Advice for driving manual

[nat965]

Yesterday dad allowed me to drive his old bomb car (that he uses for work) around our 5 acre block (feels more like 3, since 2 is natural forest still). Its a manual. I went pretty good, though I need some advice. Can't exactly get the clutch/changing gears right, mainly because where i changed gears was on a sort-of slope. Scary that in a years time I'm eligeble for my learners :$

Edited by Infectious (Forum Moderator): Moved from "Discuss Anything", as it is better suited here!

[FlyingJesus]

Put clutch down, change gear, lift clutch while accelerating. How much you need to hit the accelerator while the clutch is being lifted depends on the car, with mine it's pretty much 50/50 so when my accelerating foot goes down at the same rate the clutch comes up

[Moh]

I found the gears the most difficult when learning to drive (mainly forgot which gear I was already in), which is quite odd considering you're using them all the time whilst driving.

You'll soon get the hang of it. Just try and practice speeding up (having to go from 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th) and then slowing down (4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st). Once you master that, you'll then be able to skip gears :P

[Jordy]

It'll come to you with experience undoubtedly, you'll spend many hours stalling it and failing but keep at it and you'll eventually get the hang of it.

[Technologic]

Its manlier just to rev it and pop it into gear without using the clutch

[@K]

You'll soon get the hang of it. Just try and practice speeding up (having to go from 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th) and then slowing down (4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st). Once you master that, you'll then be able to skip gears :P

I skipped the going down in gears, I just went straight into jumping through them lol, 5th gear straight into 1st :P

[FlyingJesus]

I don't even do that I just pop it into neutral when I want to slow down lol

[Triz]

Is what you want to do is to start off...

Whack clutch all the way down, put it into 1st, and then WITH the handbrake ON... slowly lift up the clutch until the nose of the car starts to rise, this is when the car wants to go forward, leave it at this point.. it is called the biting point. You can then put the handbrake off and then the car will start to go forward, you then can give it some acceleration to gain speed faster.

Once your rev metre is at around about 3,000 revs, you'll want to put the clutch all the way down pull back into 2nd and then lift clutch up again.
For a smoother gear change, you don't just let go completely of the clutch, you lift it up about an inch, and then let it go fully.
Also when moving off, it's best to give it some acceleration as well as lifting the clutch to biting point; once at biting point and your moving, you can fully let go of clutch and then just concentrate on acceleration, until you need to change gear again.

Going down is a little harder to understand, as you can really hear when it needs to be changed like you can when changing up.
But basically you'll want your speed to match your gears.. for example.. if your going at about 45mph, you'll probably be in 4th gear. That said, you could also be in 3rd gear, but your revs will be screaming at you (depending upon the car of course) or you could be in gear 5, but when you push down the accelerator, it will be next to unresponsive for a while until it builds up speed. This is all dependant upon the car though, but your basic 1.2/4 litre engine then it will apply.

I had the problem of forgetting which gear I am in when approaching a roundabout, which is never good, so I often looked down.. This is normal, most people do forget lol. So many things to be aware of and think about, it's only natural. If this happens to you then don't worry, just keep looking down until you can just reach blindly for the gear stick and then know by memory muscle of which gear it is in, and then eventually you be able to estimate your speed without even thinking about it and know automatically which gear you are in, either that or you will just remember :P
Like anything though, it just takes practice! I wouldn't worry about it too much.

I passed my test 5 weeks after my 17th birthday :) and I've been driving since and I have now taken my HGV licence and pretty much every licence there is out there, apart from any aircraft's haha. & I am only 19. The joys of being in the Army

[@K]

I passed my test 5 weeks after my 17th birthday :) and I've been driving since and I have now taken my HGV licence and pretty much every licence there is out there, apart from any aircraft's haha. & I am only 19. The joys of being in the Army

The HGV license was the only one I refused to do in the army lol, the thought petrifies me to no end :|

[Recursion]

I don't even do that I just pop it into neutral when I want to slow down lol

Seriously? LOL

[Triz]

I don't even do that I just pop it into neutral when I want to slow down lol

My brother does that too lol! Then that caught him out once as he put it into neutral whilst slowing down for the roundabout and then coasted to the line of the roundabout, then he saw a gap, and had to rush to take it, whack it into 1st, lifted clutch up too fast and too far and stalled it :) Thats what you get for coasting lol

[FlyingJesus]

Haha yeah I basically get up to speed then flick it out of gear and roll, just a bad habit I got into :P

[danzooo]

I don't even do that I just pop it into neutral when I want to slow down lol


Surely this doesn't work though, putting a car into neutral basically makes it a runaway train/car, but having it in gear brings in engine braking and prevents the car from going any faster unless you change up?

