Driving Standard

[90SK]

Kinda implied, but just FYI for everyone who reads this: I'm 16, and live in the USA (I don't know the laws for learning to drive over in Europe or anywhere else, so what I'm talking about here probably isn't the norm everywhere else)

 

 

 

So, I've been learning to drive over the past couple of weeks. I actually took driver's education last summer, but I never finished logging hours with the instructor and so I can't get my license until I do that. The driver's ed cars are automatics, so it's really just about learning the fundamentals of the road when you're out driving with them. Even so, it's nerve-wracking because the instructors are pretty stickler-ish about everything, and I don't take very well to the pressure.

 

I didn't practice much at home, if at all, because all the cars in my family are standards, and I was deathly afraid of learning how to control them. I did some parking lot practice and stuff like that, but getting the hand of the clutch was a real pain in the neck, and I never really got it.

 

...Until now! It's great, I've been driving all over the place with my dad, and I've totally gotten the hang of the clutch and everything. It's such a relief, and I'm actually starting to enjoy driving. I dunno what happened really, it just sort of clicked. I've stalled I believe three times out of the two most recent times I went driving: one of which was in the evening during a turn onto an onramp. I stalled in the middle of the turn, and I was freaking out and trying to get it back in gear to start up and it was making this awful revving noise and the oncoming traffic was honking. arrgh! but the other two times were fine, I just stalled at a stop sign because I forgot the clutch when I was breaking.

 

Anyway, I'd recommend for those of you who are learning to drive like me: learn on a stick. getting it out of the way is SO much better than putting it off until you absolutely need to know.

 

and, for those of you who are older, what were your first driving experiences like?

[MdKnightR]

I didn't learn how to drive a stick until I was 30. It kinda freaked me out too, but the best thing to keep in mind if you stall while rolling is not to panic. Just push in the clutch, turn the key, and go. Unless your car has some sort of "safety feature" that prevents it from starting unless its in neutral, you can start the engine and then decide what gear you need to be in. Just make sure that you find that gear before letting off the clutch, or you'll be back to square one.

 

Also, I don't know if you've discovered this yet, but if you are on a hill, you can prevent the car from rolling backwards if you find the friction point on the clutch. Thats where the car has enough power going to the transmission to keep from rolling backwards, but not enough for it to roll forwards. Its a good thing to know so that you don't roll back into some idiot who pulled up to you too close at a light. I also hear that they deduct major points on a driving test for rolling back.

 

Good luck!

 

 

EDIT: Oh, by the way, if you are sitting at a long red light, make sure you have your foot comfortably seated on the clutch pedal. I had a young lady run right up under the back bumper of my truck because her foot slipped off the clutch. It catapulted her car forward and busted it up real good. It didn't do anything to my truck except embed headlight glass into the plastic trim on it. Just FYI.

[Bimmerman]

Wow, there are people in the USA that prefer driving stick besides me? I despise all automatics/manu-matics and it's refreshing to hear of people that a) know how to drive stick and b) want to learn to drive well.

 

Now that you've got the basics down, try downshifting and rev matching simultaneously-- you push the clutch in, raise the rpms by 1000 or so(differs on all cars to some degree), select the lower gear, pull out the clutch while the revs are still falling, and if all goes well you can't feel the downshift. Try that on an open freeway in a straight line before trying it in turns.

 

Once you've got that down, try heel-and-toe shifting. You essentially do the above revmatching while downshifting, but also while braking. You use all three pedals simultaneously, and if all goes as planned(takes a ton of practice), you don't feel the shift, the car's in the lower gear, you're still braking for the upcoming light/turn/corner, and you get massive props from people who know what you just did.

 

Here's an article on single clutching heel-toe, replete with pictures!

Click

 

And a .gif illustrating a double clutch heel and toe downshift(explained below):

 

And a video showing heel-toe in a racing environment. DO NOT clutch the way he is, a racing clutch is an on/off device unlike the one in your street car. Racing Driver Footwork

 

However, do NOT try heel-toe until you've mastered clutching and rev matching, for the sake of the other drivers on the road. It is a technique primarily used by racing drivers. It is a ton of fun though when done correctly.

