How to drive manual
 

So i have only had around 5 hours driving a manual car and this was around 5 years ago in flowing traffic on my learners. So I have a few questions about different situations before I get my manual brz.
1.What are the best ways to approach a give way sign or a round about. At times in an automatic car, I don't come to a complete stop and roll at 10/20km and continue if i see that it is clear. When I was learning, I always went to a complete stop, checked that it was clear, then continued in gear 1.
2. can a manual car stall while rolling? I have never tried this, but Say I'm driving at 40km in gear 2 and brake to slow down to 15km then speed up again. Would I be able to just brake without clutching in and avoid stalling? At what point does a car stall?
3. What's the best way to drive around a shopping car park, just keep it in gear 1?

I'm just mostly concerned about stop and go traffic during peak hour and stalling in these situations because I'm not use to clutching in so often in traffic.
I don't have a manual car to practice in and all my friends drive auto as well. I'm thinking about getting manual driving lessons again, but $50 for 45 minutes just isn't worth it.

Got a mate with an old manual beater? Give him a carton to let you hoon around a carpark, you should have it down pat in an hour or so... :)

OK, ill try this.

1: Roundabout will depend on the size of it, if its large and you can see if anyone is coming, probably say 2nd gear.
Drop down to 1st if you are close to stopping (5kph)

2: car wont stall if you are in gear and the car is still moving..
you will feel it shudder once you get below a certain RPM, you want to keep the rev's about 600rpm odd. (depends on the car)

3: again, depends on speed. 2nd gear is usually fine.

i think you just need to get more experience listening to the engine and learning what it does.

Really????

Please don't fry your brand new BRZ's clutch. Do us all a favour and take some manual lessons before you pick up your car. I don't want us 86/BRZ owners developing a rep for stalling at the lights. Good God, I can hear the taunts already...

If you can't find a mates car, just rent one for a day. It's cheap, and you won't feel bad making mistakes in it. If you learnt in the BRZ, you'd hate yourself when you burn the clutch or stall your engine (which can sometimes feel quite violent depending how you've stalled it). It's just a natural part of the learning process.

Honestly, i have NEVER put my car in 1st gear unless i was completely stopped, and never had any problems.

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I am a little surprised that this was asked on a car enthusiast forum, but anyway.
I think the cosy of a manual lesson or two is totally worthwhile if it saves the clutch in your brand new car.
The hire idea was a good one too :-) @white_knight - that attitude isnt really necessay

Was in same situation as you, 20 or so hours on learners 3 years ago.. so few days before I rented some 90's model hilux hire ute from my local servo with the worst clutch and gearbox I've driven.. and still had the hang of it so returned it half an hour later

You should be fine mate. If my GF could learn how to drive manual in a hired Echo in 2 hours and picked up and drove away her new Echo Sportivo (2002) without any problem, you definitely can do it too. The hired Echo only costed me $50.

Thanks for the reply guys.
I'm not worried about driving a manual. I picked it up when I was learning so I'm sure I can get use to it.
There were just some things I needed to clear up because I had never been in that situation and i didn't want to overuse the clutch and burn it out.
I'll take a lesson just to clear a few things up.
I also have a year to learn as well so don't worry about stalling brz's :)

yeah man, I'm with white knight, get some more time in a manual before you hit the streets in a brz. I think the answers to your questions should all be the same, it depends on the circumstance.

You will be fine. Just spend some time in a quiet area and get used to driving a manual. You won't burn the clutch out if you aren't just revving and slipping it. A flat area will make it easy. You will stall it heaps, I did on the first day due to the fly by wire accelerator.

The clutch in these cars could be a little tricky at first if you haven't had a refresher in a manual prior to picking it up. They have a firm peddle and quite a small point of engagement/release.

Just listen to the engine when approacing your obstacles of concern and that will govern what gear you need to be in. Most low speed negotiations if already rolling can be done in 2nd gear, only downshift into first once stopped or around < 5km/h.

STEP 1. Buy Manual R31 skyline
STEP 2. Take it to an industrial area at night
Step 3. Become driving god/drift king
step 4. sell R31 for same price as you bought it.

jump in your 86 and you should be good to go , except for the weird clutch in the 86.
i hate that.

Why is there a issue shifting to first? It has synchros. Shroud be able to shift down at 20. Just give it time to ease into gear. Sometimes pushing too hard makes it worse. You can also remember to use clutch as you come up to slow corner so it does not stall. Leave it in second and gently let clutch out on exit. You don't do this in faster corners.

Don't over analyze it too much. The car will let you know if it is unhappy.

