All I ask is for the brakes to work and a star to drive by.

[Bluesteel]

I was given a new car today. It's a manual Nissian Primera S 2000 1769 cc if that means anything to you guys. It doesn't to me.


My sister decided to go for a spin with it. She told me she knew how to drive. 5 minute laters we're stopped in the middle of the road and she's trying to figure out how to get the car starting again when I find out the truth. She had a driving lesson in 2005. An another one in 2006 and a third one in 2007. That's it. It took her ages to park the car on the other end of the street (very far off the pavement btw).


We snuck back in and pretended we did nothing suspicious when my uncle came. He drove me to a secluded spot and decided to teach me to drive properly. Like a man because and I qoute " only retards and fa**ots drive automatic".


I stepped on the clutch. Checked the gear was in neutral and then moved it to one. Had a fight with the hand brake to push it down and then slowly took my foot out of the clutch. Now what no one told me is that your meant to keep your foot near the brake at all times. Other wises when you want to brake there is a few second delay where your moving your legs around. I hit the brake really hard when the pavement came close. My body was lunged forward and I was saved by my seatbelt from kissing the steering wheel face first.

That was the first part. Really easy. The second part of my lesson nearly got my killed. I was meant to hit the acceleration. I stepped on it really hard and nearly crashed into a moving Jeep twice the height of my car. I fumbled with the steering wheel and manged not only to drive over the woman in the jeep but drove over the pavement and into the grass for a good 20 meters.


For some reason my uncle decided to end the lesson there. Something about nearly having a heart attack.

 

[Plecostomus]

You'll get the hang of it. Keep at it. Remember you have at least a hundred horses under the hood, imagine kicking a hundred real horses really hard. Press LIGHTLY on the accelerator.

Good luck, and stay the %*&( away from my van.

 

[Bluesteel]

One major design flaw with the car is the fact that you get three brakes/steps (what ever they are called) and I only have two legs. To use one of them I have to continually press my foot. From what I've figured out I must keep pressing the clutch otherwise the car stops.

What happens if you forget to press anything when your driving in the middle of a busy road?

 

[JonathonWally]

One major design flaw with the car is the fact that you get three brakes/steps (what ever they are called) and I only have two legs. To use one of them I have to continually press my foot. From what I've figured out I must keep pressing the clutch otherwise the car stops.

What happens if you forget to press anything when your driving in the middle of a busy road?

Left foot only for the clutch, use the right foot for the gas and brake pedals.

You use the clutch any time you want to change gears, hard braking, or anytime you let the RPMs sink low enough that you're going to stall the car out (-1000).

Don't ride the clutch.

 

[JuanBolio]

Why-o-why does anyone who isn't racing bother with stick shifts? What's the advantage?

 

[sojourner]

3 brake steps!?! do you mean 3 foot peddles? are you trying to operate all 3 peddles just using 1 foot?

Left foot should always be ready to engage the clutch. Right foot should alternate between gas and brake as needed. There should be NO time when you would want to use the gas and the brake at the same time. Thus, only 2 feet are needed.

I am guessing by

pressing the clutch otherwise the car stops.

you mean while stopped at a light or something, with 1 foot on the brake, the other foot is on the clutch. other wise the engine stops, not the car. Or are you confusing the clutch pedal with the gas pedal?

The clutch pedal when released engages the transmission with the engine. This has the result of transferring the rotative power the engine generates to the wheels, making the car go forward. The gas pedal makes the engine rev higher producing more rotative power allowing the car to go faster.

I hate to say it, but your lack of understanding of the controls is pretty scary. I reccommend reading up on the operation of motor vehicles before you get behindthe wheel again, and after that sit in a non running vehicle and practice with the controls before trying to drive again. You really could kill someone.

 

[JustKate]

Why-o-why does anyone who isn't racing bother with stick shifts? What's the advantage?

Because they are really fun? A manual transmission really is fun to drive.

You also have more control over the car...well, once you're good at it you have more control over the car.

And, assuming it's available on the model you want to buy, a manual is still quite a bit cheaper.

And you can generally get better gas mileage, too - but then again, that also varies depending on how good you are at shifting.

I know this seems difficult to believe now, but if you stick with it, it will become so automatic that you don't even have to think about it.