 

 

Then try double clutching all the above, clutch in, gear neutral, clutch out, raise revs(downshift only), clutch in, up/down shift gear, clutch out. Double clutch heel and toe downshifts are incredibly satisfying to pull off. Double clutching also has the benefit of keeping the transmission alive longer by reducing the load on the internal synchros and gears sets.

 

Finally, although you can do the above techniques just daily driving(I do, but I'm odd that way), once you get a good feel for the car's power band(and if you have a tachometer, not all manual cars do ), you can keep the car in the optimal power band in each gear by downshifting and upshifting at the optimal times.

 

Driving stick is a ton of fun once you get the hang of it; I flat out refuse to own any car without three pedals, or even drive two pedal street cars for extended periods of time.

 

As for your question of driving experiences, when I was learning stick I hadn't yet figured out that putting it in neutral at a stoplight was a good idea, and left my dad's torque monster of a car in third at the light. I forgot what gear it was in, and when the light turned green the car was acting really lethargic. I realized the mistake, put it in first(while accidentally revving it to ~4000rpm), and then de-clutched, spun the tires for few feet, scared the hell out of my mother, and grinned like an idiot for the rest of the drive.

[Mace MacLeod]

Also, I don't know if you've discovered this yet, but if you are on a hill, you can prevent the car from rolling backwards if you find the friction point on the clutch. Thats where the car has enough power going to the transmission to keep from rolling backwards, but not enough for it to roll forwards. Its a good thing to know so that you don't roll back into some idiot who pulled up to you too close at a light. I also hear that they deduct major points on a driving test for rolling back.

Bad bad bad. Great way to increase wear and tear on your clutch. Never ever ever sit at lights with your clutch in. Always shift into neutral and take your foot off the clutch.

 

The proper way of doing it: When you're coming to a stop facing up a hill, have your tranny in neutral with your foot off the clutch when you come to a stop, then just yank up your e-brake. Have it up until you're ready to go, then put in the clutch, shift into gear, and as you're letting the clutch out and putting in the gas, put the e-brake down after the tranny has "grabbed" into its forward gear. You won't roll back this way, and you also won't have to replace your clutch. Clutches are expensive.

[tk102]

Great way to increase wear and tear on your clutch. Never ever ever sit at lights with your clutch in. Always shift into neutral and take your foot off the clutch.

I wanted very much to disagree with you on this as I've heard that depressing the clutch all the way at a stoplight would not cause wear (and that's what I do at a stoplight). But I found this reputable source describing the wear on the clutch release bearing:

http://www.cartalk.com/content/columns/Archive/1995/October/07.html

 

Guess I'll have to try reteaching my muscle memory.

[Q]

Wow, there are people in the USA that prefer driving stick besides me?

Yup. I won't buy a car or truck with an automatic. A manual transmission gives the driver so much more control over a car. It makes the car more of an extension of the driver's will.

 

Automatic transmissions have a tendancy to wear out far sooner than the rest of the powertrain, and they are outrageously expensive to replace.

 

I find it distressing that manual transmissions are becoming more and more scarce on new cars these days. I'm afraid that they're going to become extinct in a few years.

[mimartin]

Wow, there are people in the USA that prefer driving stick besides me?

I’ve own 6 vehicle and all but one have been an standard transmission. In high school I worked for an auto repair/gas station. I've rebuilt many automatic transmissions and with all the thin moving parts, I just don’t trust them. The only car I’ve own with an automatic transmission I had to replace it, but I’ve never replace an standard transmission or a clutch. For that matter, I’ve never had to replace the brakes on a standard transmission vehicle.

 

Thanks Mace MacLeod and tk102, I never knew that. I don’t know if I will use it since I’ve never lost a clutch with by present method plus there are not any hills around here to worry about.

