Manual Transmission Technique (3-pedals)

[daan]

Ok, but you end up running at a very low RPM by doing that (especially if you were in a high gear to start with). You may end up nearly stalling the vehicle and are probably spending a fair amount of time in a gear that you can't really use to accelerate (toward the stop sign for some reason).

Yeah, you put the clutch in before the revs get too low. And maybe I'm not reading your post correctly, but you're in neutral at this point, so what do you do if you need to accelerate?

If I am coming up to a junction, I would approach it in the gear I was in, engine braking first then me braking, waiting til the revs drop to ~1000-1500, put the clutch in and select 2nd, but not bring the clutch back up, ready to move away again, but also ready to stop and select 1st if I need to, is what I generally do.

The other thing I'll say is that we generally don't have stop signs. We have give ways, traffic lights and roundabouts. When we come up to a junction, we don't always have to come to a complete stop.


With regard to hill starts, perhaps calling the handbrake the emergency brake is part of the problem.

 

[Beeblebrox237]

With regard to hill starts, perhaps calling the handbrake the emergency brake is part of the problem.

I definitely think that's an important point, though it might be a chicken/egg situation. Even in an automatic it's not just for use in emergencies. I've seen firsthand what can happen when Park is solely used to hold a car on a hill rather than the handbrake, and it's not a pretty sight.

 

[daan]

It's not an emergency brake as it's not used just for emergencies. It's also not a parking brake as it is used for other things apart from parking. I appreciate that it's not always used by the hand, but I believe that's the best name for it other than brakethatstopsthecarfromrollingwhenstopped brake.

 

[MatskiMonk]

It's not an emergency brake as it's not used just for emergencies. It's also not a parking brake as it is used for other things apart from parking. I appreciate that it's not always used by the hand, but I believe that's the best name for it other than brakethatstopsthecarfromrollingwhenstopped brake.

"Brakes" are used to brake, which means to slow the car down. Since the ASBO lever should only be used when the car is stationary, perhaps it should just be called the "stationary"...

 

[Danoff]

Yeah, you put the clutch in before the revs get too low. And maybe I'm not reading your post correctly, but you're in neutral at this point, so what do you do if you need to accelerate?

In my premise there is no need. I'm pointing out a lack of real difference in that area, not an advantage.

If I am coming up to a junction, I would approach it in the gear I was in, engine braking first then me braking, waiting til the revs drop to ~1000-1500, put the clutch in and select 2nd, but not bring the clutch back up, ready to move away again, but also ready to stop and select 1st if I need to, is what I generally do.

If I were riding with you doing that I would not complain. It's a long way more pleasant (for the passenger and transmission) than someone catching every gear on the way down.

When I'm approaching a slow-possible-stop-possible-not situation where I don't know what gear I want to be in but the gear I'm coming from is no good anymore, I clutch out in neutral to be ready to rev-match to whichever gear presents itself. If the gear I was in might still pan out as the right one, I'll stay in it.

With regard to hill starts, perhaps calling the handbrake the emergency brake is part of the problem.

It very well may be. e-brake is just what it's called here. Sometimes it's a parking brake.

 

[homeforsummer]

"Brakes" are used to brake, which means to slow the car down. Since the ASBO lever should only be used when the car is stationary, perhaps it should just be called the "stationary"...

In defence of the American term, serving as an auxiliary brake in case the main system fails is still part of the handbrake's remit. This even applies to electric parking brakes in modern stuff - if you pull on one while the car is moving the car will do a controlled emergency stop with the parking brake.

 

[MatskiMonk]

In defence of the American term, serving as an auxiliary brake in case the main system fails is still part of the handbrake's remit. This even applies to electric parking brakes in modern stuff - if you pull on one while the car is moving the car will do a controlled emergency stop with the parking brake.

It's one thing I've never been completely clear on, is whether the handbrake is, or is required to be, a separate system from the foot brake. I've only had brake failure once, in a Peugeot 106, where I believe a problem with seized rear shoes had damaged not only their operation, but also ruptured a cylinder, causing the car to loose all it's brake pressure. Never really got my head around it, but in any case neither worked in any effective fashion. Compared to my current car for example, the rear brakes on the hydraulic system operate on the disc, and the hand brake operates on a drum within the disc... so effectively, unless the disc becomes detached from the hub, either system could stop the car independently.

 

[homeforsummer]

The handbrake is always a separate system, hence it'll still work even if the main system is completely ineffective. I believe it's usually mechanical too rather than hydraulic (or electro-mechanical in the case of cars with electric parking brakes).

