Just got a BRZ!!
 

Hey everyone bought this on Saturday and learned to drive stick on it on Sunday! First car was a 2006 acura RSX (automatic) I've been loving this thing since

I have some questions about driving stick

1. Do you guys down shift and engine break when you see a red light or just coast in neutral?

2. How do you go about 'creeping' or 'crawling' through SLOW moving traffic?

any tips welcome!

also any cool stuff you learned about the car you can throw my way? :D

http://i65.tinypic.com/xlywyf.jpg

1. I normally downshift from whatever gear I'm on, but I can't see any reason not to slow down while in neutral. The former is simply more engaging for me.

2. It's hard to describe it as it's second nature to me, but I just put as much gas as necessary and ease on the clutch accordingly.

Cool stuff? :search:, take a look at DIYs, etc.

This has been discussed more here than you can possibly imagine. Instead of answering, I'll offer this advice:

Search. But don't use the terrible search button on this site, because it will give you weird and frustrating results. Instead, use Google with the "site:" tag, like so:

site:ft86club.com downshift engine braking

The site: tag restricts Google to just the domain you put after it. It will work with any domain name, so you can use it on other message boards as well.

If you have a light foot, you can drive this car gently at 6 MPH around 1000-1100 RPM without lugging the engine. When I'm in stop and go traffic, I leave extra room in front of me and try to find the average speed that keeps me from having to stop. If traffic dips below 6 MPH, I just clutch in and coast or brake. If it suddenly speeds up, I accelerate a little more slowly than the assholes around me to avoid the inevitable slamming of brakes because the idiots in front of me were too stupid to realize that traffic did not really just magically go from 6 MPH to 40 MPH.

I try to think and see ahead so that all my acceleration and braking are fluid. If I can position myself to see traffic up ahead, I keep an eye on it so that I can slow down preemptively if it's stopping rather than just staring like a dipshit at the brake lights of the car in front of me. Sometimes it's not possible to see cars, but I can see their shadows. This helps avoid sudden braking.

The trick is to remain calm and centered and not let assholes infect you with their asshole mindset. This requires ignoring the assholes around you tailgating people to keep other drivers from cutting in front of them and not letting their impatience infect you. It requires not automatically jamming the accelerator to the floor when the assholes around you suddenly accelerate. It also requires ignoring the people who suddenly cut in front of you without realizing that just because you left some extra room does not mean your lane is moving faster.

They won't get there any faster by acting like assholes, and neither will you.

For lights, only if I'm feeling extra giddy, or if I just washed the wheels and want to keep them as shiny as possible (brake dust) :D

As for traffic creeping, I find 2nd gear usually takes care of anything more than a dead stop up to almost 30km/h (20mph)...depending how lazy you feel.

1. coasting in neutral is illegal in some places, so don't
2. 2nd gear

why didn't you wait for 2017 model? you probably didn't even get that much discount for 2016 model

huh? never heard of that before. whereabouts?

I believe he bought a used 2014.

California is one such example, which is why I've mentioned putting it in neutral when slowing down.

OH SHIT Here we go again!



Brakes are cheaper than engines.
So what I am not hurting the engine
You will wear your car out faster
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will


Three weeks after the thread dies:


Brakes are cheaper than engines.
So what I am not hurting the engine
You will wear your car out faster
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will
No I won't
Yes you will

"also any cool stuff you learned about the car you can throw my way?"

Yes. This car loves to have it's front bumper driven on top of parking stops. Loves the scraping noise, the scratches, the tears. I've tried to teach it to not do this, yet to no avail...it's addicted !

I missed this part of your post earlier.

Read this:

Hidden Features

There are a lot of smartass posts there, but there's also a lot of great info about the car.

For me, I engine brake to a stop with all my manual cars or manual motorcycles. I just prefer engine braking.


Never had a transmission issue/problem engine braking with all the cars and motorcycles we have owned be they cheap (our Hyundai) or expensive (our Porsche).


I also coast (neutral) everywhere I can (when it's safe to do so).


Really, it's do what you like (or what's natural), it's your car/motorcycle. :)


YMMV.

Or just lower it! I haven't driven over a stop since.