Questions about driving/shifting habits

Hello

So I just purchased a new MS3 and totally love it. This thing moves and it handling is awesome if you ask me.

Anyhow this is my first new car and first stick shift. I have a few questions about driving and shifting techniques/habbits. I want to make sure Im not doing anything that will cause excessive wear/ damage to my engine/clutch and transmission. Some of these might seem a bit silly or what not, but I want to make sure I am taking good care of my 20k investment. That and Im still suffering from ''new car over-protectiveness syndom''. I guess I will just list my questions and people can chime in on the ones they want to.

1) How bad are my rookie mistakes? I learned stick on a VW passat. The MS3 shifts much tighter and faster then that. Like any rookie with a stick I have had quite a few stalls, almost stalls, starting in 3rd when I thought i was in 1st, etc. My question is how much damage am I doing? I fear i am taking years off the life of my car. Are there any rookie mistakes I that are particuarily bad?

2)1st gear is the hardest for me. When I start the car usually jumps a bit, either because its reved too much or not enough. Is this something I need to worry about? Im workign on getting my starts smoother. Also I usually let up on the clutch very slowly? Will this wear it out faster?

3) I know riding the clutch while coasting is bad. When I coast i just pop it into nuetral. However when manuvering in my driveway, backing up up, creeping in traffic or up to a toll booth during rush hour, I often wind up only letting the clutch out about half to 3/4 of the way. For moving short distance (1-2 car lengths at a time) should i be fully engaging it?

4)When just sitting at a stop light, is it ok to keep the clutch down or should it be in neutral with the clutch released?

5)often when driving through parking lots or short distances I will drive slow, in 1st or 2nd. I keep the revs below 3k while doing this. Any reason to be alarmed here?

6) Any tips on getting through first smoothly would be a blessing.

Ok I think thats it for now... Any and all tips and help is much appreciated. I drive 84 miles each day and I want to make sure im taking good care of my baby as I hope to have her for a while.


Thanks

-Pete

1.) You're not going to hurt anything

2.) As long as you're not reving the car up to 5,000RPM and slipping the clutch, you're not going to do much damage. You may be wearing the clutch a bit faster than someone who's mastered a manual, but unfortunately, there's not much you can do about it other than get better!

3.) You're fine.

4.) Do not keep the clutch down when you're sitting at a light. You are putting more wear on the throwout bearing than necessary.

5.) Nope.

6.) It just takes practice. It's really hard to explain. It's one of those things that you just have to do over and over again until you get a feel for the clutch and the sensativity of the gas pedal and figure out how much the right foot should be pushing down as the left one is coming up.

Frequent flyer has some good responses going there
Clutchwork is largely a matter of experience and learning the vehicle. Each manual car is a bit different. Sitting at a light is best to be in neutral with your foot off the clutch, A good way with the speed3 to train yourself is using the dead pedal to the left. If your not manipulating the clutch, you foot should be on that dead pedal. this will force you to learn proper technique, and not be tempted to ride the clutch between uses. It will help to practice this a bit, so your foot is used to finding the clutch quickly from the rest position.

practice, practice, and practice.

get a good feel for the clutch, riding the clutch will case heat or improper wear marks on your clutch.

Its all about momentum and balancing. Once you feel that the car has enough momentum get off the clutch, but smoothly.

don't be afraid to go all the way to left until you hit the end of the gate and go up to first, same for fifth and six(all the way right up/down) to avoid a very bad miss shift.

all in all get a new motor mount, makes shifting easier and smoother (after you can drive smoother)

Another thing you can do is find a big parking lot somewhere on the weekend and just practice starting out in 1st and reversing while not having to worry about people honking at you because you stalled out in front of them at a light. When I got my learners permit, the first car I learned to drive on was a 5 speed and either my mom or dad would take me to a mall parking lot that was closed on Sundays and we'd do laps. There was a road around the mall that we could at least do 35-40mph with stop signs, so it was almost like a driving course. There were some people that would drive through there also, but hardly enough to interfere with us. 6 months later, when I got my license to drive alone, I was more than ready to hit the roads.

Like the others said, you're not doing any real damage. If you start smelling burnt clutch a lot (the most awful smell in the world) then you should start worrying about your driving habits... One thing that I found helped me out a lot when I was first learning was always driving in the same shoes. It sounds weird, but it helps you get a consistent feel for the pedals...