[Mace MacLeod]

^^^It's not really that there's massive wear and tear happening to the clutch if you've got it depressed at a stoplight, but it is still going on and it all adds up eventually.

 

And also,

Oh, by the way, if you are sitting at a long red light, make sure you have your foot comfortably seated on the clutch pedal. I had a young lady run right up under the back bumper of my truck because her foot slipped off the clutch. It catapulted her car forward and busted it up real good. It didn't do anything to my truck except embed headlight glass into the plastic trim on it. Just FYI.

here's another good reason not to sit at lights with the clutch engaged and the tranny in gear. Something happens and you pop the clutch accidentally, *whoops* accident. Or you lurch forward into the path of a bus. Or you just stall and the people around you laugh. Also good reasons to leave the tranny in N at stoplights.

 

And I've owned auto and standard cars; they both have their pluses and minuses. Standard allows you better control of the vehicle, auto involves less work. I had a string of Japanese standard cars (Mazda Protege, Honda Prelude, Toyota 4Runner) and I liked them well enough. Now I've got a big, honkin' Pontiac sedan. It's sluggish, doesn't like corners, but it's big, comfy, and really, I'm lazy now. City traffic with a stick shift can be like hand-to-hand combat during rush hour, and I just can't be bothered nowadays. Not to say I won't get a stick again, but I'm appreciating autos more in my old age.

[MdKnightR]

I've had my manual truck for 6 years now. I don't have any clutch problems. Sometimes, if it is a LONG light, I will put it in neutral, but if I have any expectation of sitting there less than 30 seconds, I'll keep my foot all the way down on the clutch. Now, I think you misunderstood my intentions about the friction zone. I'm not suggesting that you sit on a hill for the duration of a stop with your foot on the clutch and the gas....just know where the friction zone is so you can start again without rolling back.

 

Also, its not a real good idea to sit there with your e-brake on either. If you're like me, you'll likely forget you have it engaged at some point and wear it out when you drive on it. It is sufficient to keep your foot on the brake while you are waiting for a light to change.

 

Oh, and ALWAYS park with the car in gear. Don't rely on the e-brake to keep you there. Read above reference as to why.

[Mace MacLeod]

I've had my manual truck for 6 years now. I don't have any clutch problems. Sometimes, if it is a LONG light, I will put it in neutral, but if I have any expectation of sitting there less than 30 seconds, I'll keep my foot all the way down on the clutch. Now, I think you misunderstood my intentions about the friction zone. I'm not suggesting that you sit on a hill for the duration of a stop with your foot on the clutch and the gas....just know where the friction zone is so you can start again without rolling back.

Oh, ok. I've known people who actually will sit there at the top of the hill for the entire duration of the light with the car hovering just between the stall/go threshold. I'm glad to see you're not one of them.

 

Also, its not a real good idea to sit there with your e-brake on either. If you're like me, you'll likely forget you have it engaged at some point and wear it out when you drive on it. It is sufficient to keep your foot on the brake while you are waiting for a light to change.

The thing is though, your car won't actually go anywhere with the e-brake up if it's in anywhere near functional shape, so you really can't drive around much with the e-brake up unless it's already almost toast. But then, of course, you've got a whole different problem. I just find it a lot easier to use the e-brake method on hills than trying to time the clutch threshold as there's really no guesswork involved.

 

And here are some helpful hints I found to help out any newbies out there. Beware: naughty language within.

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/den/405019598.html

[Bimmerman]

Yup. I won't buy a car or truck with an automatic. A manual transmission gives the driver so much more control over a car. It makes the car more of an extension of the driver's will.

 

I find it distressing that manual transmissions are becoming more and more scarce on new cars these days. I'm afraid that they going to become extinct in a few years.

 

Agreed on both counts! The US has an unhealthy obsession with automatics-- in the May 08 issue of Bimmer, they had a market update for 1999-2006 BMW 3 Series cars. Among the certified pre-owned cars sold and warranted by the dealer, 4,607 cars were automatic......and a pathetic 440 were manual. Countrywide. I almost cried. If manual transmissions are no longer sold, I guess I won't be supplying car manufacturers with my paychecks. Old used cars FTW!