I cannot emphasize too strongly that Sojourner is absolutely right about this:

Left foot should always be ready to engage the clutch. Right foot should alternate between gas and brake as needed. There should be NO time when you would want to use the gas and the brake at the same time. Thus, only 2 feet are needed.

You do NOT want to get in the habit of using different feet on the gas and the break. Trust us on this.

 

[JuanBolio]

Because they are really fun? Because a manual transmission really is fun to drive.

I like driving, too... but to me the fun comes not from it being a terribly involved process, but from the exhilaration of speed, the wind on my face, the turns, the scenery, the freedom, the tunes... all of which you can get with an automatic. But that's me.

You also have more control over the car...well, once you're good at it you have more control over the car.

I've never understood this point. Control... what? What gear you're in? Does that make so much difference really? To me it seems not to. With an automatic I can control everything I need to perfectly well - how fast I'm going, when to slow down or stop and how quickly to do so, turning... etc. What more do I need to control?

And, assuming it's available on the model you want to buy, a manual is still quite a bit cheaper.

True... IMO for good reason.

And you can generally get better gas mileage, too - but then again, that also varies depending on how good you are at shifting.

Also true.

I know this seems difficult to believe now, but if you stick with it, it will become so automatic that you don't even have to think about it.

As with anything. I have no doubt.

 

[Mallory]

I've only own two automatics in over 35 years of driving, all the rest have been manual transmissions. Like JustKate says, they're generally cheaper, get better mileage and offer you better control of the vehicle (especially in inclement conditions). All my cars have manual transmissions now.

And Bluesteel? I suggest finding another place to learn other than the road, like an empty parking lot or something.

 

[Bluesteel]

I hate to say it, but your lack of understanding of the controls is pretty scary. I reccommend reading up on the operation of motor vehicles before you get behindthe wheel again, and after that sit in a non running vehicle and practice with the controls before trying to drive again. You really could kill someone.

It scares me too. But by the end of the night I managed to drive in gear 1 successfully.

Why-o-why does anyone who isn't racing bother with stick shifts? What's the advantage?

By that I'm going to assume you mean manual. All Cars in the UK are manual. I have no choice if I hate gears or not.

3 brake steps!?! do you mean 3 foot peddles? are you trying to operate all 3 peddles just using 1 foot?

Left foot should always be ready to engage the clutch. Right foot should alternate between gas and brake as needed. There should be NO time when you would want to use the gas and the brake at the same time. Thus, only 2 feet are needed.

No what I wanted to do was to relax my legs for a bit. It gets a bit annoying after a while slowly easing the clutch to get the car to move and then having my foot hover over the brake. It was very hard NOT to put pressure on the breaks while just hovering over it.

you mean while stopped at a light or something, with 1 foot on the brake, the other foot is on the clutch. other wise the engine stops, not the car. Or are you confusing the clutch pedal with the gas pedal?

Well what would happen through out the lesson when I wanted to brake. I would let go of the clutch and press hard on the brakes. Definitely not smooth.

 

[JustKate]

You also have more control over the car...well, once you're good at it you have more control over the car.

I've never understood this point. Control... what? What gear you're in? Does that make so much difference really? To me it seems not to. With an automatic I can control everything I need to perfectly well - how fast I'm going, when to slow down or stop and how quickly to do so, turning... etc. What more do I need to control?

Yes, what gear you in can make a lot of difference. You can control the speed of your engine far more with a 5-speed than with an automatic. It's partly simple math - 5 speeds vs. 3. (Isn't it 3 on an automatic? I drive one a lot - not that I want to but it isn't really my choice - but I must confess that I never really paid attention.) But it's also the plain fact that you, the human being, can choose. This is particularly important (as Mallory mentions above) when the road conditions are tricky - snow, for example. With an automatic, the car decides whether you should be in first gear or whatever, but with a manual, the human being decides. And sometimes the human being knows more than the machine.

 

[Bluesteel]

I've only own two automatics in over 35 years of driving, all the rest have been manual transmissions. Like JustKate says, they're generally cheaper, get better mileage and offer you better control of the vehicle (especially in inclement conditions). All my cars have manual transmissions now.

And Bluesteel? I suggest finding another place to learn other than the road, like an empty parking lot or something.

We did go to an empty car park. It was near a school but when we noticed prostitues working the corner we left. My uncle didn't want the police to wonder why we were driving so slowly near an area where prostitutes operate.

