Xerxys Guide to driving a manual transmission vehicle.
 

OK, so here's the deal. You know all those idiots who can ride a bike and tell you "It's easy ..." then you fall off a milion times in order to get the "easy" part?

Why doesnt anybody actually tell you something is gonna be frustrating to learn before jumping to the it's easy part. You know, so you can brace yourself. I hate being 'protected' so that I don;t lose my moral.

Let's begin.

Proper Planning & Preparation Prevents Piss-Poor Performance.

You will need hefty mounds of patience and comfort. Your feet are gonna be moving up and down often largely because it's your first time and not doing so will not produce desired results. Fix the chair to sit exactly where you need it to be so you don;t have to think about it.

All other aspects of general checking should be covered like making sure the mirrors are adjusted to your height and blinkers are working 'n all that jazz.

The Gears errr.. Stick

The gears either look like this ...

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4083/...c25178a5_s.jpg or ... http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4144/...7a85c717_s.jpg or ... http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4111/...f40964f4_s.jpg

Acclamate yourself with them. They range from 1-5/6 and reverse can be on either side. Neutral, on automatic transmission has the 'N' on it but in Manuals, it's the center of the shaft that's neutral. It's the spot where you can wriggle up, down, back-forth. That is where the gear is supposed to be set when starting the car. On neutral, (meaning no gear) otherwise the car will jump ahead. Fuckin' Scary!!

Starting the car should be done with the clutch and brake fully depressed. The clutch is the pedal always on the left side of the car. Brake at the center, Accelerate at the right. This setting does not differ whether the vehicle is a Left or Right hand drive. (commonwealth countries).

The Clutch, crotch of satan or god's G-spot, you decide

Now, you have to protect this. Ever heard of burning the clutch, yeah. Happens when you accelerate TOO much if the clutch is depressed. Yet again, you can't just release it at once. Also burning it happens when you shift gears without depressing it all the way back, like practically standing on the bitch before you change gear. When you don't depress it all the way back and change the gear you will hear an annoying grinding sound. It works to draw your self esteem as a driver.

You have to drive slowly at first in order to avoid wearing the clutch. You might end up replacing it 6 months afterwards if your not careful.

Don't hold the clutch in at a stop sighn, also you can't let go of the clutch if a gear is engaged. You have to pick one. So, instead shift gears to neutral, depress the brake and slowly let go of the clutch. For newcomers you may want to engage the handbrake as well. I'll explain later.

So remember, Depress fully, with a purpose, and let go gently but completely. Tapping it will make the car lurch ahead.

Balance, Kimosabi, Balance

This is where actually driving comes along. The hardest part of driving sticks is knowing when the accelerator goes down and when the clutch goes up. This cannot be taught. You know you CANNOT floor the accellerator. But the Clutch is all the way in. Slowly raise the left and less than slightly lower the right foot. >>PRACTICE.

At stop lights and hills or worse, stop lights at hills, you will need, for the first few times, the handbrake. When at the red light...,

• engage the handbrake.
• shift to neutral
• slowly let go of the clutch

At the green light...,

• Step on the brakes
• Step on the clutch (all the way to the wall baby, Balls to the wall)
• shift to 1st gear
• Slightly accelerate while depressing clutch
• disengage the handbrake once RPM get to 2.

While changing the gears when the car is moving, braking is not neccessary.

• Step on the clutch (all the way to the wall baby..., again)
• shift to next gear
• Slightly accelerate while depressing clutch

When to shift Gears

They will tell you, "listen to her as she moans, and you'll know what to do". Now, driving is not fucking and you could kill people if you try to be fuckin' David Hassell hoff (sp?) so note. A good way to tell if the gear needs to be increased is to watch the RPM meter. Once it get's to 2 1/2 shift to the next highest.

What they won't tell you is that you never shift to gear 1 at ANY time unless (and ONLY if) the vehicle has come to a complete stop. You will, (physically, not an exageration) drop the gear box if your in the highway and try to engage 1st gear.

Downshift

It's good practice to down shift whilst slowing down. Downshift is the process of shifting to the lowest gear. Now, do it systematically, like you increased from 1 to 2 to 3 etc etc... because you were increasing speed. Now, Downshifting is the oppositte. You shift from 5 to 4 to 3 and then to 2. Again, NEVER to 1 unless at a complete stop.

