How to drive stick...

[BabyBlue_pimp]

Hey guys...
I was wondering, how do you guys drive a stick in traffic?
I dont understand what to do.. everyone says its bad to hold the clutch...
But thats the only way i seem to know because i cant get into first without it stalling :-\, help me out thank you in advance.

 

[steve]

Slipping it all the time is a quick way to get a new clutch. Once your below the speed where you can go 1000-1500 rpm in first the only choice is open the gap between you and the car in front, get the car rolling and take it out of gear and coast, repeat as needed. You'll need to spend time in the gym to build up the other calf and thigh so your legs don't look funny.

Steve

 

[Defiant]

We had the chat about your typing, didn't we?

Your primary job with the clutch is to keep your foot away from it. Go out in an empty parking lot, and in first gear, without clutching, see just how slow you can brake the car down to. It's easier on a small 2-liter engine if you turn off the AC in traffic- it puts quite a load on the car. Slip the clutch as little as you have to, learn to rev-match, and instead of trying to downshift, just bang into neutral and coast if you have to.

 

[BabyBlue_pimp]

Sorry about the typing...
So are you saying, drive in 1st gear and then push it back to neutral? i am going down to miami tonight , theres Always traffic there...

 

[BabyBlue_pimp]

Anyone....

 

[gsxtacy]

You don't know how to take off in 1st gear without stalling?

Here's what you do:

Get a friend who is manual transmission capable. Go to a parking lot that is empty.

Swap seats ( you get in drivers seat ) fasten your safety belt.

Depress clutch pedal and move gear selector to where the numbers on top of the gear selector says "1".

slowly let out of clutch pedal and feel clutch engaging (the point of where the car moves)

once the car is moving slowly.....even more slowly let out completely and start to feed accelerator more.

when the rpms reach 3,500 depress the clutch pedal and move gear selector to "2", then SLOWLy let out of depressed clutch pedal and slowly feed accelerator.

When you approach traffic lights and you are slowing down with your BRAKES...move gear selector to Nuetral. When lights to your left and right start to turn Yellow, depress clutch and move gear selector to "1" again and it starts all over.

Manual transmission is the only way to go. With it you don't have a torque convertor telling you what engine speed you can couple the transmission to.

Wanna dump the clutch at 6000.....with a stick shift car.....if you do it....it only hurts your checkbook and not mine.

gsxtacy

 

[BabyBlue_pimp]

that just thought me how to drive stick.... i dont want to know how to drive stick... I wanna know how to drive in traffic.... cuz usally i am driving slow, to lik the fact that i am holding down the clutch, n slowly letting out... to where it starts moving, i dont really have to give gas, but if i do that n coast i am going to slow..., arrgg this is sum bull , anyone help me...
how do u drive in bumper to bumper at lik 2 mph ...

 

[gsxtacy]

bumper to bumper in 2mph traffic.

Keep clutch pedal depressed. Keep brake depressed. Keep gear selector on 1st.

Let out of clutch and off of brake as necessary to move forward with traffic. Rev at will to make people look at you. Revving every once in awhile makes it funnier to everyone else when your foot slipped off the clutch and you bought a Escalade rear bumper and hatch door.

No really. Just ease out on the clutch in backed up traffic, when you actually come to a stop for more than 3-5 seconds, pull it into nuetral and chill.

your on your own from here.

gsxtacy

 

[Defiant]

When you approach traffic lights and you are slowing down with your BRAKES...move gear selector to Nuetral.

While downshifting in commute traffic is mostly pointless, don't go to neutral until you're on the edge of lugging the motor. Neutral removes all control from the car, and you become a loose toboggan.

 

[bigfoot]

Get out and drive. You cant learn this sitting at a computer.

Or get an automatic.

And use the shift key when starting a sentence.

