But anyways there is a TSB that has a new software upgrade that reprograms the trans and makes it shift better. Many people on the Focus forms have gotten this fixed and said it improved the car by leaps and bounds.
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eiriksmil
21w bulbs in the brake lights, and in the indicators.. I see no difference, they're if the brake lights are hard on your eyes at night, indicators will be too. They gotta be even worse actually, pulsing on and off.. I'll stop using them as well, just to please ya :)
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Except you'll never have an indicator high-and-centre like you will a brake light.


This website seems to sum up most my gripes
http://www.lightmare.org/
 

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