I’ve had a manual car for some time, but I am concerned that maybe I’m not driving it right… I don’t have anyone to teach me, let alone anyone I’d trust to know what they’re talking about! Any and all pointers are appreciated!
Welcome to the Straight Dope Driving School.
Could you be more specific with your question ? it is extremely difficult to teach you driving over the internet.
But here are some pointers:
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if you’re a learner, drive with a fully licensed and experienced driver by your side. Put L plates front and back.
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Fasten seat belt, adjust seat, adjust ALL mirrors, move into neutral, start engine, release handbrake while depressing brake, move into first//reverse after depressing clutch, get going. Get out of first gear as early as possible. Drive at about 3000 rpm per gear after first. Move into top gear as early as possible. stay between 40-60 in top gear to conserve fuel, speed limit allowing.
i’m sure someone will be along soon giving you more confusing and entirely contradictory advice.
I’ll only contradict to say that my old Honda 5-speed would cruise at around 2000 RPM per gear so I wouldn’t stare too hard at the tach. Learn to develop a feel for when the engine is revving too high - that’s your clue to upshift.
The reverse, of course, is true for deciding when to downshift.
Advice from my ex-wife, indirectly of course, would be to start the car from a stop in first gear. She developed the bad habit of starting from second gear, easing the clutch out while revving the engine. It worked but a year or so of this and she snapped the transmission shaft one day.
For a manual transmission, one habit that bugs the heck out of me is those drivers that sit at a slight incline and use a lightly engaged clutch to hold the car rather than use the brakes. This is the sure path to wearing your clutch out early.
When facing uphill at a stop, depress the clutch and brake fully to hold the car while you wait. Learn to move rapidly from brake to gas while releasing the clutch in such a was as to not drift back into a trailing car. If necessary, use the handbrake to keep you from drifting backwards until you start to move. I made circles and circles around a empty stadium until I got the technique down. Practice - if you can find a hill in Oklahoma, that is… 
$.02 -B
A couple of important tips…don’t rest your hand on the shifter and keep your foot off the clutch unless you are shifting or clutching. Don’t touch them unless you are using them, resting your foot or hand on them causes long term expensive wear and tear.
Since you’re looking for advice, I’ll move this thread to IMHO.
Do not downshift to slow the car; use the brakes instead. “Engine braking” was common back in the day when brakes, they weren’t so good. In today’s idiom, engine braking wastes gas and wears out expensive drivetrain components, whereas modern brakes are efficient, long lasting and relatively inexpensive to repair.
Do not lug the engine. An American practice where the driver starts in first and properly accelerates through the gears to fifth but never downshifts out of fifth regardless of vehicle speed. If your speed drops from 50 to 30, it would be a good idea to drop to third gear.
Do not overrev the engine. Never under any circumstances exceed the highest rpm as indicated by the red portion of the tach. Many cars have rev limiters but a surprising number do not. Some cars do not have a tach. Not recommended for beginners.
Do not drive in a gear if you could be driving in the next highest gear without lugging. Depending on the engine, (most stick shifts in the US are four cylinders) for maximum fuel mileage and long life, try to keep the revs below 3000 RPM in first, between 2000-3,000 RPM in second gear and 1800-2500 in third through fifth. Many US cars with standard transmission have an “Upshift” light indicating it might be a good time to shift.
When driving in snow, a 2nd gear start may be permissable. When driving in a blizzard, driving in a gear lower than normal may be a good idea.
Never pass in fifth gear on a two lane highway. Third should be good up to 70 mph and fourth will in most cases achieve the vehicles’ top speed. Fifth is not intended for hard acceleration or top speed; it’s mostly for improved fuel mileage on highways.
Hill holding is best practiced when no one’s around. It’s a lost art that requires intensive practice and for some a measure of “the force.” Don’t get caught in traffic on a hill without a good handle on this skill.
If you ever have to replace the clutch, replace the pressure plate and the throughout bearing, too, regardless. These parts are relatively cheap but the labor to dissassemble and reassemble your trans is not. You do not want to have to pay for this operation more than once.
If you feel the clutch slipping (the revs rise but the vehicle’s speed does not while the clutch is fully engaged) on a really hot day when you’ve been driving in stop and go traffic, the clutch’s days are numbered. Good time to sell.