Backing up/Reversing

Countries that drive on the right hand side usually don't drive in reverse except for very few reasons such as exiting out of a parking spot or makin a three point turn. This is because Vehicles are not desighned to move backwards, they have a blind spot as big as the planet saturn.

Now, Manual transmission in reverse is the equivalent of gear 3 only backwards which means the car has potential to move very fast. When Reversing, use the handbrake and try not to accelerate unnecesarily. Usually the brake and the clutch will suffice but if your on a hill, you can give it just a bit of gas.

Hand Brake

When at a complete stop with no further intention of moving forward, HANDBRAKE!! The car will roll forward. When the Gear is set to neutral, it's not the same as "Park". So when parking, or simply stopped with the engine turned off, (i.e. pulled over by a cop), use the handbrake.

Also, don't be into the habit of driving with the handbrake slightly elevated. Always shove it all the way down.

Be careful and drive safely.

Nice writeup. couple'a things though:

Clutches ARE expensive. They can cost between 600 and 2000 bucks depending on what you drive. So try not to smoke 'em ;)

Reverse is not the equivalent of 3rd gear. if you want proof, put the shifter in 3rd and try to start moving. Unless you race the motor and therefore prematurely wear the clutch, you'll stall.

And 2500RPM is not very high at all for the imports. Shift around 4500 to 5000 in those, otherwise you'll never hit the engine's powerband and you'll be wasting a lot of fuel lugging the motor.

I've found understanding how a transmission works helps alot as far as what to do and why it reacts in certain ways so I highly recommend this:

Car Bibles : The Car Transmission Bible page 1 of 2

Absolutely brilliant write up and most importantly it includes some great 3D Models and actual videos of them in motion so it's really not that hard to pick up.

I would recommend avoiding the Automatic Trans section unless you're interested after the first part cause your head may explode in a shower of planetary fragments.

I think the best option is to learn with an experienced driver in the passenger seat, or maybe even just watching a good drive with them narrating what they are doing first. If you actually pay attention, you can learn from that. Nothing beats trying on your own though. I was rebuilding transmissions before I was driving/riding them so I did not really need to be taught; it just makes sense how you need to control the vehicle once you understand what is going on. Always practice.

Oh and my truck only has a 4 speed manual... there are other shift configurations but the ones shown are the most common. And it also has 2 other shifters for the 2 transfer cases (one for low range an 4x4 and the other one for my home-coked 2 speed rear end). So the truck has potentially 12 gears... but that is not exactly your normal passenger car with a manual tranny. ...it also has no handbreak, it has a foot-operated parking break, another pedal.

That is fuckin' hilarious! :D

As a Bona Fide stick shift driver for the last 20 years, that was so wierd reading a description of something that is second nature to me!

You also seem to make it sound like something that's impossible to master. Yes, all 4 limbs work independently, yes it seems strange at first, but it's not as scary as you're making out.
Just relax and go and practice somewhere quiet where you won't get in anyones way, because if you fuck up in busy rush-hour traffic, you'll get an earful of abuse and you'll feel a right tit!
Practice makes perfect.
Good luck you guys! :thumbsup:

So, wait....

You engage the handbrake at every red light and stop sign? Can't you just step on the clutch and the foot brake, assuming you won't be there for very long?

I'm asking this because I'm driving manual this weekend for the first time in a while. (Plus I'm still a learning driver.)

I don't know anyone who uses the handbrake that much while driving—only when parking.

Thanks for the outline.

No, the hand brake is only used on hills to help you not roll back when you start if you haven't learned the heel-toe braking technique yet.

Or, you know, when your car is parked.

shakran, yeah sure they're expensive on the imports, but so's the air freshener at walmart. You never thought about using the local air freshener on an import have you?

And anyone learning to drive a stick with an import is in for a HUGE bill.

Reverse is not like gear three because you can't take off on gear three but it has the potential of driving as fast as if the vehicle was engaged in gear three ... did that make any sense?

I'll be honest, I learned how to drive a stick with a '90 Honda. Uber cool car, but in my '01 Malibu, I never went higher than 2500RPM's so I figured in a vehicle roughly with the same amount of HP should run the same. With imports you obviously HAVE to be an experienced driver so you won't need my begginners guide.

kinsaj, yeah, the best option is to learn with an experienced driver in the passenger seat. But that is never the case for some people when you have waaay to many things to do and you only have a weekend to get the basics down. So yeah, don;t just jump into it. Get to know what's going on at first.