[FlyingJesus]

Not exactly likely to accelerate much if I'm in neutral init, I let friction do the work

[myke]

Is what you want to do is to start off...

Whack clutch all the way down, put it into 1st, and then WITH the handbrake ON... slowly lift up the clutch until the nose of the car starts to rise, this is when the car wants to go forward, leave it at this point.. it is called the biting point. You can then put the handbrake off and then the car will start to go forward, you then can give it some acceleration to gain speed faster.

Once your rev metre is at around about 3,000 revs, you'll want to put the clutch all the way down pull back into 2nd and then lift clutch up again.
For a smoother gear change, you don't just let go completely of the clutch, you lift it up about an inch, and then let it go fully.
Also when moving off, it's best to give it some acceleration as well as lifting the clutch to biting point; once at biting point and your moving, you can fully let go of clutch and then just concentrate on acceleration, until you need to change gear again.

Going down is a little harder to understand, as you can really hear when it needs to be changed like you can when changing up.
But basically you'll want your speed to match your gears.. for example.. if your going at about 45mph, you'll probably be in 4th gear. That said, you could also be in 3rd gear, but your revs will be screaming at you (depending upon the car of course) or you could be in gear 5, but when you push down the accelerator, it will be next to unresponsive for a while until it builds up speed. This is all dependant upon the car though, but your basic 1.2/4 litre engine then it will apply.

I had the problem of forgetting which gear I am in when approaching a roundabout, which is never good, so I often looked down.. This is normal, most people do forget lol. So many things to be aware of and think about, it's only natural. If this happens to you then don't worry, just keep looking down until you can just reach blindly for the gear stick and then know by memory muscle of which gear it is in, and then eventually you be able to estimate your speed without even thinking about it and know automatically which gear you are in, either that or you will just remember :P
Like anything though, it just takes practice! I wouldn't worry about it too much.

I passed my test 5 weeks after my 17th birthday :) and I've been driving since and I have now taken my HGV licence and pretty much every licence there is out there, apart from any aircraft's haha. & I am only 19. The joys of being in the Army

The 3,000 revs thing is dependant on the car, my car wants to change up at about 2000, it rarely goes above 2000.

you'll get the hang of it the more you drive, the more you stall and the more time you have getting used to the clutch :)

good luck!
p.s. make sure you're going the right speed for the gear and don't over/under rev it

and tom, the car slows down quicker if you let the engine do the braking by just taking your foot off the accelerator rather than coasting :P

[cocaine]

haha tom putting it in neutrals probs the worst thing you can do

its not really that hard. when you're coming from 4th and need to slow down to turn or whatever put it in second and as you lift the clutch up (slowly) the car will engine break. my mate goes so fast in 1st that when he changes into 2nd the car actually engine brakes.. its horrific

[FlyingJesus]

But coasting is so much more fun and I don't need it to slow down quickly, I have real brakes if I need to do that :P

[awelsh]

Screw coasting in neutral, I just drop the clutch and let it roll while its in 5th. Dont change gears until 4.5k either, if I id at 3,000 as someone said id be there forever tring to get up to 60mph

[Triz]

The 3,000 revs thing is dependant on the car, my car wants to change up at about 2000, it rarely goes above 2000.


This is true, also depends upon if you want to be a little rebel boy racer lol.
I drive a 1.9 Vax Astra now. so I'm always changing at about 3000 revs, sometimes even 4,000/5,000 if I feel like it, or when Im in a mood for changing gears I change at 2000 revs lol.

[tdi]

Its manlier just to rev it and pop it into gear without using the clutch

Do this all the time in the work van :P