Yeah, I live in Chicago, mostly city driving, and my old Mazda 3 is still on the original clutch at 125,000 miles, but it feels like it should be replaced somewhat soon, though I plan to sell the car before that (and I’ve already bought a new one a few months ago, just haven’t gotten around to selling the old one.) I don’t think I’m particularly gingerly with the clutch, besides not riding it.
I guess this is the very bottom line question I have for you city dwelling stick shift drivers, then: how is “riding the clutch” not to some degree synonymous with “stop and go traffic”? It seems the people most adamant about “NEVER EVER ride the clutch!!, signed, someone who put 180,000 miles on the original clutch on my car”, eventually admit they live in a low density population area and mostly put highway miles on the car, the exact opposite of my scenario.
But I know it should be obvious that there are plenty of inner city / bad traffic area drivers of MT cars, if all it means is that compared to Mr. Rural their OEM clutches will need replacing every 60,000 miles or so instead of 180,000 due to frequent stop-and-go traffic resulting in regular (but not “for the fun of it”) use of low speed clutch slipping (I’ve also heard that “low speed slipping” at idling engine speed is relatively harmless compared to slipping it at higher RPMs), I’m just not going to worry about it.
But as you can see, I’m still worrying about whether or not to worry about it.
Personally? I just do my best to stay in first and not have to actually make a full stop at any point. Obviously, I do have to make a full stop, so I do end up shifting fully into neutral instead of riding the clutch. But you can go pretty darned slow in first without riding the clutch. This is not to say I never ever end up riding the clutch. Sometimes I do, of course, but I try to avoid it as much as possible and is sensible. There are some drivers I’ve driven with that are constantly on their clutch when in traffic. I do not do that.
I’ve been through a few clutches. I never got 100K on one, but well over 75K on all of them. I think maybe in hill country you’ll grind the clutch a little more starting up on inclines, but depending on how you drive the same might happen with a lot of stop and go city driving. All of the standards I had were RWD and the cost of clutch replacement was very reasonable. I have heard some horror stories about expensive FWD clutch replacements though I have no idea why those should be a problem.
Try driving a 10 speed unsynchronized manual transmission. The smartest thing I did was make a chart of what speed the rig was going at 1500 rpm in each gear and tape it to the dashboard. It sure made downshifting a lot easier. And the “bump and run”. That’s when you’re idling along to a red light at 6 or 5 and then the light turns green and you need to drop it to 2 or 3 to have the power to get back up to speed.
The short answer is simply to drive it aiming for as close to least wear as you reasonably can. And to accept that least wear is NOT zero wear. So you accept the fact it’ll wear out whenever it finally does. With what the prior owners did probably having more impact on its total life than what you do now.
You get to decide what “close to least wear as you reasonably can” means. It should mean not resting your foot on the pedal & spinning the throwout bearing unnecessarily. It should mean not coasting to a stop in gear with the clutch down vice coasting in neutral with the clutch up. It should also mean starting smoothly and accepting that some slippage is totally normal every time. Popping the clutch in a misguided attempt to shave 1/10th of a second off the slip period is harmful, not helpful.
It doesn’t mean (or doesn’t have to mean) learning how to shift without using the clutch, nor driving selfish dumb in traffic to avoid every coming to a stop. etc.
If you can’t quit stressing about it then sell the car. Or replace the clutch now.
Recognizing that a good way to “cure” a headache is to whack your thumb with a hammer … I invite you to price brake jobs on that car. With rotors. Now you have something new to worry about 
Clutches don’t seem so bad now do they?
LSLGuy
Who spent $2K unexpectedly just before Christmas on his older high mileage BMW. Which kinda crimped my gift-giving budget.
It used to be that manuals had more gears, also. But yes, on upper end cars with computer controlled automatic CVT trannys, there is no longer a gas savings. On lower end cars, when you get a extra gear and the tranny isnt super duper, then maybe 5-10%.
When going down a loooooong hill, where your brakes might overheat, then sure, use the tranny to slow down some. Otherwise, as said above.
The next trick to demonstrate good control with a stick shift is to practice changing gear without using the clutch at all. You do this by exactly match the revs with the speed in the required gear.
Changing up is easiest - As the revs climb to the point of needing a change up, you ease back a fraction to take the load off the transmission and slip into neutral. You then let the revs drop to the point at which you can slip straight into the next highest gear.
Changing down is harder. Assuming that you are slowing down (maybe approaching a junction) you have to blip the throttle slightly to get into neutral and then raise the revs enough to get into a lower gear.
This is not practical in heavy traffic, but it does work in a normal suburban/country setting.
It’s weird when an old thread gets bumped and I have no idea what I wrote back then.
Anyway, once I realized that I hadn’t driven the old pickup in a year, I dug out the card of a fellow who had once stopped by and asked about it. I called him and said “It’s yours for free, come and get it!”
I have a couple of questions after acquiring a used Mazda3 with MT earlier this year as our 3rd car (teenager in the house). It’s been 10+ years since driving my last MT.
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When parking, should I leave it in gear with hand brake set? A friend said yes, and if facing uphill, put it in 1st, and when facing downhill, put it in reverse. Another friend said to put it in 3rd. The wife uses the hand brake and leaves it in neutral (which I think is risky). I usually put it in 1st with the hand brake. Is there a right answer?