This is also my first manual that I own. I did learn on my mom's Nissan 200SX, but manual from car to car is very different. Friends that only drive manual, and others that know how to, but currently own automatics, have driven my car and did horrible also, so do not feel bad. It just takes getting use to your car.

One thing that helps me from stop starting in first is to lightly blip the gas pedel to 2500-3000 rpm, then as it starts to come down upon release, as you are shifting your L foot off the clutch simutaneously, start to lightly give it gas as usual. It will be much smoother. The only way to get a smooth start from stop otherwise is to time the clutch/gas perfectly and slip the clutch a bit, which is harder on it than doing my method.

I actually have more problems 1st to second being smooth consistently, get some bucking sometimes. I think this is either due to releasing gas too quick in 1st before clutch is depressed fully, or too high rpm's in 1st. Because if you let those rpm's drop as you spend time shifting, 2nd will jerk (slow you down), so timing rpm's, shifting early helps as well.

My mom who has always owned a manual also kept trying to start from third gear, although I have only done this like once. So keep practicing, and playing with it, as everyone else has said. Have fun with it!

wow .. starting from 3rd gear. I wouldn't recommend that. Too much strain on the clutch and engine. You probably have to rev that sucker up and slip the clutch like crazy and romp on the gas pedal after you get more momentum to avoid stalling. Not good for any car.

Thanks for all the tips thus far....

Another quick one. When shifting from one gear to the next, should i let off the gas before, after or at the same time to pressing down the clutch.

Sometimes when shifting out of a gear into the next i get a bit of a lurch and a nasty feel on the stick... i assume im getting a reverse situation from what happend when shifting into a gear.

Anyhow all these coments have been useful, and put my mind at rest about killin my new car.


-Pete

once you get a bit used to how it all works you don't have to let off the gas all the way to shift. of course, it all depends on the load. when I'm cruising and shifting normally I'll leave my foot on the gas a little bit and the shifts are very smooth, almost like an automatic.

MicaSp33d said:

wow .. starting from 3rd gear. I wouldn't recommend that. Too much strain on the clutch and engine. You probably have to rev that sucker up and slip the clutch like crazy and romp on the gas pedal after you get more momentum to avoid stalling. Not good for any car.

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I think he's saying his mom was driving his car and was starting in third gear because she wasn't familiar with having to push the stick to the left first.

This car really isn't the easiest thing when it comes to shifting. It's especially tricky going from 1st to 2nd without the car jerking, but like was said before it's practice practice practice.

Hey Thanks for the good responses. Much appreciated.

I have yet another question. After about a month now with the car things are getting more fluid and fun.

One thing I have noticed, and i'm not quite sure what causes this, is sometimes it wont let me shift into first or second.

The problem seems to show up if I make a mistake in my shifting, usually in a mid range gear like 2-4. Seems to happen around 30-40 mph. Any how when this happens it feel like I am shifting without using the clutch, only in reality I have the clutch pedal all the way down. As I try and shift in I can hear what im guessing is the flywheel make a whirling noise, and if I try and force it it feels like I am griding the gears.

It is almost as if the car has a safety mechanism to keep me from going into first and sometimes second at certains speeds.

Is this supposed to happen or is something wrong?

-Pete

What you hear is the synchro. If you are tryin to go into 1st while you are still moving (but still going slow enough for 1st) you will hear this everytime. One trick is to not force it in, but hold the shifter right there at 1st gear. You will hear the synchro and once it gets up to speed the shifter will just fall in to 1st. I've learned not to force anything, but just hold the shifter towards the gear I want and when it's ready it'll shift right on in.

mordant80 said:

You will hear the synchro and once it gets up to speed the shifter will just fall in

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Good stuff! I quote that bit from Mordant because that is describing an important thing in getting a smooth downshift, and that's the basis behind a shifting technique you may have encountered/heard about: "Heel-toe".

Now, this is an advanced technique, so if you're just starting to gather experience with a MT, wait untill you've gotten the hang of it, don't rush things, take your time to learn things properly

A small description of heel-toe downshifting is that you give the car a blip of gas while braking, in order to get a similar engine/tranny speed and be able to downshift without getting the car to lurch around when you put the lower gear in. This technique is important if you're planning on lapping your car.

In the interest of not going too off-topic I'll stop here, but there's tons of info around to help you with learning this when you're ready.