 

What is worse is how few people even know how to drive manual, let alone own a car so equipped. I've heard statistics that only about 10-20% of American drivers even know how to drive stick. I'll try to find a source to back that up.

 

I really don't understand it- with a manual you get better control, better performance, better fuel mileage, you actually have fun driving, and less chance to be distracted by driving(eating, makeup, phone, etc). Considering how automatics often fail within 100,000 miles it makes no sense to buy one. Then again I race a car with over 260,000 miles on the original engine, tranny(5spd manual), drivetrain, so the autotragic would have had to be replaced twice by now.

[Jae Onasi]

I take my foot off the clutch at a light simply because if I don't, my lower back gets sore after doing that too long.

 

When I was learning to drive a stick, my problem was always getting first gear engaged without killing the engine. I could get into any other gear just fine after that. A friend of mine told me that when starting out into first gear, 'the car won't go any faster than what you allow with the clutch'. She noted that you could floor the gas pedal but the car would go slowly if you let out the clutch really slowly. She also noted you wouldn't want to do that after learning how much gas was just enough to get the car moving. We practiced getting into first gear in a large, mostly empty mall parking lot until I got the hang of it, which worked very well.

 

Jimbo and I like stick shifts just fine, but after I had foot surgery I couldn't drive at all for about 8 weeks, so we decided that at least one of our cars would always be an automatic so we wouldn't be stuck if something like that happened to either of us.

[Pho3nix]

I'm always jealous of Americans 'cause you can get your license at 16, in Finland you have to be 18.

 

Anyway, I'm turning 19 pretty soon and I still don't have my license, guess I've been way too lazy. The only reason why I'm getting it in the first place is night driving while listening to music. I hate driving with a stick though, until it becomes 'automatic' so that you won't even have to think about it, It's pretty hard.

[JCarter426]

I'm always jealous of Americans 'cause you can get your license at 16, in Finland you have to be 18.

 

Varies from state to state. The age is now 18 in my state, actually. (Or was it just proposed? I forget if it was passed or not...) And that's probably too young as well...though I doubt age would bring these people any sanity (lots of crazies here ).

[MdKnightR]

The thing is though, your car won't actually go anywhere with the e-brake up if it's in anywhere near functional shape, so you really can't drive around much with the e-brake up unless it's already almost toast. But then, of course, you've got a whole different problem. I just find it a lot easier to use the e-brake method on hills than trying to time the clutch threshold as there's really no guesswork involved.

 

I think it depends on the vehicle. My truck is a 2000 GMC Sierra (just thought, I've actually had it over 7 years) and it'll go in reverse with the e-brake on if you gas it real good, but it'll go forward with little effort. If you drive on it, it will warn you that you have it engaged, but you have to not be blasting the stereo to hear it. Its a lot looser than it used to be, but I think that is because I used to rely on it for parking. That is until a friend of mine told me to put it in gear instead of wearing out the brake. By that time, I think the damage had been done. :/

 

When I was learning to drive a stick, my problem was always getting first gear engaged without killing the engine. I could get into any other gear just fine after that. A friend of mine told me that when starting out into first gear, 'the car won't go any faster than what you allow with the clutch'. She noted that you could floor the gas pedal but the car would go slowly if you let out the clutch really slowly. She also noted you wouldn't want to do that after learning how much gas was just enough to get the car moving. We practiced getting into first gear in a large, mostly empty mall parking lot until I got the hang of it, which worked very well.

 

Like I said...friction zone.

[Det. Bart Lasiter]

Varies from state to state. The age is now 18 in my state, actually. (Or was it just proposed? I forget if it was passed or not...) And that's probably too young as well...though I doubt age would bring these people any sanity (lots of crazies here ).