And I very much doubt you would let a newbie touch your truck with a 28 1/2 foot pole let alone drive it.

fatboss, :lol: Think back to when you first started the car while still engaged in gear and then tell me if you never shit your pants.

How I got it down was I had to practice at a hill here at my work place. Going up, letting the car roll back down and back and forth.

Yes B_G, you can just step at the clutch and the brake but that's for the pros who never had to stall twice before jerking the car forward. Also, the clutch being engaged is not so much of a good idea, which is why if your in heavy traffic you can just engage it. If you won't be there for long, then you can just keep your foot at the brake and the clutch while you engage first gear and wait for the light to turn.

I thought that was a bit odd.

I'm kinda looking forward to driving again. (I have a bit of a fear of it unfortunately...but it's based on inexperience I think.) It will be the first time driving my SO's new Mazda3 Sport! :D

Cool. Most of the traffic I'll be in will be heavy (except for this weekend when it will be mainly the highway and the ultimate destination of a small town). It seemed a bit cumbersome to have to do that each time with the handbrake.

I don't get what you're saying. I can't put a Ford clutch in my Toyota. Most of the stick shift cars out there these days are imports. there aren't a whole lot of American cars left outside of the performance segment that come with a stick anymore, sadly.


It has more to do with the powerband than the horsepower rating. A 200 horsepower malibu is going to peak at a lower RPM than a 200 horsepower S2000. I learned to drive stick on a Toyota Tercel. My ex learned on a CRX. Neither one of us wrecked the clutch while doing it. You don't really have to be some elite manual driver to drive an import. They're pretty easy as long as you realize that the power is gonna develop north of 4,000 rpm, but you can easily roll-start an import in 1st gear without touching the gas pedal if you're smooth enough.

When teaching beginners, I used this excercise as a preliminary "class" in teaching how to handle a clutch and it seems to work well...this is even before starting to drive around:

- go to a nice large, open, empty parking lot or side road
- have the trainee put the trans into 1st gear
- for this excercise we will not even be shifting out of 1st
- have the trainee slowly let up on the clutch pedal, as slowly as possible
- teach them to get a feel for where the clutch starts to engage
- there will be multiple failed attempts resulting in the engine stalling, but keep trying
- next try to start moving the car without even giving it any gas pedal, only by releasing the clutch at idle

I think this teaches a good feel for how the clutch engages and then you can eventually move on to slowly adding in some throttle to get moving normally.

I learned how to drive stick in my old VW Jetta GLI. Learning in an import is no more difficult than learning in a domestic car - in both cases, you have to quickly learn how not to burn the clutch and find the "sweet spot" where you're engaging the gear. It's also obvious in a high-performance car that you're not going to shift at the same RPMs as a dinky little "get-me-there" sedan, so you can never put a standard on when to shift. Depending on traffic conditions, I don't always shift out of 1st when I normally would - if traffic is just going to slow down to a trickle/stop again, there's no point in engaging 2nd gear just to have to shift back down again.

BTW, getting used to driving stick again in Beltway traffic isn't the most fun, but it sure is nice to be able to zoom-zoom away from everyone once it clears out. ;)

I learned how to drive at age fifteen in an old Volkswagen beetle. It was a stick and my dad started me out in a big flat parking lot, just like BadNick's method. By the time I got out onto an actual road, I already had the clutch down pretty well. Plus, my Dad was always good at explaining why things worked the way they did. Like on a hill you have to let out the clutch more quickly, to keep from rolling backwards, and give it more gas, to keep from stalling . There weren't many hills where I grew up, so I was already pretty good with the clutch before I encountered a stop on a steep hill.

Xerxys made a good effort, but to paraphrase what kinsaj said, even a few minutes with an experienced stick driver sitting next to you beats 20 pictures and a thousand words.

I've always had a stick shift, currently a 2002 SAAB 9-5 turbo. Shift point varies depending on how I'm driving. If I want top acceleration, I'll shift at about 5500. For economy and smoothness, shift at peak torque, about 2500. Either approach works. But the thing is so quiet and smooth that sometimes I just forget to shift out of third or fourth.:shakehead:I guess that it's nice to know that it'll do 80mph in third, though.
And like shakran said, it is hard to even find American made stick shifts anymore. Sad.
And stickshift drivers too. I've gone car shopping with guys that were embarrassed because I (a girl) could drive a stick, and they couldn't.

