This also got me - I've only ever owned manual transmission cars. Both I've owned for 7 years. I haven't looked like replacing a clutch yet and I'm pretty sure I burnt the crap outta the first one. If you're replacing the clutch after 6 months you are so doing something wrong.

---------- Post added at 12:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:59 AM ----------

Some cars enforce it - most don't though. The practice of putting the car in gear when parked is a good one, though.

The springy clutch on the MS3 was a turnoff for me, but that car is super duper fast, faster than 99% of the cars on the road. You should hammer it on 1st through 4th sometime with a guy in the car, they will be blown away.

One problem that SAAB's have had with having the ignition (keyslot) next to the gearshift and vertical is over time dirt will build up in the key cylinder and in the end the ignition can be turned with anything.

Yours
ZB

Come to Europe. We all drive manuals!

Most car thieves won't know to look there for the key.:confused: I had an older SAAB 900 for a while that the key got stuck in its slot and could not be removed. I just left a small towel on top of the ignition switch, no one could even see that a key was in there. I just used another key to lock and unlock the door. I drove it that way for about a year:paranoid: before my Dad fixed it for me on a visit home.

Lindy

I wasn't positive about this, so I threw the question at a bigger car forum, and the first few replies confirmed my belief that this was almost exclusively a DSM tuner problem, and even then only a theory about what caused the crankwalk.
And if someone hits your car, you end up with severe engine and transmission damage. An automatic transmission is designed to immobilize the car, a manual isn't. If your handbrake isn't in condition to hold your car in place, it's broken or worn to the point that you need new pads.
99% of the time it's not because of the transmission, it's because they think AWD makes them invincible and/or because they're shitty drivers in the first place. Realistically, just any automatic car that's safe for the street should be fine in snow except in the most extreme circumstances. My Lincoln was RWD, automatic*, and put down 100lb-ft at idle and 200+ at 2k, and the only time I had a problem was when I parked it in a snowbank and the limited slip crapped out.

I'd say it's also safe to bet that almost everyone who drives stick is more attentive when driving and more aware of what their car can handle, which keeps them safer.

* - While on that subject, refer to the picture my previous post. I believe there was a sticky valve in the voodoo, while the magic and science were going strong until the day I got rid of it.

Okay, so to sum up about downshifting....

• It's generally not a good idea to use it to come to a stop.
• It's generally used in cases where you need to accelerate after losing too much velocity.

So to come to a stop, no matter what gear you're in, you simply engage the clutch and press the brake? And once you're stopped, you shift to neutral and release the clutch?

I need to deal with start/stop, go-faster/slow-down traffic, so I'm just trying to get my head around "gear management" of varying speeds. Any more tips/clarification about this?

I always downshift to help come to a stop. if you're in neutral there's no reason to be holding the clutch in.. if you're touching it, you're using it.

Baraka: You are correct about coming to a stop (especially a fast one): engage the clutch and press the brake to come to a stop.

Now, if you're in true stop and go traffic, you won't necessarily want to put yourself in neutral as you come to a stop. You will keep the clutch engaged and put the shifter into first so you are ready to move again once you've come to a dead stop. You CAN move to neutral, but if you're going to be stop-GO traffic, you might as well save yourself the few seconds.

Also, if you're in traffic that is rapidly decelerating but doesn't quite stop, make sure you engage the clutch and brake long enough to slow yourself down to match traffic, but then check your speed before choosing a gear to pop back into to accelerate again.

If you were in the states, I'd totally give you lessons. :)

---------- Post added at 02:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:01 PM ----------

When you are a beginner, it's best to keep the clutch in while you're in neutral (unless parked) to avoid habitually trying to shift into a gear and forgetting to engage the clutch. Once you know what you're doing, it's easier to do.

see if I'm coming to a fast stop I will downshift quickly through the gears while holding the brake if it requires that. I like having the brakes, engine and transmission helping to stop the car all at once rather than just rely on the brakes alone. :shrug:

The point of a transmission is to allow variable torque, speed and power.

I assume you've ridden a bicycle with multiple gears (12 speed, 15 speed, 18 speed), and the principle is exactly the same.

f you try to start in 15th gear on a mountain bike, it's nearly impossible. The torque necessary to turn a large gear is much greater than the torque necessary to spin a small gear. On the flipside, if we want to go FAST, we are limited by the size of the gear. If the gear is small, then we have to spin the pedals impossibly fast in order to make the back wheel spin. As we select larger gears, the amount that we have to rotate the pedals to rotate the back wheel decreases, and we increase our efficiency.

As you pedal on a multispeed bicycle, your speed increases until you feel that you are pedaling "too much" to rotate the bicycle wheel. You shift up in a car for the same reason. The RPM of the engine is too high to rotate the wheels.

If you were going very quickly downhill on a bicycle, you have two options. You can either use the brakes to slow, or you can continue pedalling, shifting the bike into lower and lower gears until you begin to slow the bike down with the power of your legs against the pedal.

The same holds true for a car. If you want to decelerate quickly, disengage the clutch and press the brakes. If you want to decelerate slowly (and retain the stability of the car), use the "leg force" of the engine by shifting down into a lower gear. The decreased torque increases the engine speed, and the gear itself can be used to slow the car without altering the front/rear weight distribution. You'll really only ever do this if you're on slick surfaces and don't want to risk losing control from brake pressure.

And just like on a bike where you're slowing and then speeding back up, you downshift into a gear that feels comfortable but still allows you to pedal quickly when you speed up again.

wow.. after reading that.. I apparently suck at manual transmissions.