The detail I forgot to mention is that he was already pretty close to the car in front, maybe 30-40 centimeters. He may have done it this way not because it was his usual practice, but because he wasn’t confident he could get the clutch engaged before the car slipped forward. In that case, controlled gentle contact would have been preferable to a hard, uncontrolled bump. Even so, like I said, it wasn’t the way I would have done it.
But there is definitely some truth in recognizing variations in car culture. In Paris, for example, parallel parking on the street is hard to come by, and spaces, when you do find them, tend to be pretty small. Everybody just accepts that they may need to bump their neighbors on the way in and out, or that their own cars might be similarly bumped. If you walk down the typical Paris street and look at all the vehicles, it’s extremely rare to find one that doesn’t have at least a little wear and tear on the corners.
Americans, of course, are quick to take offense when somebody taps their way into or out of a parallel space, but for Parisians, it’s everyday practice.
Yep. If you’re asked to do a hill start in a manual car on a UK driving test and you don’t use the handbrake until the clutch bites, you fail the manoeuvre, if not the entire test.
The alternative of quickly moving right foot from foot brake to accelerator while you simultaneously bring up the clutch, is how people sometimes roll backwards into the stationary car behind them.
Sure, it wears the clutch a tiny bit, but that’s like saying walking wears the soles of your shoes. It’s what they are for.
I’ve always heard first or reverse as though they were roughly equal. And generally, they are pretty close but usually, reverse is a little “taller” than first. I think the idea is to have slightly less torque at the wheels when a driver is in reverse. Low first gear gives you strong acceleration to pull away. Taller reverse gear makes throttle control a little easier when backing up.
This can be taken to extremes. I recall reading many years ago that the Lincoln Town Car had a reverse gear so tall that it could go something like 50 mph in reverse. With all the torque it had, it accelerated nearly as well in reverse as it did going forward. (I found the article. My memory isn’t that bad. The Town Car could go 63 mph in reverse and did 0-60 in 9.2 seconds in reverse, vs. 8.1 forward).
On the manual gearbox vehicles I’ve seen, the clutch plate is gripped between the engine’s flywheel and a pressure plate, and stays with the engine when the gearbox is removed. Are there some vehicles out there that put the clutch assembly on the gearbox input shaft?
I’ve only driven manual transmission cars. When I got my current Jeep Wrangler, the transmission felt “funny” when I test drove it The salesman explained it was automatic braking and it was the latest thing. I asked if it could be shut off, and he looked up how to do that.
For the OP’s situation, I’ve never used the emergency brake. I let out the clutch, take my foot off the brake and give it gas, the same as if I were on a level area of road.
For experienced drivers or with “hill hold” control or on only a minor slope this is fine.
In a UK driving test situation you’d fail and for anyone on a steep hill the forces involved greatly increase the accuracy of the timing and engine control required and also greatly increase the risk of a stall or a roll-back.
I would have heel and toed the brake and gas pedal. Rev the engine with my toe and lift my heel off the brake while releasing the clutch. I learned to do this in a one ton Chevy truck while towing a 32 foot fully enclosed race car trailer. The truck did not have hill holder clutch like some other vehicles I had driven. The first time I came across this was in a 1961 Studebaker pickup. My current pickup, a 2014 Silverado, has an anti rollback feature even though I have an automatic transmission. The only time it turns on is when I am going uphill while towing my travel trailer.
Right, and remember the OP’s situation was in a rental car. I parallel parked in San Francisco for years and, except for the steepest hills, I could switch from brake to gas fast enough to not use the handbrake. But that was dependent on muscle memory of where the friction point was. In a rental car, no way I could do that.
That may well be. Though I did look up the only other manual I ever drove regularly, a 1986 Hyundai Excel 2-door hatchback with a 4-speed manual. Amazingly, the info is available. Result:
I
4.226 (14.66)
II
2.365 (8.21)
III
1.467 (5.09)
IV
1.105 (3.83)
R
4.109
That fits with my memory, that reverse was a little taller than first. Still, it’s just two data points for me.
It sounds like you made the process too long and you were “riding” the clutch. That’s the quickest way to burn out a clutch. Having said that, however, I also have to say that they overreacted.
I am not going to try controlling 3 pedals with 2 feet. My congratulations to those who can manage it.
About the hill-hold feature:
How does one find out if it’s there ?
Does it hold using the brakes or the transmission itself ?
How does the system “know” when to release the hold ?
Assuming this car did have it, does it mean I could have just ignored the handbrake until the very end (see sequence below) ?
Depress the clutch and put the car in reverse gear (the car doesn’t roll down, thanks to hill-hold);
Spin up the engine to maybe 2000 rotations per minute;
Slowly let go of the clutch until I can feel the friction point;
Still working at the friction point, with the engine still spinning at maybe 2000 rotations per minute, back up the car maybe a meter, which takes 1 or 2 seconds;
Simultaneously apply the foot brake (or handbrake) and depress the clutch;
Put the car in neutral and apply the handbrake;
Follow standard protocol for turning off the car when parked on a hill (note: may involve use of an encyclopedia or a Haynes manual to find gear ratios).
Sometimes on hills at slow speeds there’s no option but to ride the clutch a bit. Any lower RPM, and the car will stall. Let the clutch out any more, and the car is going too fast. Keep the RPM as low as possible to minimize wear on the clutch, and definitely don’t hold the car at a stop with the clutch.
I have one part of my commute that would occasionally be stop-and-go up a hill. I’d try to let a gap grow in front of me before moving to minimize the number of time I was slipping the clutch, but that was only about two car lengths before the people behind me would start to get anxious.
I think with the low speeds, and brief amount of time, the clutch doesn’t really care. By the time I got rid of the car I’d been stuck on that hill for 1000+ times, and the clutch had 120,000 miles on it, and was still fine.
Check with the manufacturer to be sure or, when on a moderate incline, check for yourself.
My system deploys when using the footbrake, nothing to do with the parking brake. If you have your foot on the brake, in neutral on a slope, then when releasing the brake the car will “hold” where it is for a second (via the brake calipers) then they will release and normal service is resumed. If during that hold time you engage gear and try to move off they will release immediately.
So in your example, to use the hold system, before point 1 in your manouvre you’d have to be applying the footbrake (and have released the parking brake, assuming it is a manual parking brake. Of course with most push-button parking brakes they work as a “permanent” hill hold system i.e. they lock wheels until such time as they sense you trying to move off, then they release automatically)
Every car I’ve ever owned has had a clutch. I’ve never used the parking brake when starting out. I usually put 150,000 miles on the vehicle, then trade it in.
So far I’ve never spent a cent on clutch or transmission repairs.
