Let's face it, everyone drives a stick-shift differently. All of my friends do what I would consider are the weirdest things, but that's only because I drive it differently.
For instance, unless going uphill my friend always starts out in second gear. I always feel like he's about to stall, it's almost embarrassing. Some of my friends just suck at driving stick, they make you fly all over the place when they pop the clutch out. Some people force a lower gear instead of shifting up a lot, almost making the RPM's red line. And I normally go into neutral when I'm stopped at a light, while some of my friends kill their leg keeping the clutch in waiting for the light.
Let's see, some things that I do... I normally coast on a road whenever I absolutely can, and normally my slowing down consists of down-shifting progressively until I get all the way into first gear (with a little bit of braking in between). If I'm on a really steep hill and the ground is wet or something, I'll prepare myself to start going by pulling up the e-brake first and then getting off the clutch and on the gas just enough so I'll start going when I put the e-brake back down. Oh, and I definitely make for as smooth of a ride as possible, at least smooth enough that sometimes people forget they're riding in a manual transmission vehicle.
Any techniques or pointers you stick-shift owners want to throw out there?
For instance, unless going uphill my friend always starts out in second gear. I always feel like he's about to stall, it's almost embarrassing. Some of my friends just suck at driving stick, they make you fly all over the place when they pop the clutch out. Some people force a lower gear instead of shifting up a lot, almost making the RPM's red line. And I normally go into neutral when I'm stopped at a light, while some of my friends kill their leg keeping the clutch in waiting for the light.
Let's see, some things that I do... I normally coast on a road whenever I absolutely can, and normally my slowing down consists of down-shifting progressively until I get all the way into first gear (with a little bit of braking in between). If I'm on a really steep hill and the ground is wet or something, I'll prepare myself to start going by pulling up the e-brake first and then getting off the clutch and on the gas just enough so I'll start going when I put the e-brake back down. Oh, and I definitely make for as smooth of a ride as possible, at least smooth enough that sometimes people forget they're riding in a manual transmission vehicle.
Any techniques or pointers you stick-shift owners want to throw out there?
)...and not using first gear is pretty standard for that unless you are hauling heavy or going up a steep grade.
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