Shifting Gears

[donmbmw]

You'll know you've got it down when you can stop at a red light on a steep hill, and not break into a cold sweat.
As much as I enjoy the steptronic, I really miss manual trannies. Living and commuting on Long Island means theres just too much stop and go driving. But when the open road calls, well theres just no substitute.
Have fun, be safe, and ...oh yeah
watch out for those steep hills. [driving2]

 

[Average Jae]

"catch area". So, I let the clutch out fast till I heard it grab, at which point I gave it gas, and then just completely let go of the clutch. This worked once, but the rest of the times it just stalled. Is this something you just need practice on? I can't while in traffic take my time on the clutch to prevent stalling so I'm trying to learn how to do it quicker in parking lots.

give more gas when you are attempting what you describe above. maybe rpm around 2k or so. and keep it there while anticipating the light to change. and slowly disengage the clutch. you may rub the clutch while it engages, but you won't stall and you could prolly go fast enough. (as you get better you get a better feel for the clutch, so you should be able to take less time in that process w/out stalling.)

but remember this: if your clutch release is slow in the subsquent shifts, that'll slow you down a lot, even w/ a good first gear start. as you are just rolling in neurtal while you shift and engage the gear, which may take closer to a second. and you prolly shift to 3rd, 4th or even 5 gear before getting upto 45-50 mph, that'll slow down traffic more than your slower start. so to minimize that rev higher and you can prolly go upto 45-50 w/out much strain on the third gear, then skip the 4th and pop it into 5th, or whatever gear you use to coast at the given speed.

also, if you are wearly of shifting too much, and are on a flat road or down hill (ie not going uphill) you can prolly start off in the second gear. first gear is usually really low, and really good for the go fast situations, but if you plan on acceling slowly, you maybe able to skip that gear.) something to think about in your parking lot sessions

 

[frolf]

another thing to practice, though not exactly good for the life of your clutch, is just to creep at stop lights. get comfortable with the takeup of your car.

 

[cprogrammer]

Thanks for all the feedback! I drove around more in a manual today. Another problem I have is changing gears. It's almost something you'd see out of a comedy movie. When I switch, the car jerks Not to mention, it takes me a few seconds to get it into gear when switching. For some reason I can't find the gear "area". Also, I stalled 3 times today .

 

[Alicatt]

Eeee when ah wer a lad... when I was 14 my dad said to me that I could see over the steering wheel and reach the pedals at the same time so it was time to learn to drive. He took me into one of his breakdown wagons (wreckers for our transatlantic cousins) it was a 1959 Morris 1ton 4x4 ex-army lorry 4.2 liter straight six with a crash box (no syncromesh). He told me that if it is time to learn, then I had to learn properly. It was a right learning experiance ok having to double de-clutch to change the gears matching road speed to engine speed before putting the gearbox into the right gear. If done right there would be no noise but get it wrong and you got an expensive sounding metalic grind from the 'box

 

[bmw fools!]

Who the **** cares. Report my posts and ban me.

 

[Average Jae]

Thanks for all the feedback! I drove around more in a manual today. Another problem I have is changing gears. It's almost something you'd see out of a comedy movie. When I switch, the car jerks Not to mention, it takes me a few seconds to get it into gear when switching. For some reason I can't find the gear "area". Also, I stalled 3 times today .

ease the clutch out smoothly after you up shift. also don't mesh the gas either.. be gentle with it, but you have to give some gas too.. you are jerking because you are being lazy w/ the clutch and dropping it too quick. feel it catch then release.

 

[Dave8812]

Sometimes it depends on the car and clutch. The best thing to do is to practice once you get the car.

 

[adrean8j]

and yet another example of why this is the worst board to ask that question. that advice is for racing. your just starting out. getting professional lesson on how to use a clutch is the best way as always.

jeez......you dont need a professional lesson to learn how to drive a stick. You just need someone experienced and who can verbally express how to do it so a layman can understand.

 

[Tweet227]

I agree with adrean. You don't need a professional lesson - my dad taught me how to drive stick and he learned by getting behind the wheel of his roomates car in college. All you need is time and patience.

 

[gbf1lm]

get some dry practice. get a friend to drive u to a steeeeeeep hill. then practice starting without a handbrake and without rolling just let the car roll aback and keep practicing untill u can come to that point inteh clutch pedal very fast. when u can do this ur good to go on any street and never worry about holding traffic.

btw there are some people who cant do this, my dad MADE ME before he would let me take the drive test.

 

[epj3]

Honestly, i couldnt drive stick until I knew how the system works,

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/transmission.htm
and more importantly,
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/clutch.htm

 

[Section_8]

Manual again

I learned to drive stick when I was 16 in my old 81 Civic. I always drove stick until the early 90's, when I moved into Manual cars (God, what was my malfunction??) I just got back into a stick - my BMW. After not driving stick for about 9 years, I picked it right back up. 1st gear is still my sore point, I don't stall but generally give it too much gas, and not enough clutch.

Find a parking lot (preferably empty!) and just take it to it. Then find some driveways on hills and learn how to take off from a start inclined.. You'll learn your car, and what feels better to you doing this, then going to your car with a dozen 'ideas' and trying them out. Just get behind the wheel and put yourself in safe situations to test things out.

[driving2]

 

[bahnstormer]

gbf1lm - that's not the best advice, he can cook the clutch pretty quickly if he's a slow learner.

as far as learning stick it all depends on how u're taught and by who i think. i learned in 1 day on a 95 saturn sc1...after 2 days of practice i was confident enough to hit the main roads, stop lights and all =] haven't stalled since

to be smooth u just need to slow down the release of the clutch pedal; until u figure out where it grabs, then u can increase speed

 

[zoomn_e30]

i suggest you just go to manual driving school.. or maybe ask someone you know who knowz how to drive manual.. heh, cuz itz really kinda hard to explain it in wordz.. you'll only learn by actually doin it.. heh practice ;D