A clutch should last 80,000 miles or more. If not, you’re doing something wrong.
Do not ride the clutch. When the car is cruising, keep your foot off the clutch pedal. Only depress the clutch pedal when changing gears or at a stop.
I’m really dating myself here, but never “push start” a modern car with manual transmission. Great way to fry your electronics and void your warranty.
This is controversial, but many manufacturers frown on “jump starting” modern cars regardless of transmission because it too can fry the car’s electronics.
Congratulate yourself for learning a fast-becoming rare skill and enjoy better fuel mileage, better control of your vehicle and better acceleration. You’ll probably get killed if you ever try to trade-in your car to a dealer because so few can or want to drive “stick.” Better to sell it on your own or drive it until the wheels fall off.
A tip about parking, especially on inclines.
Don’t expect the transmission to hold the car in place. Cars with manual trannys can and will roll while in gear. Use the parking brake. And to save wear on the drivetrain, follow this procedure:
(1) Apply parking brake.
(2) Shift to neutral or simply depress clutch.
(3) Allow vehicle to settle. This does two things. It assures that the parking brake was applied with sufficient force and it takes tension off the transmission.
(4) Place vehicle back in gear. This is just a safety measure.
Good luck!
I have been driving my car for about 2 years now, but what I need to know really is what not to do, and what is not so good to do
Thanks!
i strongly disagree. use engine braking along with brakes. it reduces time taken from 60-0 (heck, from any speed to 0) and is vitally important in emergency situations and good practice under normal driving conditions, especially downhill.
and once you’ve learnt up all this, drive over to the Straight Dope Advanced Driving School :
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=110640
liirogue:
We could make a pretty darn good “How to drive a standard transmission car” booklet with all the excellent advice given so far, including “what not to do and what is not so good to do.”
I’d ask you to be more specific but it seems you may not know exactly what you’re looking for. It sounds like you know how to drive a stickshift and perhaps are looking for more advanced pointers? My advice would be to re-read the posts and if you already know all this stuff you’re probably doing okay.
don’ts:
don’t ride the clutch. happens when you rest your foot on the clutch instead of moving your foot off the clutch and resting it on the side.
don’t bang into people, places, etc.
don’t NOT use the side view mirrors.
don’t primarily use the rear view mirror while reversing. look into it before you begin. then turn around and look behind.
don’t drive with the wrong air pressure.
don’t blind oncoming drivers with your headlights.
don’t depress the clutch every time you need to brake.
other don’ts will be along soon.
Agreed that it is an excellent and necessary practice to slow the vehicle by downshifting while descending a steep hill or mountain in order to avoid overcooking the brakes. However, downshifting to slow a modern US car during normal driving conditions is absolutely unnecessary to slow the vehicle and wastes gas and causes premature drivetrain wear. This opinion is virtually unanimous among the US automotive press.
In a panic braking situation, if the car has ABS, most drivers will be best served to just slam on the brakes. Without ABS, a pumping action is best. A skilled driver with the presence of mind to downshift and brake during a panic stop will do even better.
If you are a skilled driver, it is true that downshifting while braking will yield quicker stops, but if braking alone yields satisfactory stopping power, then the cost of downshifting exceeds the benefit.
I have driven older cars with poor braking systems that required engine braking. Those days ended in the US market in the mid- 1970’s. I speak only for modern cars sold today in the US market.
Ok, I’m missing something here. How can downshifting and braking slow you down faster than just braking? Under emergency braking, your tires are going to be at their limit of adhesian(?). How will downshifting while doing this slow you down faster? Racers on a closed course may downshift occasionaly while braking for a corner, but this is just to prepare the vehicle for the accleration to come. A lot of corners you dont shift until you are through most of the corner so as not to upset the car. What I’m really asking for here is, site?
dead0man
I disagree with this. Engine breaking to stop brake overheating is only a reason not to use the brake pedal . The distance in stopping is only a function of scrubing speed by creating friction. And the brake pads are designed to create the most friction, thereby reducing speed the most. There is no way to create engine drive train friction at the same time as maximizing brake lining friction (unless you have some kind of android like reflexes and can time engine breaking between pulses of an ABS). In an emergency situation you want to maximize the brake lining friction without locking up the tires. Engine braking was much more usefull in the days of 4 wheel drum brakes, which would cause brake overheating easily. But with disc brakes(I don’t think there is any car made without at least front wheel discs anymore, and front wheels do the majority of breaking) it is much less of a factor now.
