Manual Transmission Virgin
 

Hey everyone,

Thread title says it all. I have not driven an MT before, though been in the passenger seat plenty of times. The plan is to purchase one of the Twins (leaning towards the FRS) next year and I want to be ready by then. In the mean time, I'll learn using my brother's RSX once he picks it up mid-June.

My question is, how do you drive an MT in heavy, stop and go traffic? I've watched plenty of how-to videos of actually driving one, but only 1 or 2 described heavy traffic driving.

Please correct me if I'm wrong in my thinking. :)
1. Do you simply leave the car in 1st gear then gas>brake>gas>brake, etc like you would in an AT?
OR...
2. Do you gas > clutch/neutral, brake > clutch/1st, gas > clutch/neutral, brake, rinse and repeat?

The first method would seem more logical to me but the guys in those how-to videos mentioned leaving your car in 1st gear while at a complete stop could stall your engine (I could be wrong since my memory hasn't been the best as of late).
Also with the second method, that would be a lot of clutch usage (I want the clutch to last at least 75k!) since I drive in the outskirts of downtown Seattle, and going down one street to turn onto the highway on-ramp takes 15-30 minutes. Furthermore, there's an incline with drivers stopping about 3-4 inches left from hitting my rear (I hate those people).

I would get the AT version of the Twins to make it much easier to drive in heavy traffic but I want one car to have an MT.

Anyways, hope my question and description is clear as I have a hard time explaining things in great detail.

Future thanks to anyone who takes their time to provide an answer!

Welcome
Guys be gentle

Gears work linearly. If the clutch is engaged and the car is stopped, the engine will also be stopped. Therefore, you MUST work the clutch when crawling (driving below vehicle speed which is lower than idle in first gear) in a MT car.

When I'm in real "stop and go" traffic, I do two things: 1) I leave larger gaps so I can creep with the engine barely at 1000rpm, and 2) I clutch in and pop it in neutral to stop, knowing I'm going to be stopped for a while.

Thank you for your reply. I do notice that drivers who have MT cars do leave about 2-3 car lengths worth of space to creep as you mentioned.

Yeah Seattle is pretty rough for stop and go on inclines. In this case you use your e brake.

Very difficult to tell you how to drive MT in print and there are all sorts of "tricks" that people will tell you that are dubious at best and can damage your car at worst.


This is actually a pretty good starting point: http://www.wikihow.com/Drive-Manual


Also spend some time on Youtube (keeping in mind some things are just not right) or find somebody that can actually show you. Many driving schools will only charge a $100 or so and that is really a very good investment to learn how to do things right.

let's say you're at a stop and traffic is beginning to move.
1.) clutch in
2.) shift from neutral to first
3.) let clutch out to engagement point and give gas as needed. At this point the clutch won't be fully out if im only moving a bit.

then lets say traffic stops again

4.) clutch in and brake
5.) go from first to neutral again OR leave in first and leave clutch in (depending on how long you think traffic will be stopped for)

someone correct me if I gave some bad advice lol

Forgot to mention check the phone when traffic stop

terrible....

smh

how else would you move up if you just want to move like 2 meters?

He's yanking your chain.

OP, the thing to remember about clutch conservation is to focus on spending the least amount of time possible with the clutch in slip, especially don't gas it while the clutch is slipping. Hard to explain in words. It's a rhythm thing easier understood when seen demonstrated. Like @Tcoat said, classes are reasonable and very much worth the cost.

In the end remember it's just a clutch.

Practice out of traffic first. It is difficult to get things right if you are trying to learn in a stressful environment.

Another thing to remember...If you're sitting still for a couple of minutes or longer (at a light or stuck in traffic), don't sit there in gear with the clutch pushed in. Put it in neutral and let the clutch out until you need to be in gear.

I tried not gas when clutch still slipping and the car jerks like crazy