Myths of Driving a Manual Transmission

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Most of my manual trannied cars seemed to "refuel" the engine around 1,500 RPM while slowing down. It was a noticeable feeling.
 
I've lost count of the number of people who have told me that my brake lights are out on my homeward bound commute.

Simple fact is on my evening commute, I only need to stop to give way, or at one light...if they don't understand that they need to slow down when approaching lights, give way signals or merging, and need my brake lights to tell them, (or that in my E30 I can take a corner 20km/hr faster than in their car...that's an interesting discussion) then they shouldn't be on the road

Driving an auto the last few weeks, it's disconcerting to have the auto changing down against the brakes if I'm coming to a stop.
 
One of the more amusing things about driving a BMW is having some jerk driving some appliance tailgate you hard into a corner, and then watching him fade in your rearview as you go through the corner.
Even more amusing is having the same jerk in the same appliance, given that he can't actually drive (as opposed to operate) a car try to hold on to you in a corner.
Lots of undertsteer and tire smoke, along with the occassional off-road excursion.
 
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
One of the more amusing things about driving a BMW is having some jerk driving some appliance tailgate you hard into a corner, and then watching him fade in your rearview as you go through the corner.
Even more amusing is having the same jerk in the same appliance, given that he can't actually drive (as opposed to operate) a car try to hold on to you in a corner.
Lots of undertsteer and tire smoke, along with the occassional off-road excursion.


Substitute pick-up or SUV for appliance and Mazda6 for BMW and you have my driving experience.
 
A p/u or an SUV is an appliance, and a Mazda6 is a pretty decent car to drive.
 
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
One of the more amusing things about driving a BMW is having some jerk driving some appliance tailgate you hard into a corner, and then watching him fade in your rearview as you go through the corner.
Even more amusing is having the same jerk in the same appliance, given that he can't actually drive (as opposed to operate) a car try to hold on to you in a corner.
Lots of undertsteer and tire smoke, along with the occassional off-road excursion.



+1

Most countries require people to be able to safely operate their vehicle. Here in the states, the ability to fog a mirror suffices.
 
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Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
This sounds like my wife & her xB-I'm constantly telling her to leave it in neutral and stay off the clutch at red lights until she sees that the light is about to change-in a clutch replacement the labor is usually more than the parts-a $30 throwout bearing takes $5-600 in labor to replace it!
Well, if you are a man, a $30 throwout bearing takes $5-15 in beer to replace, plus the tools that came complimentary with your Man Card (tm)
 
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
One of the more amusing things about driving a BMW is having some jerk driving some appliance tailgate you hard into a corner, and then watching him fade in your rearview as you go through the corner.
Even more amusing is having the same jerk in the same appliance, given that he can't actually drive (as opposed to operate) a car try to hold on to you in a corner.
Lots of undertsteer and tire smoke, along with the occassional off-road excursion.

Substitute BMW for Econoline and appliance for BMW and you'll have my experience. Myeeaaaahh!!
cool.gif
 
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
It always surprises me that following drivers just can't seem to figure out that you're slowing down unless they see brake lights.
You would think that the back end of your car getting larger in their windshield would be a pretty good clue, but maybe people don't notice that when they have a phone glued to their ear, or they're texting.


If you are doing any speed over 25 mph,you dont have that much reaction time to avoid a person in front of you that for some reason,doesnt have enough courtesy to use their brakes and let others know what they are doing.

You can be following at the correct distance and still have a hard time adjusting to someone that for some reason is slowing and is doing so without any real warning at all.

There is a difference in slowing and actually coming to a stop and it isnt easy trying to decide what someone is doing when there are no brake lights to at least give a person some type of idea what is happening in front of them.

The brake pedal and lights are there for a reason,so that others know what the driver in front of them is doing.It is much better to let those behind you know what you are doing than to have someone hit you because you didnt take the time to use your brakes.The life you save may be your own.
 