 

[Tornado]

The other thing I'd mention is to never use 1st unless you've actually stopped. If you're still rolling, even if ever so slightly, use 2nd.

The shifting-into-first thing is interesting, because I'd say most stuff up until maybe the mid 'aughts would object to being shifted into first while a car was still rolling.

That certainly would explain how I grenaded the shift linkage in the Volkswagen last year.

 

[Danoff]

Another manual technique that grinds my gears so to speak is when manual drivers hold me up and make me miss lights. If I find myself following a car that is obviously a stick, I'll occasionally notice them crawling toward a stoplight or discover that they were sitting in neutral at a stoplight. Neither one of those is a problem in and of itself, I do both of those things. Sitting in neutral at the stoplight is supposed to be the right way to go for reducing wear.

One problem comes when I'm trying to get to a left turn lane and catch the light but the guy in front of me is coasting slowly to go straight and won't let me get there in time. This happens with automatics too, but creeping up to a light is far more prevalent in manuals (in my experience). What I'd like is a little more situational awareness. Yes, you've noticed that the light in front of you is red, that's step 1. Step 2 is realizing that I'm trying to get around you in the left turn lane to catch the left turn light and you're pointlessly stopping it from happening.

The other time this is an issue is when manual drivers get bored at the stoplight and start doing other things in their car, and then don't realize that the light turned green. That extra second to shift into first gear somehow always seems to take an eternity.

 

[MatskiMonk]

The other time this is an issue is when manual drivers get bored at the stoplight and start doing other things in their car

You mean like holding it on the brakes and making the tail bounce up an down in a sexual rhythm using the clutch?


... guilty as charged.

 

[kikie]

It is a cliché that some Americans have problems using a manual?

Over here, you have to take your driving license test with a manual.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

It is a cliché that some Americans have problems using a manual?

Over here, you have to take your driving license test with a manual.

No, not even slightly. I would say only around 10-20% of US car users can drive a manual. Absolutely nobody I know that isn't a car enthusiast drives a manual. Again, manuals account for only 3% of new car sales here.

 

[Danoff]

No, not even slightly. I would say only around 10-20% of US car users can drive a manual. Absolutely nobody I know that isn't a car enthusiast drives a manual.

It kinda depends on your age demographic, but I agree that very few people outside of car enthusiasts drive stick. Of the car enthusiasts I know in person (rather than for example UK car enthusiasts that I have met online), only one of them can heel-toe. That's out of a pretty large number. My neighbor and his son were building a dedicated track car, which is far more enthusiast than you usually get in the US, and neither of them had even heard of heel-toe.

While maybe 10-20% of drivers in the US are capable of driving a manual, far fewer than that are actually good at it. I have witnessed so much appalling manual driving that I'm inclined to suggest that it's just not for everybody.

 

[Jmac279]

 

[kikie]

This is not to brag but here and here (they showed me rev matching (which I already knew how to do), ( double clutching (which I already knew)) I was thought how to use a manual 100% correctly. Before that, I was already able to shift a manual as a pro. :sly and

It wasn't long after getting my driving license that I started to experiment with rev matching and shifting a manual without using the clutch on my own, which I was able to do without grinding the gears.

 

[Beeblebrox237]

(they showed me rev matching (which I already knew how to do), ( double clutching (which I already knew))

The programmer in me would like to point out that you missed a closing parenthesis.

 

[Danoff]

This is not to brag but here and here (they showed me rev matching (which I already knew how to do), ( double clutching (which I already knew)) I was thought how to use a manual 100% correctly. Before that, I was already able to shift a manual as a pro. :sly and

It wasn't long after getting my driving license that I started to experiment with rev matching and shifting a manual without using the clutch on my own, which I was able to do without grinding the gears.

Do you double-clutch regularly on the street?

The programmer in me would like to point out that you missed a closing parenthesis.

He's still in parenthetical.

 

[kikie]

The programmer in me would like to point out that you missed a closing parenthesis.

I know. But grammarly said that I had to use two instead of three. So who am I to argue with grammarly.
I wrote three, changed to two.

Do you double-clutch regularly on the street?



He's still in parenthetical.

Double clutch with my super duper Mondeo? Nope never. Heel and toe, once in a while if I want to find out if I'm still able to do it.

It turns out that I'm not always to heel and toe as it should. Pedals are too far apart. I don't always let go of the clutch when it should, resulting in a less than perfect rev matching etc ... ect ... .

 

[Danoff]

BTW I very much doubt that a manual helps prevent your car from being stolen. Every valet "knows" how to drive stick, and every mechanic. Lots of people who drive for a living. It would be phenomenal for keeping your car from being stolen by the hipsters at the local coffee shop who have boycotted Starbucks. But those folks weren't going to steal your car anyway.

