Starting off in 1st gear

[JamesBond000]

Originally Posted by WhiteFRS69

i used to be the same way when i first started driving manual

light turns green, was nervous the people behind me would honk if i didnt go right away, so i would rev up quick and go,

now i just dont care, take your time, dont let the people behind you get to you,

i was once at a light and went through 2 cycles of green and red lights because my car kept stalling (old car)

thought i was in first but i was really in third, fail..

sounds silly but i found myself a slight incline road and parked the car and practiced taking off in first, slight gas, maybe 1K rpm

you will get used to the car

HA i got ya beat i stalled at the dealership 11 times after i bought the car... i was just trying to move the car after they trained me a little with test drive.... I figured out i was stalling because the E brake was up!

[DeadStar7]

Originally Posted by Cal3000

Yeah. 60k miles already.

Wtf? How? Do you mean 6,000 miles, or actually 60,000 miles? I don't even know how that's possible.

[Phantobe]

Great advice guys, I'm working on it. The problem I have is I have love blasting music lol. So It's harder to hear the engine, I do alot better when I can hear and feel.

As for someone that mentioned high clutch engagement I already adjusted my clutch so that it's about parallel with my brake pedal, the high clutch engagement point felt so shoddy to me.

I still get a little nervous at lights especially when I'm the first one at the light. Cause sometimes I'm a bit slow to hit the clutch and put it in gear. I feel like the motorcycle was so much easier as far as startin off in first.

I'm not gonna give up tho love the car way more fun that the auto to me, so much more control.

Hills are starting to terrify me less. I just need to learn to relax more.

[mike the snake]

Our cars are very hard to start out in 1st, and hard to shift smoothly, compared to every other car I've driven.

The pedal has a spring that affects the feel a LOT. Many people remove this spring, and report the clutch then feels normal.

This spring makes it harder to push the pedal at first, and then makes it easier to push as you get closer to the floor.

Removing the spring, people report slightly more pedal pressure is needed, but the feel is so improved the extra pedal force is a non-issue.

Another reason for our cars being hard to drive is the actual clutch adjustment itself.

My car, the clutch began engaging juuuust off the floor. After adjusting my clutch so it engaged when the pedal was further off the floor helped a lot towards making my car easier to take off in 1st.

Many people also report hard to get into gear when warm, and many have replaced their clutches, some of which I am sure is because of the adjustment instead of faulty clutches.

[radroach]

I've had about a year under my belt of driving the car driving mostly with jackrabbit starts because of the funny clutch and the throttle making me jump. But it's actually rather easy to start slowly and smoothly, you just have to learn and figure it out. Plenty of feathering, and almost .5% of throttle is all it takes to move in 1st gear and then get into 2nd. I almost never need to rev it to 1k unless I'm starting up a hill.

Try driving with TC off (regular press, not full TC off). You'll notice whether the TC is cutting back your throttle to keep you from peeling out (and causing non smooth starts). You have to learn to give it very low throttle though feather it enough that the RPM's dont drop and you take off smoothly. I know that you can certainly chirp the tires with enough throttle even from 1k rpm, and the vsc/tc keeps that from happening but that results in a weird-feeling start, turning TC off will give it a much more natural feeling.

[n0thing]

Right before the clutch reaches the friction point, are you suppose to feather/tap-tap the gas pedal or press the gas pedal down in one fluid motion (like driving AT)? I find that it's less likely to stall using the first approach, but it tends to get jerky and possible puts more wear on the clutch.

The laggy/unresponsive DBW doesn't help either.

[Cal3000]

Originally Posted by DeadStar7

Wtf? How? Do you mean 6,000 miles, or actually 60,000 miles? I don't even know how that's possible.

Yup, 60,000 miles. lol
I drive a lot. When I hit 100k, I'm going to get a beater and garage this car.

[aristo]

I've driven about 3k miles and can only do 2 types of starts:

1 - super smooth but slow speed curve and no jerking (approx 2.3 seconds slipping clutch)

2 - fast start but jagged and 'sudden' speed curve (approx 1.5 sec slipping clutch)

I find that the more time spent slipping the clutch, the smoother it will be but of course spending too much time slipping is going to wear it faster..

I want to learn starting from first like an automatic transmission would.. smooth Fast and linear torque curve without spending too much time slipping the clutch (is that even possible?)

When people say they only need to slip the clutch for 1 second to get a smooth start from 1st gear I am almost inclined to not believe them (perhaps they lower the number out of shame or pride)

Also not sure what RPM or speed people are switching from 1st to 2nd gear but I aim for around 9-10 mph and 2k rpm

The 'delay' pushing in the clutch and switching gears from 1st to 2nd is super noticeable to me as I am starting along side automatic cars at a stop trying to match their smoothness curve lol

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by DeadStar7

Wtf? How? Do you mean 6,000 miles, or actually 60,000 miles? I don't even know how that's possible.

Assuming the car is two years old that's ~83 miles/day, totally reasonable, I was commuting ~50 miles per day when I first got my car. We're talking about a 45-60 minute commute one way, not exactly unheard of, especially in California where businesses (white collar jobs) are often located in expensive neighborhoods.

Toss in a couple road trips and some joyriding and driving to autocross/hpde events, this car is meant to be used!



On track to pass 30k miles in under 2 years myself.

[DeadStar7]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

We're talking about a 45-60 minute commute one way, not exactly unheard of.

Unreasonable. The idiots doing this need to find a new job, or a new home.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by DeadStar7

Unreasonable. The idiots doing this need to find a new job, or a new home.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT4vhl8slbE"]Jobland - YouTube[/ame]

[Manic]

Unleess I'm on a hill or in a parking lot, I do most of my starts in 2nd.

[litemup]

Originally Posted by DeadStar7

Always a big struggle for new manual drivers. Just find the friction point before touching the throttle. That way you won't roll back.

No shame in using the hand-brake.

[litemup]

Originally Posted by Manic

Unleess I'm on a hill or in a parking lot, I do most of my starts in 2nd.

In what universe is this a good idea? 2 choices - both bad.

1. Slip the shit out of the clutch.
2. Lug the shit out of the engine

First gear is there for a reason.