Lindy
on the road in Kansas

Lindy: I also know a few guys who are embarassed that I can drive a stick (well) and they never learned. I won't be teaching any of them in my sparkly new car, though. :P

My Mazdaspeed3 also has turbo. I've learned that it kicks in very quickly at about 3000 RPM and holy shit it's interesting to start off from a light, shift to 2nd, shift to 3rd, let the turbo kick in and I'm already up to speed (55 mph) and the rest of the cars haven't even hit 25 mph yet.

The first time I drove a Speed3 on an open road, I was doing 75 by the time I was in 4th gear and decided I needed to have one. Took me 2 years, but I have one!! :D

This is the only reason I wanted to learn how to drive a stick, pathetic huh?

Starting the car should be done with the clutch and brake fully depressed. The clutch is the pedal always on the left side of the car. Brake at the center, Accelerate at the right. This setting does not differ whether the vehicle is a Left or Right hand drive. (commonwealth countries).

Not necessarily. My car does require the clutch to put all the way down, but my previous car did not. Clutch in is only completely necessary if the car is parked with first gear.

At stop lights and hills or worse, stop lights at hills, you will need, for the first few times, the handbrake. When at the red light...,

* engage the handbrake.
* shift to neutral
* slowly let go of the clutch

If you do this in your driving test, you will fail. When learning to drive a manual, you have to learn to "drag" your clutch so it grabs while pressing the gas but only enough to rev and not move. It's tricky, but must be learned.


You have to drive slowly at first in order to avoid wearing the clutch. You might end up replacing it 6 months afterwards but it's not too expensive.

It might be less than an automatic but it ain't cheap. The clutch on my '88 Colt over 10 years ago ran me $900.

Driving a manual is all about balance and timing, really.

Or if it has one of those infernal clutch safety switches.

I learned to drive a stick in a 1970 VW minibus-took my test in it too.
I've driven a stick for 38 years and will never EVER own an automatic; and I agree, a stickshift is a shiftstick is a shiftstick. I've driven an old Valiant with three on the tree, VW bugs and now my PT and the only difference really is that "sweet spot".
By the way, the PT manny tranny actually is made to be driven both as a speed shifter and a "get-me-there" sedan-it "senses" the quickness of your acceleration and thusly, allows a wider range in the RPMs in the speed-shift mode, which gets me up to 45 or so in 2nd and at a good cruising speed in 3rd. Having a K&N cold-air filter system boosts it even more( and I LOVE seeing those faces in the little lowered Civic drivers when it's hitting peak RPM in 2nd and starts to growl as I go by'em . Priceless!)

No, you should always press the clutch all the way down when you start the car, because even if your car doesn't require it, you might borrow, rent, or buy one that does and discover that the half-pressed habit you're in results in an encounter with a wall. ;)

Hmmm I'm confused. All the manual gear boxed cars i've driven can simply be put into and left in neutral. When you turn the engine over, there is no need to then depress the clutch.

Am I missing something else?

Bad Nick - I like your idea for getting used to the 'bite' on the clutch. I think I must have done something similar when I was learning.

Keep up the good work. :thumbsup:

One car I have now has a 6 speed manual trans that has a "safety switch" as mentioned above, so you can't start the car no matter what position the stick is in unless you depress the clutch pedal. On a related note, some people who install very heavy clutches to hold big power/torque end up with such high thrust loads on the front crank thrust washer that it can cause "crank walk". One of the primary causes of "crank walk" is starting the car with the clutch pedal depressed and thus putting all that thrust on a non or barely lubricated bearing. So many of these folks bypass the starter safety switch which forces you to push the clutch to start the car. There have been a few cases where people forgot the put the trans in neutral, clicked the ignition to start, and ended up throwing the car into an accident. My way of dealing with that was to install a triple plate clutch that has very low pedal effort/thrust but can still hold 1000 ft-lbs...but this clutch is sometimes referred to as a "theft deterent" since hardly anyone can get into the car and just drive it without stalling unless they spend some time practicing on it...one of the toughest clutches to learn, but IMO once learned, a thing of beauty and functionality. (HKS triple disk clutch w/lightweight flywheel)

ps: for my edit I added the italicized part above when I realized I was blabbing on without making the connection I intended to make.