 

[kikie]

Oops, I used the reply button instead of the edit button.

 

[PocketZeven]

Wouldn't do that. If I'm coming up to a stop, I coast and brake, in gear, until nearly stopped, and only pop the clutch in just before stopping.

The other thing I'd mention is to never use 1st unless you've actually stopped. If you're still rolling, even if ever so slightly, use 2nd.

I think that is pretty much the standard in Europe.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

BTW I very much doubt that a manual helps prevent your car from being stolen. Every valet "knows" how to drive stick, and every mechanic. Lots of people who drive for a living. It would be phenomenal for keeping your car from being stolen by the hipsters at the local coffee shop who have boycotted Starbucks. But those folks weren't going to steal your car anyway.

Two Teens Charged with Attempted Carjackings in Green Hills

Approximately one hour later, a woman parked her car in the Kroger parking lot, 2201 21st Avenue South, and as she walked toward the store, one of the teens grabbed the keys out of her hand. Both got inside the victim’s vehicle. After a few seconds, they exited the car and fled on foot, apparently unable to drive a manual transmission.

edit: Misunderstood the second part of your post

 

[imported_rik19]

Have you ever tried pressing the brake pedal with your left foot, to the manual drivers, after years of clutch pressing with the left, if you try and brake with that foot its crazy, you nearly go though the windscreen as not used to gently pressing with that foot...

 

[Danoff]

Have you ever tried pressing the brake pedal with your left foot, to the manual drivers, after years of clutch pressing with the left, if you try and brake with that foot its crazy, you nearly go though the windscreen as not used to gently pressing with that foot...

Jump to about 50s in this youtube video.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Have you ever tried pressing the brake pedal with your left foot, to the manual drivers, after years of clutch pressing with the left, if you try and brake with that foot its crazy, you nearly go though the windscreen as not used to gently pressing with that foot...

Think I'd been driving for about 4 years when I got my first auto, no doubt that first attempt at left foot braking was clumsy to say the very least. However, it only took few days for it to become natural. Since the auto was somewhat of a project car I still had my manual as a daily, and for the most part, switching between the two became second nature quite quickly. I did once go to stand on the brake in an emergency situation in a manual, and found myself doing nothing that but dropping the clutch. Definitely brown pants time when you're expecting to be performing an emergency stop, and all that happened was the car got a little quieter.

 

[imported_rik19]

Jump to about 50s in this youtube video.

The pro rally drivers are driving gods!!!!!!!

 

[imported_rik19]

Think I'd been driving for about 4 years when I got my first auto, no doubt that first attempt at left foot braking was clumsy to say the very least. However, it only took few days for it to become natural. Since the auto was somewhat of a project car I still had my manual as a daily, and for the most part, switching between the two became second nature quite quickly. I did once go to stand on the brake in an emergency situation in a manual, and found myself doing nothing that but dropping the clutch. Definitely brown pants time when you're expecting to be performing an emergency stop, and all that happened was the car got a little quieter.

Wow i wouldnt even left brake if i had an auto, i have driven one, but still right foot braked...Hehe brown pants time.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Think I'd been driving for about 4 years when I got my first auto, no doubt that first attempt at left foot braking was clumsy to say the very least. However, it only took few days for it to become natural. Since the auto was somewhat of a project car I still had my manual as a daily, and for the most part, switching between the two became second nature quite quickly. I did once go to stand on the brake in an emergency situation in a manual, and found myself doing nothing that but dropping the clutch. Definitely brown pants time when you're expecting to be performing an emergency stop, and all that happened was the car got a little quieter.

I did the opposite in my GF's Audi. Her car is a dual clutch automatic and it doesn't behave very nicely on some of the steeper hills around here. I was left foot braking to prevent the car from rolling back too much. At some point I put the car in 'manual mode' so that I could at least keep the damn thing in first gear for crawling up a 35% grade from a stop. My mistake was that I momentarily confused 'manual mode' for 'manual transmission' and with my left foot hovering over the brake pedal, I approached a stop sign and put the clutch to the floor....except it wasn't the clutch. I don't think I've stopped so my violently in my life.

 

[kikie]

One day, when I had my license only for a couple of years, I wanted to try to use the gas pedal and clutch with my hands. I wanted to find out if it was possible to get the car moving that way.

Surprise, surprise! I succeeded. But I couldn't stop in time and crashed into the garage door. I have to say that my father was not happy with my experiment. He gave me the silent treatment for a long time. He was that mad at me.