Learning manual, stalled so many times
 

Just got a manual brz and I’m getting the hang of it, except for hills. Tried to get out of a parking structure which was underground and has a very steep hill. Stalled so many times before I got out (about 7 or 8, maybe even 10.). Should car be ok?? And how long did it take you guys before learning to go up a steep hill? At least I didn’t burn the clutch :( but just worried about the car.

I love my girlfriend, but man she was a horrible teacher. I was scared for the longest time when stopping just below a hill, like the traffic lights close to the base I was stationed at, but I think two weeks did it for me. She had never really explained that I could ride the clutch a second longer to make shit work, so I always let it out too soon. Man, good times.

Even if you're comfortable, practice starting out on level ground without any gas. It's a real skill builder. I guarantee it will help you on inclines.

I remember teaching someone who, for some reason, was under the false impression that once the car started moving he had to commit to full engagement.

Learn to modulate the clutch by itself to keep the car from stalling. That's the value in practicing a no-gas start.


I'm sure the car is fine. The clutch will get mushy on engagement when it gets too hot. It's the same as brake fade only different. :D

Many years ago when I got my license, I lived on a steep hill in a quiet residential neighborhood. I took my dad's MGB out and bucked that car up and down the hill for weeks before I felt comfortable with a hill start. Pretty soon all the neighborhood dogs and children would run when they heard me crank the car. I would practice for an hour, come back a few days later and practice for another hour, etc. It didn't help that the car had a racing engine in it that had to have the gas feathered constantly because it wouldn't idle.

You may not have a '74 MGB with a racing engine and a convenient hill outside your front door. But I told the story to illustrate that it just takes practice. Lots and lots of it.

If there's a hill nearby without much traffic where you can go practice without being under pressure from angry horns behind you, go practice. Then go practice some more. About the time you're feeling comfortable, you'll be in traffic somewhere, panic and stall out again because you'll be worried about the eyes on you from the other cars nearby. It will make you feel discouraged about your skills, but the only way to feel good about them again is to go practice again.

After you've been driving for a few years, there will come a day when you'll stall it in traffic again. People who have been driving for thirty years will stall out occasionally, and they usually say, "What the fuck was THAT? What is WRONG with me?"

Don't worry about the car. The clutch is designed to take the force of the engine and transmit it to the transmission and all the way to the rear wheels. It's not necessarily a gentle process. The clutch can take it.

And consider this: 82% of Americans already can't do what you can do. Only 18% can drive a manual, and that includes all the ones who can just barely drive it, but not very well. There are very few people in any kind of position to sit in judgment of your skills. So take the pressure off yourself, because you're already among the elite.

Not an expert, and it's flat as a pancake here, but if I'm ever on an incline I use the parking brake to keep car from rolling while I play with clutch and accelerator pedal. Don't know if that's how it's done, but it helps me. That or grow a third leg.

Nothing wrong with that. Let the haters hate.

So, you sure you don't mean that 82% of Americans don't own a manual? Or maybe it's that 82% of cars owned by Americans are auto? I find the provided statistic to be un-plausible based on knowing quite a few people over the age of 50 or so...


I find this to be the most effective solution when I need to get it up a hill. Also effective with speed humps and the like.

This isn't for everyone, but I've been able to help some people with this advice:

Keep your heel on the floor when letting the clutch out. You can use the friction with the carpet to modulate the clutch much more precisely than when your foot is hovering.

I must say... while the BRZ's clutch is light and almost effortless, it is rather difficult to control at first until you get used to it which lead to my opinion that it is not all that great as a first manual car. This is because there is almost no feedback from the clutch pedal. Plus there is a rather ambiguous yet very fine point between engagement and stalling, like the car would only begin to slightly creep forward in a way that makes you think you can let off the clutch justtttt a bit more... then suddenly, stalled. I also know that lack of feedback is due to some spring above the clutch pedal and you can mod (remove) it out but it is ridiculous as-is for a car that is supposed to be all about the "feel" and pleasure of driving.



I've driven quite a few manuals and for almost ten years now and I stalled quite frequently initially when I first bought the car. I haven't stalled this frequently in a car since I first learned how to drive stick. Everything is all good now but once a blue moon, I'll surprisingly stall. I am still figuring out the trick on how to smoothly shift into second.



Anyway, like others above are saying, learn no-gas clutch work. Build the muscle memory. Find a long flat road with little to no traffic and just get the car moving from letting off the clutch, stop, repeat. Do the same on an inclined driveway somewhere to practice hill starts.

My 17 has hill start assist, does the 15 not have it? If it does I would use that until your more comfortable with the clutch and gas dance.

Hill start is a new feature for 2017.

DON'T BRING THIS UP.

Also. Learn how to drive.:thumbup:

Folk's that "don't know" talk about the stick shift a lot, but it is learning the clutch part of a manual transmission that makes driving one a challenge and a reward.

I drove manual 25 years ago, after that Automatic, and a month ago, bought BRZ tS, I do have issues with slow start from stop, stalled 5 times in a month (good sign). Shifting from 1st to 2nd still jerks even with slow clutch release. I too got frustrated. I have to learn fast take off from stop sign or intersections - I don't want people honking at me. :mad0260: