standard transmission

[Mr.Burns]

hey im getting a new 5 speed car and i know how to drive a manual transmission car but i havent tried that much, casue i never owned a manual tranmission, can sombody give me some tips on driving, like is it hard to do left hand turns and do you have to go bact to neutral everytime at a red light nad start your way up again from first gear like how bikes work ? :dunno: :dunno:

thanks

[gp36912]

yes at red lights you do have to go back to neutral or you can keep your foot down on the clutch if you want :D. for left turns its not hard, put the car in second or first and just do a basic left turn. in winter start in second gear. bout all i can think about right now

[jcrules99]

yea everytime u come to a stop, u have to start off in first gear, u can start in second or third but i am pretty sure thats bad for your car lol

practice makes perfect.. thats all i can say

[Sharpie]

http://forums.beyond.ca/images/top_search.gif

Right when you get the car get someone to drive you to a parking lot at night to practice..

[gp36912]

and make sure the parking lot is completely empty with no poles or nothing just incase :P ive had some nice fun on a snowy empty parking lot and just slid around for fun :P

[Rocky]

What gear you use depends on your speed. If you're at a stop then you're gonna have to start from 1st gear.

Standards are easy with practice. Practice your hill start and be confident with it, you don't want to panic on the road and accidentally over-rev and run into someone, or roll back so far you nail somebody. Most people are ignorant these days, and will stop inches from your bumper, not giving consideration to your possible standard status. So, you want to know what you're doing there.

Remember that whenever you push your clutch in, your revs will drop. With your clutch in, pressing the gas will only increase your revs. When you let your clutch out again, you want to match the revs to approximately where you should be for that gear, so it's a comfortable transition back into whatever gear. It sounds complicated, probably, it's just another experience thing you'll understand over time.

Hope this helps; I remember what it's like to be a new driver in a standard.

[Mr.Burns]

thanx for the tips ,

heres another question, can u shift gears from 1st to 3rd or fourth with out go to 2nd, like just skip the second gear,,

[Mr.Burns]

Originally posted by Rocky
you don't want to panic on the road and accidentally over-rev and run into someone, or roll back so far you nail somebody.


this part scares mel ol

[Sharpie]

Originally posted by Mr.Burns
thanx for the tips ,

heres another question, can u shift gears from 1st to 3rd or fourth with out go to 2nd, like just skip the second gear,,
Yes but I dont see a point...

[snowboard]

Originally posted by Mr.Burns
thanx for the tips ,

heres another question, can u shift gears from 1st to 3rd or fourth with out go to 2nd, like just skip the second gear,,

yah but then you wont have alot of pwoer or acceleration haha...

[gp36912]

ya you can skip gears, but remember that your revs are gonna be higher than what would be needed for the higher gear

[gp36912]

the only reason you'd skip a gear is if lets say you rev second gear up to redline and your going 80 or so, then ya for sure skipping up to fourth is easy.

[Goblin]

Some tips?

Learn your car, for example:

In mine, redline in each gear is as follows:

1st- 50km
2nd- 85
3rd-140
4th-210
5th-240

Once you have that, you can guage for what gear you should be in, so you don't "labour" the car.

Labouring the car means it is stuggling, like you would if you were in top gear on your bicycle going up hill. - You feel a strain, and want to go to something easier.

You need to downshift, learn it quick. In my car, dont really go below 20 in 2nd, 30 in 3rd, 45 in 4th, and 50 in 5th. This goes back to learning your car, learning the optimum rev range.

Heal-toe is a really good method for downshifting, you never want to coast to a stoplight. It helps the car downshift easier, also on your passengers etc. (There is a video on here by GTS Jeff, quite good to showing what you have to do.) The main reason - Its illegal. (amongst other things)

Its called "not being in control of the vehicle at all times". Say you are coasting to a stop and a car cannot stop behind you, you can simple hit the gas to speed up, change lanes quickly, etc. If you were coasting, you would have to select a gear, get into it, and move. Time well wasted.

In winter, its all about the clutch. You have to be easy on it, same with the gas, for starting on ice, snow, or whatever.

Hill starts:

Your right is on the brake, left is on the clutch. Lift the clutch until you feel it bite, and quickly move over the the gas with your right. You shouldn't have rolled back at all... with practice, on really steep hills. Go find one, that isnt busy at all at night, and do it over and over.

Thats all I can think of atm :)

[Danish]

If you're having trouble switching your right foot from the brake to gas on hill starts, the e-brake can also be used. That way your right foot can rest on the gas, rather than the brake.

[asp integra]

the only time i can think of when u want to skip a gear is if your slowing down hard and coming into a corner for exampl 4th to second, so that than u come through the corner u have the revs fairly high to accelerate again, but u wouldnt go from 1st to 3rd when accelerating, it just doenst make sense and it puts alot of strain on the engine/tranny

[frostyda9]

Let out the clutch slowly, without giving it any gas. Just to get a feel for it. A lot of people don't realize the car won't stall, and are always giving it too much gas when they take off. Clutch engagement point is the main thing you should get a feel for....everything else is just time and practice.

[gp36912]

^^^^ to a point yes the car won't stall, though that does a give the clutch plate a little more wear. best to give a slight gas, keep the revs at 1500 tops, and slowly engage the clutch and you would have a nice smooth start. and when you are more comfortable with using the clutch try starting with the revs at much lower for simple winter starting practice :P

[VWbloke]

This analogy really helped me when I first got my license and had a 5-speed...

Think of the car as a bike and the engine is the person pedalling the bike. The lower the gear you're in, the easier it is to 'pedal'. So when you're starting off at a red light, you begin in first gear as it is the logical thing to do. Sure you can put it into 2nd, or sometimes even 3rd, but it is much harder to 'pedal' and the engine will be sluggish and possibly bog.

Once you've started rolling, you shift up the gears - same as you would on a bike. Of course you could leave it in first gear, but then you'd be pedalling (revving) like mad just to keep up to speed.

Another thing you might not have known (I didn't when I first started driving) is that you don't have to push in the clutch every time you brake. For all intents and purposes, think of your car as an automatic when you're cruising around in 4th gear. You can slow down, speed up, hit the brakes, yadda yadda without having to shift. That is, unless your speed gets too low....

... In which case, it's a simple case of downshifting to a lower gear. When the speed gets too low, it's hard for the engine to keep 'pedalling' in that higher gear. So you downshift to make it easier.

Another interesting tid-bit that you might not have known (again, i didn't when I first started driving) is that you can slowly creep your car forwards without giving it any gas. You just let out the clutch slooooowwwly and the engine speed alone will let your car creep at 2km/h (this might be dependant on the car, however. Oh, and it probably isn't good for your clutch).

The reason I bring this all up about the slow creeping is that some people can panic when they're on a hill or at a set of lights and start revving like crazy and then popping the clutch. The best approach is to slowly let the clutch out until you feel it grab and then - and only then - do you begin giving it a bit of gas. When you first start out, try keeping the revs under 2000RPM when you're pulling away from a stop. As you get better you'll find that you need hardly rev it at all.

Anyway, I hope this all made sense and helps out a bit - it's a lot of garbage to learn (yet becomes second nature). I'm sure you'll do great.

:thumbsup:

[CryoCarnage]

i sometimes skip gears when im racing. Like 40-100 runs on the highway, i go 4th to second.

[shadow_driftR93]

First and foremost, it'll feel weird and you'll think that you'll never get the hang of it. But trust me when I say after a few solid sessions of practice you'll already start to get the hang of it. Then after a few weeks it's completely natural and you don't even think of it anymore.

It's best to start off learning in a parking lot or a really empty or deserted street. Practice starting and stopping in first gear, as well as shifting to 2nd and 3rd. These are the most critical and the most picky gears. Every cars clutch is different, so it'll just take you time to get used to yours. But basically you start the car by pushing the clutch in (you can either be in neutral or in first, but be careful if you're in first not to let the clutch out right aways after starting!) turn the key over and start it up. So once you're in first gear with the clutch pedal still in, let go of the clutch slowly and the instant you feel the car start to give and move forward, then slowly press on the accelator and then completely let off of the clutch. Once you got the hang of it, get on the highway and try 4th and 5th gears. Also, make sure you practice on inclines as they're more tricky. They require more initial throttle as the car requires more torque to properly engage the gear. You'll be fine though, no worries. Good luck!

