Hi Punch
Unless you are a severely uncoordinated klutz, you need not spend time
and money with a driving school to become proficient with a manual
transmission. The old hand-eye-coordination thing applies here and adds your
left foot to a leading role too.
You also need to relate such things as road speed to the gear you're in
and have some compassion on your engine when it comes to having to go too
slow for the gear ratio. Same applies to going up or down grades. There's
no computer to make transmission gear changes now so you have to become
sensitive to these things. This applies constantly in gridlock traffic and
often in going through tight corners for which much slow down is necessary.
Just remember the purpose of the clutch is essentially to allow gears to
be changed and the quick, smooth execution of same will ensure long clutch
life. When starting from a dead stop the clutch has to yield up some of its
life as you connect the turning flywheel to the stationary mainshaft thru
the transmission. Again, as in doing gear changes once underway, use as
little engine rpm as possible [without jerking or killing the engine] so the
clutch becomes fully engaged ASAP. You should be able to get these moves
down pat with a little practice.
In doing your initial learning, stay on relatively level terrain. Use
the back portions of an empty mall parking lot to get used to stopping,
starting, turning while shifting down and after you're doing better with
these things going forward, then start in on backing up, imagin you're going
into a parallel parking space, etc. Only after you feel some confidence in
these should you finally attempt working on how to stop and restart on an
upgrade.
Some people have found it quicker to learn a manual transmission by
leaving their left shoe off. You might try this and see if it makes your new
relationship with a clutch more sensitive. Also, some of the vehicles you
mention are supplied with rather small foot pedals and if you have big feet
your shoes can become a tangle in this learning process with such, so be
aware of that.
Once you master the technique, you may find as many of us do who prefer
a manual transmission, that driving a vehicle with an automatic transmission
is akin to taking a shower with your socks on. I have a manual and drive
almost daily on the hills of San Francisco. I wouldn't have it any other
way!
Cheers
Paul Sahlin
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:05:20 EDT