First time stick driver

[EXodus751]

Is engine braking good or bad? If I am coming to a stop light, do i brake while in gear until around 5 MPH in ANY gear (1,2,3,4,5) and then shift into neutral, or do I clutch into neutral right away and brake as I come to it?

BRAKE and look at your tachometer and you'll know when to press clutch before it stalls out.
I don't really put it in Neutral unless i come to a complete stop.
well i'm a type of person who dont puts it in neutral often.

If i'm slowing down, is it better to just slow down in gear or in neutral? And if I end up not needin to stop (light turned green), I just shift into 2nd and go on right?

I think i answered your first quesiton up there.
If you end up not stopping then you should put it in 2nd gear.
Well depends on the speed but mostly 2nd gear, and
since your new with driving manual tranny cars you should just let go the clutch SLOWLY..
because your car will go all out crazzy if you let go the clutch go too fast.
Later on when you get better with that search for heel&toe ACTION
well later on when you get BETTER!

And when I come to a stop sign where I only need to stop for 3 seconds then go, do I just keep it in 2nd gear, stop, and go on in 2nd gear? I used to re-do the launch from 1st, but it takes too long and everyone gets mad and blows their horn at me

Stop] for 3 seconds? Do you mean stop sign????
for stop sign you should stop COMPLETELY i dont want you to get ticket for that.
Well anywayz....
u could start with 2nd gear
BUT!!!!!!....
you might wear out your clutch littlebit more than 1st gear.
I recommend you start with 1st gear with a rev match.
If people honk at you, tell them FUCK YOU!!
or give them the finger(make sure its middle finger sticking out), because you dont wanna get a ticket because of them you know???
Well thats me, i dont really care about other people.
Well i do, but i'm going to do what i wanna. You know??

[AccordMaestro]

I got an Upshifting question.

When you are about to Upshift you push in the Clutch, shift, hold down the Gas pedal to keep the speed going, and slowly let the Clutch go.

Or

Do i push the Clutch in, Shift and then press the Gas pedal?
But when i do that i feel like the car has no power


Which is the right way to do it?

[i97supratti]

I got an Upshifting question.

When you are about to Upshift you push in the Clutch, shift, hold down the Gas pedal to keep the speed going, and slowly let the Clutch go.

Or

Do i push the Clutch in, Shift and then press the Gas pedal?
But when i do that i feel like the car has no power


Which is the right way to do it?

The first method u wrote is Speed-shifting, which isnt good for your drivetrain. For the 2nd method, maybe you are shifting too early, thats why you aren't getting alot of power.

What I do is balance the 2 pedals. Imagine a see-saw, with the clutch on one side, and the gas on the other. When I push the clutch completely in, the gas is completely out. As I release the clutch, I add the same amount of gas until the "see-saw" is balanced, then I fully let out the clutch.

[AccordMaestro]

What I do is balance the 2 pedals. Imagine a see-saw, with the clutch on one side, and the gas on the other. When I push the clutch completely in, the gas is completely out. As I release the clutch, I add the same amount of gas until the "see-saw" is balanced, then I fully let out the clutch.

That would be burning the Clutch tho.

[cp[mike]]

best way i can explain, is basically put the car in whatever gear puts it where it should be.

going up a hill at 20mph would suck in 5th, so clutch, downshift, rev match best you can then ease it back into gear so it felt smooth without too much clutch slippage (the longer u drive the better you get at keeping slipping to a minimum)

anyway if my car is still moving, ill always leave it in gear while im pressing on the brakes until the RPM's get too low and the car has potential of stalling. braking in gear puts less work on the brakes than if youre in neutral... possibly a negligable amount, but over 10 years and 200k miles it might help put off a clutch job for a while.

slipping the clutch excessively into a much lower gear to get the car to slow down without using the brakes is NOT what i would call smart. sure it saves your brakes, but kills the clutch... only time i would consider that if is if my brakes didnt work, or if youre slipping on ice and even touching the brakes makes them lock up, excessive engine braking is like an alternative to ABS... slows the car down in an emergency, but lets you keep control...

then again, lets say youre going 40 and the speed limit changes to 30... ill let off the gas till the car starts to slowly slow down on its own, then downshift a gear and slip the clutch a tiny bit to slow me down... then once im at 30mph, im already in the gear i want to be in, otherwise its a pain in the butt to slow down using the brakes, push the clutch, shift, rev match, let clutch back out...