 

[19Eclipse90]

Try not to roll in neutral... although I don't believe I've ever heard of anyone getting a ticket for it, it is a driving violation and you can be pulled over. Ticketed or not I don't know, and usually the cops don't give a damn. It's just something I learned in Driver's Ed and decided to not roll in neutral when I've seen cops around... i find it better downshifting anyways

 

[SleepingEclipse]

Try not to roll in neutral... although I don't believe I've ever heard of anyone getting a ticket for it, it is a driving violation and you can be pulled over. Ticketed or not I don't know, and usually the cops don't give a damn. It's just something I learned in Driver's Ed and decided to not roll in neutral when I've seen cops around... i find it better downshifting anyways

really? i know there are laws about engine braking, but didnt know you cant roll in neutral...gotta ask my sister(shes a cop) and see whats up with that...any advice for going up hills? i sometimes have trouble when i am stopped on a hill and then try to take off again....i try to let the clutch out a little(just until it start to engage) and then get on the gas.....just wondering if there is a better way....any suggestions welcome...

 

[Slo93N/T]

If you want, you can keep the e-brake up, then take off normally. You will feel the car jerk forward, just hold it like that and let the e-brake down. It's all personal preference, I don't like using the e-brake so I do as you say, only give it a little more gas than usual and let the clutch out slower.

 

[SleepingEclipse]

If you want, you can keep the e-brake up, then take off normally. You will feel the car jerk forward, just hold it like that and let the e-brake down. It's all personal preference, I don't like using the e-brake so I do as you say, only give it a little more gas than usual and let the clutch out slower.

yea, i have tried that a few times...seems to work fine...i guess i just gotta practice taking off on hills more often...its the only way ill learn...thanks...

 

[ECTurboDSM]

One of my friends is a BMW Club driving instructor and he has a cow if I ever put the car in neutral. Mainly it is because a good amount of traffic accidents could have been prevented had the driver pushed the gas pedal instead of the break. If your car is in neutral, you have to spend that much more time putting it in gear in order to push the gas and that could be the tenth of a second that you needed to avoid the gravel trap or the aforementioned Escalade.

 

[BabyBlue_pimp]

bumper to bumper in 2mph traffic.

Keep clutch pedal depressed. Keep brake depressed. Keep gear selector on 1st.

Let out of clutch and off of brake as necessary to move forward with traffic. Rev at will to make people look at you. Revving every once in awhile makes it funnier to everyone else when your foot slipped off the clutch and you bought a Escalade rear bumper and hatch door.

No really. Just ease out on the clutch in backed up traffic, when you actually come to a stop for more than 3-5 seconds, pull it into nuetral and chill.

your on your own from here.

gsxtacy

So you are saying ride the clutch in traffic?

 

[19Eclipse90]

Sorry for getting off topic a bit earlier, but in traffic, you either ride the clutch or let the car roll as slow as possible while in gear. It will start to bog a little which isn't bad, but if it starts bogging too much, you give it a little gas, or if you can't because of traffic right in front of you, you clutch in. Like you, I don't like riding the clutch so I try to stay off of it as much as possible.

About starting off the hill, the best way to get better at it is to go out and do it. I live at the bottom of a hill and there is a street that is parallel to mine about 40 feet from my street that is a larger hill. That's where I learned to start on a hill. Hell, if it takes you a whole lot, try to go to a hilly road that no one is on, and just take your time; it doesn't matter how much the car will roll back, just do it like a normal take off. In time it will come to you if you practice.

 

[steve]

I'm sorry for some reason I thought the question was what to do when the traffic is moving slower that what you car will do in first gear without lugging.
Slipping or riding the clutch is out of the question. unless you have stock in a clutch company.
I also fail to see how you can downshift from first gear.

Seems to me your left with two options, stop and wait until a gap develops that will allow you to move at a manageable speed until you have to stop again, or start the car rolling and coast, shifting back into gear as traffic speed permits.

I fully agree that coasting any other time is a bad idea.

I know everytime I'm stuck in a expressway parking lot is the only time having an auto seems attractive.

Steve

 

[Mr.Tao]

U guys are making this soo soo hard. WHo cares how you drive. As long as it makes it easier for you to drive in traffic, so be it. WHether it is riding the clutch until it bogs and depressing the clutch pedal or shifting into neutral and shifting back to 1st gear to get going. Sounds like you need more experience. GO drive.

 

[Mr.Tao]

maybe it's all wrong. I think from your first post, u sounds like you bog and stall on 1st gear? Learn to give gas and depressing the clutch to be able to find the right moment.