I didn't say there was an issue shifting into first with this car, but the RPM's will be pretty high downshifting into first at 20km/h, pretty unecessary down shift, when the car is quite capable of accelerating in 2nd from anything around 10km/h

Cheers.

If you rev match going back into 1st gear then it would slide right in easy.

I never downshift into 1st without rev match. I only shift back to first if rolling and I see a race coming on. No good starting at 10km/h in 2nd gear for a race. :burnrubber:

2nd gear is more than enough if you are barely rolling for normal driving.

You will get a feel for it pretty quickly. If the car starts to chug or feel labored put the clutch in. It will become second nature very quickly. And honestly i wouldn't listen to forums advise for speeds or rpms to shift at in any given situation, what is smooth and controllable for them may not be for you. Just have fun learning the car.

just my $0.02

I agree. I never downshift unless I am ready to accelerate. There is not issue in doing 10kmph in 5th if you are slowing to a stop. One of my brothers gears down as he slows down. If anything its annoying not to mention wear and tear on your clutch.

If you're driving a manual properly, you shift down and use gear breakage.
Perhaps you should do an advanced driving course.

I'm talking driving in traffic, not racing. Don't need to do an advanced driving course to know that gearing down when heading towards a red light is entirely a waste of time.

You're not driving a manual properly if you come to a stop in fifth!
If you slow in an auto, it will also shift down.
You need to stay in the right gear.
You clearly don't know what you're talking about.
Point made.

Any driving course actually. Engine braking > foot braking for wear and tear. People just need to learn how to rev match.

use engine braking properly and you hardly have to engage the wheel brakes at all :/ I had a friend that used to just engage the clutch and coast to a stop in fifth at red lights, then change to first. When I'd ask 'wth was that?' he'd just say he was saving fuel. Cost him a pretty penny in brake pads though.

Engine braking doesn't use fuel though. The torque of the engine in gear is keeping the engine running. Most modern engines disable fuel infection off throttle anyway.

I used to work at a dealership in the past where one of the managers was convinced that gearshift braking was silly as it put extra wear and tear on the gearbox and brake pads/discs are cheaper to replace than a gearbox. I'd really like you guys' opinion on that?

I dont really think there would be much extra wear on the box.

Its more about your driving style and what you prefer.

I love engine braking. It's the one thing I find annoying driving an automatic. The triptronic on my aurion is just not engaging enough for my liking. Delayed reactions. Also seem to chew the brakes quicker. "You can smell it, you can smell it" Have a guess where thats from. :lol:

monty, he would never listen to anything i said, and ended up spending way more on that POS 323 than I ever did on the pulsar I had at the time. I guess the moral of my contribution to this thread is that I don't understand not wanting to use engine braking. Oh and i also hate autos for this reason. :p

**edit** Hate is a strong word. Let's say, dislike with a passion.

how exactly would the prescribed method use any more brakes than say in an auto...

Clutch disc vs brake pads.

My father is a mechanic and I worked in his workshop over the years
Auto cars use less gear brakeage so go through their brakes quicker
Auto transmissions also generally break down more and are more costly to fix
Lesson: Drive your manual like it is designed to be used (ie. gear down as you slow, gear up as you accelerate, rev match when you change gear & you won't damage your clutch, transmission or brakes).

i'm interested to know the logic behind this??

as a whole an auto lasts what... 150k + before it starts having problems (possibly) depending on how its driven??
There's also been plenty of examples of auto's running for over 200K without problem.

Run the same time for a manual and you could reasonably expect 1-2 clutch changes from your average driver.

A reco'd gearbox is... 1-2 grand.. (assuming its not like DSG or completely screwed).

vs clutch/flywheel of similar price.... 1-2 times.


And thats assuming they know what they're doing... a manual is obviously far more susceptible to damage than an auto if someone inexperienced is driving it..

It's just entropy. Gearing down every time = more clutch engagements = more friction on clutch plate = more wear.

Avoiding as many shifts as possible could help the oem last a few more thousand km but I don't do it.

Not sure how you drive your vehicles, but I'm fairly hard on mine
I've had 3 manuals and got to 150 to 200 thousand kilometers, before I changed them over, & never needed a clutch change
From watching what came into my father's workshop, there was more transmission work on autos than manuals of equivalent vehicles

could have something to do with the fact the ratios of manuals to autos sold in australia is also like 20/80..

No, I accounted for prevalence of transmission types
Regardless, that's not my main point
If you're driving efficiently you gear down as you slow & rev match
Anyway, last time I try to make the point