 

[JustKate]

Why-o-why does anyone who isn't racing bother with stick shifts? What's the advantage?

By that I'm going to assume you mean manual. All Cars in the UK are manual. I have no choice if I hate gears or not.

What?!? I don't think so. I googled car-for-sale ads for the U.K. and there are all kinds of automatics for sale. Why would they be for sale if you weren't allowed to drive them?

What Juan means by "manual" is that you have to operate the clutch yourself in order to shift into a different gear - just as you're learning to do now. (It's also sometimes called a "standard transmission," by the way.) You don't have to do that with an automatic, plus the car will shift itself. You can shift it by hand if you want to, but if you don't, it'll do it by itself (and it usually does a better job, anyway).

There are, as far as I can tell, plenty of automatics in the U.K. Unfortunately nobody gave you one of those!

 

[Canadave]

Well what would happen through out the lesson when I wanted to brake. I would let go of the clutch and press hard on the brakes. Definitely not smooth.

You should never use your clutch foot to brake. It should be used for the clutch only, while your other foot should alternate between the gas and the brakes.

Also, it's generally okay to rest your foot lightly on the brake if you're going to be stopping soon. Gradually press down on it, and try to feel the car respond rather than simply stomping down hard—you'll get a much better feel for how your brakes react and how much pressure you need to use that way. You shouldn't be pressing the brakes hard outside of an emergency.

 

[Bluesteel]

Why-o-why does anyone who isn't racing bother with stick shifts? What's the advantage?

By that I'm going to assume you mean manual. All Cars in the UK are manual. I have no choice if I hate gears or not.

What?!? I don't think so. I googled car-for-sale ads for the U.K. and there are all kinds of automatics for sale. Why would they be for sale if you weren't allowed to drive them?

What Juan means by "manual" is that you have to operate the clutch yourself in order to shift into a different gear - just as you're learning to do now. (It's also sometimes called a "standard transmission," by the way.) You don't have to do that with an automatic, plus the car will shift itself. You can shift it by hand if you want to, but if you don't, it'll do it by itself (and it usually does a better job, anyway).

There are, as far as I can tell, plenty of automatics in the U.K. Unfortunately nobody gave you one of those!

There are automatic cars here. But Manual is way more popular. The UK government has some kind of law from what i've heard. If you learn to drive an automatic car then you won't get a full license. If you learn to drive a manual car then you'll get a full license. I can drive a manual or automatic car where as with the other I can only drive automatic cars and would break the law if i took the wheels of a manual.

 

[JustKate]

^ Well, the percentage of manual vs. automatic is immaterial - you've been given an car with a manual transmission, so you certainly need to be licensed to drive that kind of car. Besides, learning how to drive it is the harder part - getting the license will, I'm sure, will be easy once you're comfortable behind the wheel.

But if you really hate it - I can't imagine hating it once you're good at it, but hey, maybe that's just me - your next car can be an automatic. Knowing how to drive a manual is a good thing anyway. I won't go so far as to say "Everybody should know how," but...it does make it easier if you are given or loaned a car with a manual transmission. As you've discovered for yourself, poor guy.

I learned how when I was...let me see...18 or 19 maybe? It was a little challenging. But I love it now. The only reason I don't drive one all the time is that I have a car provided by my company, and they don't give me the option of a manual transmission.

 

[Bluesteel]

I don't hate manual. Just a little bit scared. Something I will have to get over. Since most cars here are manual. If I learnt automatic it would mean I can't use most cars around my area. So If I have to borrow someone elses car it would be a nightmare.

 

[Trekker4747]

I prefer automatics just for the sake of convenience since I do a lot of city driving and my style of driving isn't one that demands a lot of power domination.

If people prefer standards that's fine, but don't insult me just because I want to put the car in gear and go and not have to mess with a stick every two minutes while driving to work.

(Though I do rest my hand on the gear-selector as if I had a standard transmission.)

 

[Gaseous Anomaly]

I have owned several automatics and several manual transmission vehicles; if my current truck can't be repaired I'll be looking for a new truck with a manual transmission. Yes it takes more work and skill but it is also much fun to drive.

 

[JustKate]

If people prefer standards that's fine, but don't insult me just because I want to put the car in gear and go and not have to mess with a stick every two minutes while driving to work.

Maybe I missed it, but I don't think anybody has - well, except Bluesteel's uncle and he's not likely to read this.