anyway dont kill yourself for slipping the clutch as you learn. way i forced myself to learn was to buy a 5spd cb7 before i knew how to drive it, my dad test drove it and not having any option to drive automatic i HAD to learn. its discouraging at first but as the months go by youll definately get a feel for it. listing out RPM's and proper gears and how long you should slip the clutch and whatnot isnt going to help you, driving stick isnt staring at the tach trying to memorize what gear you should be in and what you should rev to... you really get a feel for it, ever wonder why old 5spd cars didnt even come with a tach?

and the person who asked about slipping the clutch on a hill.... do NOT sit there in gear with the clutch half out, slipping it, to get the car to stay in place, the burning clutch smell will make you realize the damage youre causing... roll/drive up the hill, put it in neutral, and sit on the brakes. when it comes time to move again, hopefully youll be comfortable enough to be able to get the car back in gear and moving forward without rolling backwards too far. and yes, to get the shift and acceleration to feel smooth, you will be slipping the clutch a bit more than if you were on a flat road, but thats only to have a smooth engagement.

two suggestions on how to deal with hills while youre learning: sure the other route might be a bit longer, but going around the block instead, or crossing over onto another road might be a couple minutes longer, but if you dont feel comfortable around hills that you need to stop on, you can avoid most of them. another suggestion is that if youre scared youre going to roll backwards into the guy behind you, while youre sitting there stopped, watch as he starts to come up the hill behind you... start to roll backwards towards him (car in neutral, let off the brakes a bit) enough to let him know that theres potential of your rear end heading towards his face lol... most ppl will get scared, get the point and keep their distance.

if they get pissed that you took .5 seconds longer to start from a stopsign than somebody whos driving an automatic, then fuck them. ANYBODY who is learning deals with this, if ppl get pissed its their own problem. maybe oneday they will have to learn and deal with everybody else geting pissed at THEM...

[jdmthis]

i remember i was like 16 when my father bought me my first car. it was a 90 accord dx (crashed it) anyway it was myfirst stick car. so he was teaching me to drive it finally after estimated time of 2 hrs i thoguht that i had it. WRONG. i ended up down shifting into 1st gear. i was like i thought that could do that, it spun the front tires and smoke was everywhere.

[Inkyturbo]

Just don't sit there at the light with you foot on the clutch, even partially engaged. You may be about to leave in like 3 seconds however it's a bad habit to get into --- an an expensive one. Don't be lazy, put it in neutral at the light.

What the hell? I've never heard of this rule, and doing that hasn't worn out my clutch any faster than anyone else's. Is that an actual rule of driving stick, or just an opinion?

[Rusty]

to confirm Engine braking is fine for the engine in moderation. You shouldn't be down shifting and the revs jumping up to 7k. but if you think about it down shift puts the engine at the same RPM's as if you were driving it hard and waiting to upshift. It just scares most people because you hear the engine go from low to high rpms.

Taking off in second gear is something that should only be done for people who have more than 8 gears. so pretty much semi trucks. Our cars have first gear for a reason. I know this because my cousin is a mechanic and my dad is a truck driver

I have heard of some people who leave there foot on their clutch and it doesn't necesarily ware the clutch down but it does do soemthing to the pedal itself making it loose feeling. I could be wrong about this but it is just what i've heard.

I know at least one person said they put it in neutral to save gas well that's acutally wrong. when in neutral the injectors still release gas but when your in gear, foot is off the gas and the rpm's are above 1,500 the injectors are closed. So that would proabably be the best way to save gas.

As for the orginal questions if your slowing down and then have to go again i usually look at my spedometer. if i'm going say 20 mph i shift into second 30 mph i shift into third. but thats just the way i do it.


good luck learning to drive and fuck all those who beep.

[FishyMan]

i just want to ask, exactly what is considered slipping?? is that the same as riding the clutch?

or adding gas while still engaged?


the rule about sitting in light while in gear is bad from what i hear, again driving stick is opinionated to an extent. i heard it had something to do with the bearing or throwout bearing, something like that. im not sure though..

the only time i really sit in gear is to make those left turns, if its busy im like 1/2 pressed in the clutch and brake, ready to go. sometimes i do squeel the tires a tad..

[Inkyturbo]

Good lord! I just reread my post and realized it was way out of line. I should have phrased my question without sounding all pissed off. My apologies...

[Raceboy]

Good lord! I just reread my post and realized it was way out of line. I should have phrased my question without sounding all pissed off. My apologies...

WOW very mature of ya Inky, this is why this site is better then all other accord sites. ........sorry it's