You get your permit at 16 (which requires you to have eyes, a face, and basic knowledge of red light green light), then if you pass drivers' ed you can get your "Junior Operator's License" (essentially a class D license with a few restrictions) at 16.5, and a class D license at 18.

[Bimmerman]

You get your permit at 16 (which requires you to have eyes, a face, and basic knowledge of red light green light), then if you pass drivers' ed you can get your "Junior Operator's License" (essentially a class D license with a few restrictions) at 16.5, and a class D license at 18.

 

In colorado you can get your perimt at 15(having taken driver's ed) or at 15.5 w/o DE, then get your license a year later with some restrictions on passengers. Getting a license in this country is an utter joke though, all you need is common sense, a small idea about right of way(which gets forgotten soon after) and $25. There's no requirement for learning anything about getting out of skids, emergency braking and avoidance, or how not to freeze in a panic situation. Or even how to parallel park. You only need to know when to go, stop, turn left, right, and merge. It's a complete farce. I'm not a fan of our system.....at all.

[adamqd]

I always wondered how Americans went about driving license's... here in the UK I had to have a minimum of 13 hours driving on the roads at $50 an hour with an instructor, a written theory test that cost $60, and finally my driving test which was $112... thats if you pass first time, your only aloud so many mistakes or you fail, then you have to pay to take it again Then you gotta buy a car! Its a right pain in the A!

Also it is always a stick shift car for lessons and test

[JCarter426]

You get your permit at 16 (which requires you to have eyes, a face, and basic knowledge of red light green light), then if you pass drivers' ed you can get your "Junior Operator's License" (essentially a class D license with a few restrictions) at 16.5, and a class D license at 18.

Again, it varies from state to state.

Getting a license in this country is an utter joke though, all you need is common sense, a small idea about right of way(which gets forgotten soon after) and $25. There's no requirement for learning anything about getting out of skids, emergency braking and avoidance, or how not to freeze in a panic situation. Or even how to parallel park. You only need to know when to go, stop, turn left, right, and merge. It's a complete farce. I'm not a fan of our system.....at all.

And those are the reasons why I don't drive. That, and the insurance and gas prices. Walking is free.

[mur'phon]

I'm about to get my license, and driving with a stick is okay when you roar trough Finland at 150km/h, not so great in cities. It's probably just my moms car being old, but that *thing* almost takes two hands to move from one gear to the next.

[Hoad]

Here in England, pretty much every car is manual transmission; I rarely, if ever, see any automatics.

[Bimmerman]

To be fair, we are required to have 50 hours (10 at night) driving with a qualified adult (parent or sibling counts, instructors aren't required at any point in the process) before we are allowed to sit for the test, both written and driving. However, it really only costs $25 not including cost of gas. I've heard it's a lot more difficult in Europe... you guys have much better drivers(and fewer!) as a result.

[Q]

I always wondered how Americans went about driving license's... here in the UK I had to have a minimum of 13 hours driving on the roads at $50 an hour with an instructor, a written theory test that cost $60, and finally my driving test which was $112... thats if you pass first time, your only aloud so many mistakes or you fail, then you have to pay to take it again Then you gotta buy a car! Its a right pain in the A!

Also it is always a stick shift car for lessons and test

OMG that's like $822.00 (provided that you pass the test on the first try) just to get your license?!

 

Ahh, lovely, lovely, finance-draining, soul-sucking socialism at work.

 

Well, at least they make you learn to drive a stick.

[Det. Bart Lasiter]

Again, it varies from state to state.

Between $3.30 and $3.50 in Boston (more expensive the further you get from downtown).

Assuming you didn't just look up the gas prices in a random city, I live in the same state as you.

[adamqd]

OMG that's like $822.00 (provided that you pass the test on the first try) just to get your license?!

 

Ahh, lovely, lovely, finance-draining, soul-sucking socialism at work.

 

Well, at least they make you learn to drive a stick.

 

Too True! thats if you pass in 13 lessons + Test, if you don't reach your instructors standard you could go well in to the $1000's before your legal