Are you saying that following drivers can't see that the gap between them and the car ahead is shrinking?
Maybe part of the problem is that so many people are automatic-only drivers, and don't realize that a stick will lose speed pretty quickly on a closed throttle in gear.
For that matter, you can bring the car to a virtual halt by rowing down through the gears, if you want to.
The brakes are for use when needed.
The brake lights indicate that I may be stopping really hard, so following traffic should be ready.
Coasting to a stop in gear is not at all like using the brakes, and I would think that any halfway alert following driver could figure out that I am gradually slowing, and that they will probably need to use the brakes in their automatic car.
I think what you were saying above is that following drivers don't know that they may need to use their brakes unless I use mine.
This is kind of like people following closely into a fast corner, using the car ahead as their speed reference, rather than looking at the corner itself.
Silly way for them to drive.
 
Quote:
The brake pedal and lights are there for a reason,so that others know what the driver in front of them is doing.It is much better to let those behind you know what you are doing than to have someone hit you because you didnt take the time to use your brakes.The life you save may be your own.

Thats why I lightly tap the brakes 4-5 times so the person in back of me gets an idea of what is gonna happen. I was on the Turnpike last night (driving in the fast lane) and I tapped my brakes about 4 times cause the car in front of me slowed down and immediately the car in back of me switched lanes as soon as he saw my brake lights. If I didn't tap my brakes..... he would of been on my [censored] and would have slammed on his brakes to avoid hitting my bumper.

GET INTO THE HABIT OF TAPPING YOUR BRAKES !!!!!
I don't care if its a nice day, raining, fog, day/night time....etc.
 
In rush hour traffic, I often do not touch the brake pedal.

It's a holdover from driving a manual for so long. Pressing the brake means pressing the clutch. I let the gap between me and the car in front grow and shrink a little to avoid the whole stop, go, stop, go, stop, go, wear out stuff prematurely rigmarole. If some aggressive driver wants to jump in that gap, welcome to my [heck]. It's no faster here than it was in your lane. I just watch the cars as far ahead as I can. As soon as they stop doing the brake pedal tap dance I know that I can just resume driving with a normal interval between me and the car in front.

But you know what I find funny?

Those cars that swerve to the shoulder when they weren't paying attention and have to brake hard.
It's never a good car that does it. I was paying attention and saw the cars stopping ahead. Not like your cheesy Dodge Stratus with the packing tape holding the rear window up was going to outbrake me anyway.
 
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Are you saying that following drivers can't see that the gap between them and the car ahead is shrinking?
The brakes are for use when needed.
The brake lights indicate that I may be stopping really hard, so following traffic should be ready.
Coasting to a stop in gear is not at all like using the brakes, and I would think that any halfway alert following driver could figure out that I am gradually slowing, and that they will probably need to use the brakes in their automatic car.
I think what you were saying above is that following drivers don't know that they may need to use their brakes unless I use mine.


A driver may see the gap getting smaller but if they are following at the correct distance,they dont know if you are slowing,stopping or what.If you are driving any descent amount of speed,you only have so many seconds to react to any situation and if the person in front of you isnt braking,you dont have any real idea what they are doing.They may just be slowing,they may be planning a turn or they may be almost completely stopped and the driver behind you has no idea which this is and what you are doing.

The person behind you cant see whet is in front of you and they do rely to some extent on the driver ahead of them to get an idea of what is going on in front of them.

Brakes are not just for a hard stop,they are to be used for slowing and the most important part,they are used to allow the brake lights to come on to warn those behind them that they are slowing for some reason.

Again,an alert person that is following at a correct distance will still have only so many seconds to react to what you are doing and when they dont see any indication of braking,that makes the situation that much more dangerous,especially if you are going at a moderate speed.

Yes,to some extent a following car doesnt know to brake unless they see you brake,again,you do have to rely to some degree on the car in front of you when driving,you cant see what is going on in front of them and you have to watch them as much as possible and when they dont give any indication of braking,that is dangerous.

Like LT4Vette said,tap your brakes,give those behind you some type of an idea of what you are doing.Why get someone killed because you cant take the time to at least tap your brakes?
 