In the UK (where I’d guess 98% of the cars are manual transmission) I was taught to use a combination of engine braking and normal breaking. Although it is understood that normal breaking would be sufficient, the rule (as taught to me, at least) was that the engine/trans should always be in the correct gear for the speed of the vehicle, otherwise you’re not in complete control.
That’s basically been the way I’ve been taught Xerxes.
Zheesh, we’ve had this discussion a zillion times over, and there’s always good reasons to use engine braking, and there’s reasons where it’s essential (going downhill) and there’s reasons when it’s a waste of time (coming to a complete stop on dry, level ground.) Of course, somebody’s gonna disagree with each point, and bring up exceptions. But in general, the quickest way to come to a stop in normal conditions is to use the brakes. In wet conditions, it helps to use engine braking to keep traction. But if you have ABS, this point really doesn’t matter so much. It’s been put to me simply by performance drivers as this: brakes to slow down, gears to speed up. In other words, slow down with your brakes and downshift to the correct gear so you can quickly speed up again. I’m a firm believer that in normal road conditions (good weather, normal traction, level surface) this is good advice.
I understand the importance of not resting your foot on the clutch, but why not the shifter?
I often rest my right hand on the shifter just because it’s a comfortable spot. As long as no pressure is being applied, I can’t see how this is a harmful practice.
However, I’d be interested in hearing a refutation of this…
ok… this is getting interesting…
in the blue corner : wolfman and Loooooorenzooooo
in the red corner: xash
first, a few things before we begin…
let me say that i was speaking from the point of view of cars with no ABS and no disc brakes, since most cars sold in India still come with none of these as standard. And that lorenzo’s second post makes a lot of sense.
but, i still feel engine braking along with using brakes is essential even in cars with both ABS and front discs…
wolfman, you say :
i understand your point…but… if you use engine braking along with the brakes, the engine braking will do part of the work at the same time that the brakes are working… thus requiring the brakes to overcome a lot less force than it would need to overcome working alone… thus allowing it to create the neccessary friction in a shorter time than it would take working alone… thus bringing the car to a halt or required lower speed in less time and using less distance than if the brakes were working alone.
also:
“Brakes are designed so brake shoes or pads rub against the brake drum or disks to slow the vehicle. Braking creates heat, but brakes are designed to take a lot of heat. However, brakes can fade or fail from excessive heat caused by using them too much and not relying on the engine braking effect.”
i am not saying use engine braking only… or even aggressively…i’m just saying use it in conjunction with brakes…
i find that engine braking offers me a whole lot more control of the vehicle, especially in collision avoidance circumstances, which i encounter daily on the roads of Bombay.
but i would like to hear why i shouldn’t use engine braking. let’s assume a car with ABS and only front discs.
Unless your braking system has something wrong with it, the engine should have no affect on your stopping distance. I don’t know of a modern car that cannot lock up the wheels at any speed. If they can do that, they can certainly generate enough force to stop the car. Since the brakes can overcome the rolling resistance, they can exert more force than is necessary to stop. However, locking up the wheels is not the fastest way to stop, so if you wheels to lockup that is when it is necessary to apply less brake.
I don’t really use engine braking other than on hills. However I do downshift as I stop to make sure I’m always in the right geer. The majority of the work is being done by the brakes, not the drivetrain.
ok, from here:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wauk/feb01/brake19021801a.asp
ofcourse, the quote refers to engine braking system on trucks, so it would differ from engine braking systems in cars, but the concept is the same… helps you to stop faster.
Dilbert:
i did not say that brakes do not have the capacity to overcome rolling resistance… i just said they’d take more time to overcome the same rolling resistance working alone than working in tandem with the engine’s braking capability. and we’re talking seconds here… probably even fractions of a second… which is a non-negligeable amount of time when it comes to collision avoidance on the road.