Lice Locket

OK, I've been driving a stick shift pickup for a while, which I learned to drive from my father. However, when driving other stick shift cars, I do stupid things like stall or release the clutch too fast (especially between first and second). I asked my father where he learned to drive a stick, and he said he learned it from my uncle. My uncle said he learned it by "experimentation," and did not really learn it from anyone!!!

OK, so now, I'm starting to believe I'm not driving a stick shift correctly! So, are there any websites that can teach me to drive a stick correctly? I have some questions, especially:
1) When I drive cars that is not my truck, it "kicks" between first and second gear.
2) Am I supposed to park in gear? My father said I have to, but my friend doesn't (both people learned to drive stick by experimentation).
3) How do I start uphill? Do I let go of the clutch, in first gear, until the car stops rolling down, then press on the gas, or do I gas to bring up the rpms, then release the clutch?
4) On downhill, my father taught me that I can go start on 2nd gear when the car is rolling. Is this true? Somebody told me I can get away with this w/ a truck, b/c trucks have a short first gear.
5) During traffic, can I just get the car moving by slowly releasing the clutch, or do I need to press the gas pedal?

Sorry for sounding ignorant, but is there anything else I should know so I won't damage the transmission? My father is getting a new 05 6speed tacoma, and I will be driving it once in a while. It's a nice car, and I don't wanna do something to it that I might have been doing all the time to my beater-truck!

mvf4s

1. easy on the letting up of the clutch.

2. being in gear is a back up for hill parking. gears can get damaged if your car is hit parked while in gear.

3. use hand brake as an aid. learn the balance point.

4. yes

5. it'll move but maybe not fast enough.

ellisnc

http://www.standardshift.com/index.html

Lice Locket

Thanks for the link! But, the instructions are concise, so I have some questions:

The explanation of the double clutching for a truck; are they talking about big rigs, or trucks in general, including pickups? Cuz, both my household's manuals are going to be pickups.

Also, the article says to gas while releasing the clutch to change gears; is this kinda like a gradual transition of letting go of the clutch while you push into the gas pedal (a quick version of getting the car into movement from first gear)? I was told you can damage the clutch if you gas when the clutch is partially engaged at gears higher than first, and I normally change gears fast w/o using the gas pedal.

whytei3oi

First gear is mainly just to get your car moving from a stop. As long as your car is rolling, even if at 5mph, you should put it into second and not into first while it's moving.

Mindcore

One thing that may help you is to understand the clutch.

There is a "friction" point, the point at which the clutch starts to grab. The first thing you should do when getting into any manual car is find that friction point. Its differant on every car, even when I drive my friend's S2000's

Find that sweet spot, and play with it, rock the car back and forth on it, with a little bit of throttle. In that exercise, the revs should barely change, if the car idles at 600, bring it to 1000 and just play with that spot, when you have this down, don't forget it, its the same thing that helps you on hills. find that spot, roll on the throttle as you roll off the clutch, and you should pull away with a minimum of roll back.

Other points, be smooth in your gear shifts, clutchs are cheap to replace compared to tranny's.

You can start a car in second gear, if you have lots of torque it makes it easier, but even a gutless wonder like the S can start in second gear.

I park in gear, for that "one" time I forget to use the parking brake, since I rarely use it in my automatic. Plus it causes no harm, so why not make sure your car doesn't roll away.

and the other point you make about "kicking" from first to second, you are revving the engine past the RPM that you would need at second gear, ( or less ) so the car bucks trying to catch up.

all this stuff comes with practice, you'll figure it out the more you drive. Just try not to learn too many bad habits along the way.

the other thing you can do, since its probably impossibe to tell you have to drive stick over a web forum, pay attention to others when they drive, for someone comfortable with it, its second nature, infact if I pay attention to clutch out, rev car, etc, thats when I'm likey to mess it up some how, but if you watch thier feet, listen to the revs, etc you will start to get a feel for it

LittlePenguin

Interesting!! Before I taught my sons to drive, I bought an old stick shift. We sat in a shopping car park (empty) and practised friction points, starting from still and moving, and hill starts before moving out on to the roads. It was easier to learn from the start how to drive stick shifts, than learn in an automatic and have to "unlearn" bad habits (like use of hand brake). Once they had mastered the stick shift cars, and had their license, then they were allowed to drive an automatic and develop lazy driving habits.

Driving age here is 15 years old. It's easier to learn how to use 3 pedals with two feet at that age: how many thumbs do kids that age use for how many buttins on the PS2, or their cellphones?

Slamnasty

What mvf4s said is right on, especially putting the car in gear when parked with the parking brake. I had a car with a bad parking brake (not knowing it was also proper to put it in gear). One day the president of product development walks in asking why there's a car parked ON the curb outside. Turns out my parking brake failed....luckily no cars were passing by at the time....