What! There's no clutch!

  • Thread starter Thread starter producepete
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Hey everyone, yesterday my parents asked me to go get some milk at the 7-11 and my mom told me to just take the Volvo S70, which is an automatic. I have been used to driving manual for about half a year and forgot all about the automatic transmission. When I was coming up to a big intersection I stepped on the brake with my right foot. Whenever I drive manual, I always just jam on the clutch cuz it doesn't hurt it and then shift into nuetral. So after I had stepped on the brake with my right foot, I jam on the brake with my left. The car's speed drops dramatically and skids a little bit. The guy behind me gets pissed off and throws his hands up in the air. Then I just laughed. Have any of these "manual to automatic" predicements affected your driving? Feel free to post.
 
Not yet, just because I've never driven an automatic (and won't for a while, since all of my family's cars are manuals).
 
Try slowing the manual car down by downshifting. That neutral thing isn't right and not good for your brakes. As far as the difference between the two cars... you need to me more aware.
 
It felt wierd when I first got my Lexus. Every now and then I would reach for the clutch, but it wouldn't be there! It was the first automatic car I had driven in a long ass time. Can't stand 'em.
 
Originally posted by milefile
Try slowing the manual car down by downshifting. That neutral thing isn't right and not good for your brakes.

:lol:

Not good for your brakes... The ignorance is hilarious.
 
Originally posted by producepete
Is engine braking bad for your car?
It isnt bad for your car at all. I try to slow down as much as possible with the engine and use the brakes as little as possible.
 
I remember when I first got my Volvo 240, I didnt drive my Dodge Dakota for about a month. I decided since the Dakota had some gas in it, I'd take it to goto Burger King. First intersection I reached I slammed my left foot onto the emergency brake, thinking it was the clutch. I was going like 30 mph, got sideways and stopped to the stop sign turned around.
 
Originally posted by TS1AWD
It isnt bad for your car at all. I try to slow down as much as possible with the engine and use the brakes as little as possible.

Hmm, let's see here:

Engine braking: wears out a $13,000 engine(in my '03 Cobra's case).
Brake braking: wears out $25 brake pads.

I think I know which I'll go with.👍
 
Originally posted by Josh
Hmm, let's see here:

Engine braking: wears out a $13,000 engine(in my '03 Cobra's case).
Brake braking: wears out $25 brake pads.

I think I know which I'll go with.👍

Yea I thought that letting the clutch out slowly while in a lower gear was bad for your clutch assembly. But how exactly does engine braking wear out your engine?
 
Originally posted by producepete
Yea I thought that letting the clutch out slowly while in a lower gear was bad for your clutch assembly. But how exactly does engine braking wear out your engine?


Letting your engine slow you down puts unnecessary wear on your engine.

Brakes are there for a reason - use them. You're not driving a racecar around a racetrack. You're driving a normal streetcar on the street. I don't see a need to be engine braking, heel & toe'ing, etc. on the street. Whatever, though. To each his own.
 
Originally posted by Josh
Hmm, let's see here:

Engine braking: wears out a $13,000 engine(in my '03 Cobra's case).
Brake braking: wears out $25 brake pads.

I think I know which I'll go with.👍

Which do you think causes more of a load. Hard acceleration, or gently letting the revs go up a maybe 2,000 rpms to slow down the engine?
 
Hard acceleration. What does that have to do with braking? Other than the fact that you will eventually need to brake if you accelerate hard.

I'm not a resident expert on manual transmissions, but I'd rather wear out brake pads before the engine/transmission.
 
Originally posted by TS1AWD
Which do you think causes more of a load. Hard acceleration, or gently letting the revs go up a maybe 2,000 rpms to slow down the engine?

Engine braking isn't going to cause a serious amount of wear. But then neither is braking without the engine, its not like all of a sudden you are going to be going through brakes twice as fast as before because you don't engine brake.

Basicly, do whatever you want, I doubt either way is going to make a noticable difference on the life of your brakes or engine.
 
Originally posted by TS1AWD
Which do you think causes more of a load. Hard acceleration, or gently letting the revs go up a maybe 2,000 rpms to slow down the engine?

Hard acceleration, obviously.

You only bring the rpm's up to 2,000rpm to engine brake? I can't imagine that even being worth the trouble in a 4 cylinder with hardly any heavy rotational mass. Hell, 2,000rpm in the Cobra wouldn't even slow me down very noticeably.
 
I was day dreaming today about the automatic trans I'm going to swap in to my Omni. Long story short, as I was coming to a stoplight I stomped on the brake pedal instead of the clutch and my pops (who doesn't wear seatbelts) almost smacked his head on the dash. I couldn't believe it.

9 Years of driving nothing but manual trans cars/trucks and I stepped on the wrong pedal.. Amazing
 
I don't really have the problem as severe as you guys...

Ofcourse, my 323 is an auto. I don't have a stick to drive, and thus have never driven a stick anywhere.
Then I got my job at the Mazda/Subaru dealership, and the first 15 mins I was up there I had to drive stick Subes which aren't the most graceful things for someone that has no practice to drive. After some wiplash I got the hang of it. Still, sometimes, I'll mess up and peel out or stall it, especially after I've been on the job for several hours and I'm tired. Also sometimes I hop in a car and try to start it not realizing it's a stick, luckily I correct my mistake quick so I don't look too stupid. Yesterday while sitting in a MazdaSpeed Miata waiting to run it through the car wash, I was kinda day dreaming and my right foot was on the brakes but hit the gas too and I revved it to about 4,500rpm and it woke me up and I looked around and there's one of the salesmen and he's like "I bet you wish you could have it".
I also seem to have problems with the '04 Tributes since they have columb shift...I mean I can shift it fine but the stops seem to be too small so I'll end up missing drive or reverse, maybe I'm just shifting too damn fast.

The funniest thing was when my mom drove the 323 after driving the MPV for months straight. She hasn't done it lately but several years back when she had to drive the 323 she forgot that unlike the MPV the '3's shifter is in the center console and not on the steering columb, so she'd turn on the wipers and hit the gas in park and rev up. :)
 
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