Quattro -
1,200 RPM is rather low for a fuel cut off. Many are around 2k for smoothness of transition.

Additional fuel savings would be that when in neutral you are coasting, and NOT losing speed that has to be regained [not slowing down as fast as when in gear].
 
Not tapping my brakes isn't going to get anyone killed, if they are paying the attention they should be in operating a motor vehicle in traffic.
Anyone who lacks the ability to maintain a consistent following distance in traffic, or at least one apprpriate to the speeds involved probably needs to have their license restricted.
Sorry, but following drivers should be aware of when they are closing the gap with the vehicle ahead of them.
They have no need to know what my intentions are, although I always signal turns and lane changes.
They need only maintain a reasonable following distance.
I will only tap the brakes when I know I am going to have to brake really hard, to give the following traffic some warning.
The gentle rate of braking achieved by taking your foot out of the throttle of a manual car should not confuse or endanger any halfway conscious following driver.
And yes, you can usualy see far ahead of the vehicle in front of you, by looking through the front and back glazing of the cars ahead of you.
Also, traffic signals are usually located such that you can observe them clearly regardless of how many cars may be ahead of you.
This is how you anticipate changes in speed, thereby avoiding braking.
Its all about awareness, as well as driving well.
 
If, as a driver, you are relying on another driver to tell you what to do, when to do, and how to do it, then you should get off the road NOW.

LT4 Vette's technique IMO is a defence mechanism against idiots more than it's a "courtesy".
 
Originally Posted By: Virtuoso
Most of my manual trannied cars seemed to "refuel" the engine around 1,500 RPM while slowing down. It was a noticeable feeling.


driving my new to me Caprice over some distance yesterday, on trailing throttle down some long hills, after a while it would unlock the TC, revs would drop to 1500, with instantaneous fuel gauge reading 2.1L/100km...then fuel consumption would drop to 0, revs to 1250...then revs back to 1500, 2.1L/100km...consumption back to zero, revs to 1250. Repeat.
 
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Not tapping my brakes isn't going to get anyone killed, if they are paying the attention they should be in operating a motor vehicle in traffic.
Anyone who lacks the ability to maintain a consistent following distance in traffic, or at least one apprpriate to the speeds involved probably needs to have their license restricted.
Sorry, but following drivers should be aware of when they are closing the gap with the vehicle ahead of them.
They have no need to know what my intentions are, although I always signal turns and lane changes.
They need only maintain a reasonable following distance.
I will only tap the brakes when I know I am going to have to brake really hard, to give the following traffic some warning.
The gentle rate of braking achieved by taking your foot out of the throttle of a manual car should not confuse or endanger any halfway conscious following driver.
And yes, you can usualy see far ahead of the vehicle in front of you, by looking through the front and back glazing of the cars ahead of you.
Also, traffic signals are usually located such that you can observe them clearly regardless of how many cars may be ahead of you.
This is how you anticipate changes in speed, thereby avoiding braking.
Its all about awareness, as well as driving well.


+1000
Except I don't always signal right turns.

Some drivers waiting to turn left from the lane opposite me seem to think that my right turn signal gives them the right of way. How do they know I am not turning into the business across the intersection?
It would probably be fine if they would go from the left turn lane to the left lane but they don't.Sometimes it's the left. Sometimes it's the right. Sometimes they drive right in the middle for a block or two before they choose one or the other
 
Originally Posted By: motorguy222
The person behind you cant see whet is in front of you and they do rely to some extent on the driver ahead of them to get an idea of what is going on in front of them.


Then they're following too close and not looking ahead far enough.

Unless the driver downshifts into the upper third of the rev range, the engine braking effect isn't that strong. Even then, it's nothing compared to how quickly the brakes can slow a car. If a person is driving so close and with such narrow vision that they can't react to a car gradually slowing in front of them, they should be happy that I didn't wait until I needed to use the brakes to let off the throttle because they'd have no chance of reacting to that in time!
 
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