[gorilla*goggles]

when your driving with a standard in winter for your first time
I recommend you just drive around your block for a while (or
a parking lot). When your new you tend to pop the clutch a
little and on snowy roads your tire will just spin like crazy.
Pratice slowly and fluently releasing the clutch on snowy roads,
especially on hills.:thumbsup: It'll help you out in the lnog run
trust me haha.
Good luck

[Mr.Burns]

thanks for helping me out alot guys, i was at the parking lot yesterday night practicing your tips, thanks again :)

[carter_prelude]

good luck with it, takes about a week or so to get used to it. I know when i got my first car i tried finding every exuse possible to go out for a drive and learn how to shift smoother . you should get the hang of it. I was self tought tho so i got no pointers...i got my car insured, and decided i was goin for a drive haha. Just make sure you don't ride the clutch, lots of begginers tend to do this...err..my ex gf was BADDD for this. Just wears it out wayyy sooner. GOOD LUCK! hope you have fun with it, a 5 speed feels soo much more sporty than an automatic.


BTW...thanks everyone for not flaming him lol....

[Mr.Burns]

Originally posted by carter_prelude
good luck with it, takes about a week or so to get used to it. I know when i got my first car i tried finding every exuse possible to go out for a drive and learn how to shift smoother . you should get the hang of it. I was self tought tho so i got no pointers...i got my car insured, and decided i was goin for a drive haha. Just make sure you don't ride the clutch, lots of begginers tend to do this...err..my ex gf was BADDD for this. Just wears it out wayyy sooner. GOOD LUCK! hope you have fun with it, a 5 speed feels soo much more sporty than an automatic.


BTW...thanks everyone for not flaming him lol....


LOL :rofl: , ya man i kept stalling it it sucked lol, but im getting the hang of it kind of

[frostyda9]

Originally posted by gp36912
^^^^ to a point yes the car won't stall, though that does a give the clutch plate a little more wear. best to give a slight gas, keep the revs at 1500 tops, and slowly engage the clutch and you would have a nice smooth start.

I don't mean every time, just once or twice so you can get a feel for the modulation, and so you realize that there are times when you don't need any right foot at all. In my experience, new (manual) drivers typically gas it way too much.

[hockeybronx]

Originally posted by CryoCarnage
i sometimes skip gears when im racing. Like 40-100 runs on the highway, i go 4th to second.

You are a dork:banghead:

You'd better be joking.

[guessboi]

like what many have said...

"slowly slowly" let go of the clutch slightly without any gas, the car will move slightly "if you hold the clutch at that level". hit the gas smoothly and take your foot off the clutch and you are on your way. :thumbsup:

the most challenging is uphill and winter.
I would suggest if you have a slightly uphill garage, practice going in and out. that way, you will master reverse and uphill!
while stopping in a uphill and ready to go soon, with the right feet holding the brake, (in first gear), slowly release the clutch slightly and you will sense a rpm drop, hold it there (car will want to move) hit the gas smoothly and release the clutch...
a very hilly road will be more of a challenge though. :D especially if you are at a dead stop. the key is timing so you don't have to stop for those hills. hahaha.

[Godfuader]

Anything wrong with coasting as much as possible...mechanically speaking rather than safety? Like cruising down a long hill, just pop in neutral and coast along.

[Vietsta]

can't you just start braking in neutral?
and is for reverse like jus tthe same

[gp36912]

hehehe if you have good hand eye foot coordination. learning this is easy, took me 10 minutes to start getting the car to smoothly launch and etc. but there were about a minute or 2 where i stalled the car a few times. but after getting a feel for how the clutch catches and how much gas to give. though it was more or less natural for me. i'd give a normal person about a few hours of practice and it'd become second nature.

[Chester]

Originally posted by carter_prelude
Just make sure you don't ride the clutch, lots of begginers tend to do this...err..my ex gf was BADDD for this. Just wears it out wayyy sooner. .

:werd: One of my friends rides the clutch soooo much, all you can smell is burning clutch when you step out of the car. Makes my eyes tear up.