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When approaching a stop light, and coasting to stop, can you just push the gear shift out of gear to neutral (without using the clutch at all)? Will doing that have any effect on clutch wear, or damage anything else?
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I park the car in the garage next to another car. The driveway is short and somewhat steep. I find myself working the clutch a bit as I need to go uphill very slowly. I don’t know if there is a better way to get the car in there without revving and working the clutch so much(?).
Thanks for the advice!!
IMO:
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When I lived in San Francisco I’d leave it in 2nd pointing uphill, R pointing down, and be sure to cut the wheels appropriately against the curb. I don’t know how often properly set emergency brakes give way, but my suspicion is “very rarely” so I doubt your wife is doing anything that would make your insurance agent nervous.
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Generally not, because the engine will generally be dragging on the transmission in this situation (meaning the transmission gears will be dragging on the engine-driven gears), since the car’s in gear but you have your foot off the accelerator. Disengaging gears when they are transmitting force tends to make them wear faster, particularly because when the gears are just barely engaged (only the tips overlapping) the pressure on the tips of the gears can become higher than that for which they’re designed, since the contact area has become very small, and you can round the tips of the gears off faster. Generally you should try to shift gears such that there is no force between them before they are fully engaged. Hence, put the clutch in before taking the car out of gear as well as before putting it into gear.
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If it’s not hard to aim the car, you could park it backwards, since R is usually a lower gear than 1. Otherwise, practice. It would be surprising if it mattered that much. You may be wearing the clutch at a high rate, but you’re doing it for rather a short time, a few seconds a day. That doesn’t seem likely to wear a clutch unduly. My impression is that clutches wear out prematurily when people ride them for long minutes or hours a day, or shift unusually poorly. I take ordinary care of my clutches, without fussing (other than a habit of double-clutching every time I downshift which is probably unnecessary but which I’m too old to unlearn now). And I keep my cars an average of 150,000 miles each and have never had to repair or replace a clutch, or even noticed abnormal behaviour. But maybe I’m just lucky, too.
Do. Not. Do. This.
If you are parking facing up or down hill if the car is going to roll (which will turn the engine) you want it to rotate in its normal direction of rotation. There are some modern engines out there when rotated the wrong way slowly (like being pulled by gravity) will jump the valves out of time and can bend the valves in the engine.
If you park facing uphill use reverse. If you park facing downhill use first gear (not second, the car will roll easier in second)
I drive a stick as well. sadly in Canada less than 9% of cars sold have standard as an option.
I think it is a travesty. People actually buy/lease an automatic Porsche, that’s just wrong. Not the Porche part but that they are available in automatic.
The best advice you seem to be getting is, don’t ride the clutch.
In any post WWII car transmission the gears don’t shift by engaging and disengaging the teeth[sup]1[/sup]. The teeth are always fully engaged and the shifting is accomplished by way of synchros. Hence the term “synchromesh transmission.”[sup]2[/sup] Which by design disengage (and engage (mostly)) with effectively zero wear even under load.
I agree that all else equal it is smoother & more professional to shift to neutral when the trans is not under load. From cruise it is very easy to learn to use engine braking as long as practical, then slightly increase throttle so the engine is not pushing the car and the car is not pushing the engine. Then shift to neutral while there is no load passing through the transmission. Then reduce throttle to idle & continue coasting down using whatever braking traffic requires.
When you get good and traffic permits you can work your way down through all the gears using engine braking in each without ever touching the clutch or shifting under load.
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[sup]1. Preemptive nitpick: With the possible / probable exception of reverse which may not be synchronized.
Look, I own manual transmission vehicles, and I’m getting sick and tired of this pissing and moaning (and sneak bragging.) the vast majority of car owners have a car simply because it’s a necessity of their lifestyle. for them a manual transmission is nothing more than a hassle with no benefit whatsoever.
I am not sure why you quoted me. I am not pissed at standard, prefer it in fact.
No moaning either, (sneak bragging) sounds silly, I never said that I had a nice car.
On a side note. Happy holidays to all 
Im sure my driving instructor (uk 20+ years ago) was adamant that the car should never be in neutral, for safety.
I agree with John here. If you drive a stick shift perfectly you would only need a clutch for stopping and starting. I like stick shifts because I like to downshift to slow down, by matching the engine speed to the transmission speed you don’t put any wear on the synchros. If a driver learns how to match the revs he can drive perfectly smooth up and down shifting without even using the clutch. I obviously recomend using the clutch but still learning how to match your revs, it takes the strain off of everything.
If a customer is wearing clutches out prematurely in nearly every case it is because he is not starting in first gear. Always start in first gear.
You get natural engine braking if you’re in a gear. Saves wear and tear on the brakes. And if you have drum brakes, down shifting prevents your brakes from fading.
Interesting - I thought the point of this was that in reverse when facing downhill, if the handbrake pops off the car won’t move at all due to the resistance in the transmission, and similarly when in first pointing uphill. The car may rock slightly but will then stop. I find it hard to believe that even on a steep hill, gravity is sufficient to turn the engine. On the other hand, your mechanical knowledge is far superior to mine. But I can’t help thinking that leaving it in first when pointing downhill just means your car will still roll away if the handbrake fails, just a little more slowly than in neutral.