[paulca]

I've said it before, I'll say it again. A lot of you are so hyper-sensitive about your clutches. It's probably as in the US 90% of people drive auto and only petrol heads drive manual. Manual is like a special thing and you feel you need to learn every little tiny detail about how to save the clutch and baby the clutch.

Over here 90% people drive manuals and very few people give a F. Clutches last a LONG time even when beat on. I'm not going to provide estimated life in miles as it really depends on what those miles are. A single clutch will last millions of miles on a freeway, but burn out in a few tens of thousands if all you do is drive in stop and go traffic up steep hills.

The only time you should be worried is delivering high torque through the clutch (such as launches and clutch dumps) or obvious prolonged careless beating on it.

By the way. Sitting on the clutch on a hill at lights and rocking the car forwards and back IS the best way to learn the bite point. Granted 1k rpm is probably better, but while learning 1k is too easy to stall, 2k isn't that bad. Half a minute isn't going to remove much off your clutch life.

Also, if you want to learn to drive "stick" properly, DONT sit on the brake and then pedal dance to move off on a hill, this is retarded. The "fever lever" is NOT, repeat NOT an emergency brake. It's a "hand brake". It's job, asides as a parking brake, is to secure the car so you can use the clutch and accelerator without needing 3 feet and the brake as well. Sit on the brake on a hill here and you would fail your driving test.