I've never been able to rent a manual. Like fatboss said, putting the car in neutral before starting it up is fine and is a habit for many, so I am still sticking to the premise that a clutch only should be depressed for starting when it's required or the car is parked in first and putting it into neutral might cause a roll and even then, that's what brake pedals are for :).

I replaced a clutch on my '87 Colt. The clutch kit (clutch, pressure plate and throwout bearing) was around $100. Labor to have some body do it easily could have been another $800. You had to pull the engine and transmission on my '87 to get the clutch out. It sucked. I did the same thing on my 93 sentra, and was able to just pull the transmission, it was much simpler , but the clutch kit was about $50 more.

Stay away from newbies.

**points pitch fork at you**

I have to teach my two 17 year olds how to drive sticks because that's all we own.
My Dad taught me because Driver's Ed cars were automatics, even way back then (wimps).
I've drag raced my car 14 times, won 12 (against others of its ilk). I've driven every stick from a Porsche Boxster to a Plymouth Valiant-only kind I never drove was a truck.

I can get a newbie taking off like a pro in 24 hours, I'm sure of it. Find the "sweet spot" and the world is yours. ;) (yes I'm still talking about shifting)

---------- Post added at 02:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:40 PM ----------

I don't do engines. And there's no way in hell I'd have asked the spouse to do it. Pay the $900, get it done right and there's no fighting at the dinner table. ;)

I'm sure stick is fun, but I'd rather get out and walk than have one near DC rush hour.

I got stuck in uphill traffic on my bike one day and my clutch hand almost fell off.

...

I'm sure there is a reason a good portion of Chevy Corvettes are automatic trans.

Lazy old men who don't have the energy to shift anymore but want to look cool?

That's the only reason I can think of. :P

For the 2010 model year, Corvette is reincarnating its Grand Sport V8 with a 6-speed manual. Bet the sales of arthritis meds go up around the same time :p

Learning the 'friction zone' of first gear is also what they teach motorcycle riders to learn the manual transmission. Since 95% of operating a transmission is engaging the gear without lugging or burning the clutch plates, engaging into and out of 1st gear is an excellent exercise.

On a motorycle, you put it into first and slowly engage the clutch at idle throttle until the bike begins to roll forward. Disengage the clutch, rock backwards, and repeat.

In a car it's much the same, engaging the clutch at IDLE throttle until it begins to move and then releasing it to come to a stop again. In teaching this way, the learner also avoids burning up your clutch by giving it WAY too much gas. Any vehicle with a stock clutch should begin rolling with clutch engagement and NO throttle.

Once they've mastered rocking back and forth, they're 95% of the way there.

RE: Downshifting, it's generally advisable for novice to intermediate drivers to fully engage the clutch while slowing to a stop, rather than attempting to downshift through all (or some) of the gears. Because proper downshifting requires rev-matching, it should only really be done in an emergency or once you've mastered it. Even professional drivers heel-toe shifting do not precisely match the revolutions of the flywheel during downshift, and do introduce wear into the transmission. Even though I'm capable, I rarely downshift through the gears UNLESS the conditions merit using transmission breaking or if I intend to accelerate again quickly.

Also, I shift at 8500-9000 RPM. :)

My car won't start without the clutch pressed in even if it is in neutral. This is a good guide for beginners. The best advice for driving stick is to just make it as smooth as possible. Some people I have ridden with seem to not understand that driving a manual is supposed to be nearly as smooth as an automatic. Car rocks back and forth, jerks, thuds, etc. when changing gears. Yikes.

One more item - the note above about replacing the clutch not being a big deal - maybe if you can do it yourself, but on my car for example, the clutch is $350 but the labor is > $1000. That's a pretty damn big deal. No room whatsoever for burning the clutch out - you gotta learn to drive it correctly quick!

My dad taught me the opposite-he taught me to downshift, I think because if you can master that, no worries forever. Personally, I'm a clutch rider (bad habit) and put the car in neutral in slow traffic and drive almost as much with the clutch as I do with the gas-engaging it to slow to a coast, then downshifting at the right moment to keep momentum. Once stopped, the only time my foot is on the brake is if it starts to roll; probably drives the person behind me nuts to keep seeing "Lou's Baby" flashing on and off in the 3rd brakelight. LOL "She stopped. Oh, no she didn't. Yea, she stopped.":lol:

Automatic transmissions are simple, here's how they work.
http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/auto227.jpg
It's this thing called a "safety feature" that a lot of people apparently don't know about. Nothing is funnier than seeing someone with a remote starter that disables the clutch-ignition interlock leave the car in gear, press a button on their remote, and watch their car roll through the garage door.
There's no good reason to engine brake. Downshift so you have control of the car, or if you need to accelerate, but don't do it to slow down. Brake pads cost a lot less than a new clutch.

I just thought of another one: drag racing with a high stall converter

...and then let's not forget Jim Hall and his fantastic Chaparrals!

You'll kindly notice my use of "unless the conditions merit using.." I'm not sure where you're from, but in winter, particularly here in Colorado, engine braking is absolutely essential to survive icy downhill passes, where the loss of traction caused by braking would cause a complete loss of control. Even on solid ice, a vehicle can come to a complete stop in a straight line with engine braking. Even a minor tap of the brakes would cause it to stop, but not in a straight line. :) It's no longer a cost evaluation between clutch plates and brake pads at the point, but clutch plates or thousands of dollars of body and frame work from the resulting collision(s).

It's worth noting, as I did above, that someone downshifting improperly (using the synchros or clutch plates themselves to cause deceleration) can induce a loss of traction from the momentary 'lurch' of clutch contact. Properly downshifting means matching the speed of the output shaft by changing the speed of the engine before releasing the clutch.

I would add - when you are parked, don't just rely on the handbrake. Once the engine is stopped, put the car into gear (any gear really). Basically, if the handbrake fails, the gears will hold the car still.

Couple things to clarify here and a couple misconceptions to clear up.

First of all, if you always throw the clutch in when starting the car, then you never have to worry about whether the car has an ignition cutoff switch or not. It's very simple to do the easy thing.

Second, reverse is no way in hell near a third gear ratio. For example, the Acura RSX has a first gear ratio of 3.267. Third gear is 1.517. Reverse is 3.583. It is shorter than first gear. My Integra's reverse is slightly longer than first gear, but still far shorter than second. If you want a real-world example, my Integra can hit 80+ in third gear, but can no way in hell do that in reverse.

Brake pads are cheaper than clutches. Don't downshift to engine brake. Even racers don't use engine braking, because the abrupt shift in weight will destabilize the car. This same point applies to driving in the snow. Engine braking to try to slow down IS A BAD IDEA! in the snow or ice. If you have FWD or RWD car, when you engine brake you shift the weight and only slow down with two wheels. You now have one end of the car more firmly planted and the other end is free to move. When you brake, all four wheels work to slow you down. If you have antilock brakes, then all the better. Let the ABS do it's job. You might have VSA, in which case the VSA will try to stabilize the car when you engine brake. However, simple systems simply use the ABS to control skids anyways, by selectively grabbing individual wheels. Far more cars on the road have ABS than VSA systems.
And one more point related to this. I grew up outside of DC, and have lived in CO for the past two years. By and large, snow is far worse in MD. You have ten times as many people crowding the roads, and the snow tends to come in very moist and heavy right around the freezing temperature. Which means it packs down and ices very quickly. It is so easy driving in CO snow because it tends to come in dry and fuffy. The colder it is, the drier it is. So people do not drive in snow better here. They would have no fucking clue what to do in DC snow. Plus, out here many people have snow tires. I still hear Boulderites driving around in May with their studded tires on. HELLO! Compounds designed to be flexible in cold temperatures get smeary in hot temps. You will shred your tires driving on hot pavement.
I taught my wife to drive stick. Around DC.

And this is why I will NEVER own an automatic.....
While those big SUV's with their automatic transmissions are sliding sideways, I'm tooling along, shifter knob in hand, left foot at the ready and laughing my ass off.

A friend and I were discussing this topic and thought "if someone's a left foot braker, they have a LOT of relearning to do if they want to drive a clutch".

My SAAB won't let me remove the key unless the car is in reverse.
Also, most SAABs have the ignition switch (and key) on the floor or console, right next to the gearshift.:confused: Seems odd, I know, but after you've used it for a while you realize how awkward it is to have the key on the column behind the steering wheel where you can't see it.

Lindy

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.