I want to learn to drive manual, but there's something I don't quite understand yet

I want to learn to drive manual, but there's something I don't quite understand yet.

When am I supposed to downshift? I know that I can "hear" when I need to upshift, but I don't know exactly when I should go down a gear.

Am I supposed to be back down to 1st gear once I'm at a complete stop? How quickly should I downshift through gears?

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git gud

Are you driving a sequential transmission or something? Start in first, downshift as necessary to decelerate.

>sequential transmission

I don't know what that is. Right now I'm just "practicing" driving manual on my autotragic which has a "manual mode". When I downshift while driving at a decent speed/not slowing down the engine begins to rev up quite a bit. And when I'm slowing down and downshift the car sort of jolts.

So say I'm approaching a red light, and I've completely taken my foot off the accelerator, and I'm still in 4th gear. Do I just go down a gear as I'm getting closer to the intersection? And then by the time I'm there and at a complete stop I should be on 1st gear?

As you slow down, you gradually drop gears to keep control of the vehicle and avoid stalling out. It's obvious when to do it after less than an hour of driving. You can drop as many gears as you like, from 5th to 3rd or 2nd on sharp bends is perfectly normal.
Yes, you should shift to first when you stop.

If you're using the engine to brake going downhill. If you're accelerating, you want to keep the engine in its powerband. Or if you're losing speed going up a hill, you want to bring the engine back into its powerband so it stops losing speed.

Yeah nah you're wasting time you don't even have a clutch. It's not even similar.

Thought so, I've been looking to buy a really cheap manual shitbox to practice with.

Jesus fucking christ these threads, the make the americans look like a special kind of retarded breed that absolutely need a book and comprehensive video lessons in order to do a simple thing like driving a car with a manual transmission. All of this with 4L engines with a fuckload of torque which can pull the car from still using the third gear...

Manuals are not common here. OP is a special kind of retard that can't Google how to drive a manual, but it's uncommon to have it taught to you. It's not standard drivers ed and normies all drive auto. Someone growing up in a desert probably won't have learned how to swim.

In turbocharged cars it's really important to prevent what's known as "lugging" the engine because if a turbocharged engine starts to lug, it could start to detonate and that's very very bad. Like throwing a rod kind of bad. So if the RPMs are getting low and you need to open up the throttle, you would downshift first to get the RPMs back up and then open up the throttle so the engine doesn't get grenaded.

when you drive your automatic you should hear when it downshifts by itself as you apply the brakes on various grades of slope. to know when to downshift on a manual you just need to know the engine braking characteristics. you arent going to really get a hang of it on a fake manual, which is just the same as any auto with a stick and a OD, D, 2, L selector.

just get a $3k manual civic to practice on.

>fucking kids in their auto's "manual mode"
kik

TL;DR other replies, but listen to me:

First of all: that auto you have? trash it. You need a REAL manual for a REAL american to leanr REAL manual in it.

Second: When to downshift? you mean when to downshift in a race scenario when you need a good torque delivery?

When you upshift from 2nd to 3rd you subconciously hear the difference on RPM and check the RPM drop, and when you downshift you can do the opposite.

If when you do a good upshift from 3rd to 4th you drop 1000 RPM you can downshift when you are a little bit over 1k under the rev limit.

If you mean for street driving, it depends on at what speed the car idles on gear without using the gas.

If you mean to stop, dont bother. Clutch in, leave it on N, and let it coast without the clutch until you stop.

Shifting is like 20% of knowing how to drive manual. The other 80% is feathering the clutch, especially on hill starts. Focus on being able to start halfway up a hill without rolling and the rest you'll pick up pretty quick.

Weeeell, there's generally two kinds of cars that still have manual trannies these days - bottom budget trim line econoboxes and high end trim line muscle cars. The muscle cars are easy to learn stick on, but they're also $$$$ too.

Guess what most people learn to drive stick on first? The 1.6l I4 econobox that makes 3 torques at idle? Something like that. But if you can hill start one of those, you can hill start anything.

I KNOW THAT DASH

THAT'S MY DASH!
('04 rx-8)

What I was told to do is shift into neutral and just brake. If the light changes to green for some reason shift into the gear that best matches the speed you're going and continue on your merry way. If it stays red then youre in neutral already so dont worry about the clutch and just stop.

you hit the gas as it shifts in a sports shifter to revmatch and prevent it from jerking

once you know when to shift up and down, you'll get a feel of how much gas to put on and when to keep it from jerking when it shifts

Well that "practicing is pretty much useless.
I usually downshift to 3rd as I'm coming up on a redlight then go straight to neutral once the engine gets below 1500rpm. Some people go to 2nd but nobody goes all the way down to 1st.

You also downshift whenever you need more power. I'll be cruising along on the freeway in 6th gear, then I'll downshift to 4th when I need to overtake someone and then I'll go back into 6th when I'm done.

>I'm just "practicing" driving manual on my autotragic which has a "manual mode".
>I want to learn to drive manual

I want you to reconsider your life, please. You will never learn manual if you dont have manual. you have a fucking automatic car. stick with that

i'm in my 4th month of driving manual and i still have trouble shifting smoothly from 1st to 2nd gear.

how do I do it without having to release the clutch slowly? I get that higher gears I can usually just release the clutch quickly without a jerk once the rpms drop around 1K but 1st to 2nd gear is always tricky.

I figure the jerk is because the RPMs go up too high but drop down too fast in 1st gear. One thing I tried doing is feathering the throttle while releasing the clutch so the rpms don't mismatch but I don't know if this is a good idea (as opposed to just releasing the clutch more slowly)

Get a good way to figure the RPM drop.

Play with the shift times. Just because a shifting is quick it doesn't mean that its gonna be smooth. Sometimes the car's 1st and 2nd gear ratio changes are so long that you gotta hang with the clutch longer. I think a big deal of thought goes into this when making a stick shift manual race car.

Try to figure if its better to do a quick shift or a slow shift.

You just lost your license here. You're considered to not be in control of the vehicle if you're in neutral at speed. Idea is if something happens and you need to power out of the situation you wouldn't be in gear.

Which is bullshit. Not keeping a manual in neutral and forcing the clutch in damages the clutch. Yeah i know you are "not" supposed to do it. You are also never supposed to go over the speed limit so fuck that shit off. I trust my knowledge of driving manual over what a bunch of pussy ass lawmakers driving only automatics tell me about driving my car.

if i see something about to happen i throw it into gear git gud busboy

>Practicing driving manual on your automatic that has a manual mode
Why.

There is some logic to it at least. I usually downshift from fourth to third and clutch in just before stopping. I'll downshift to second if it's particularly busy or there's something odd going on ahead.

The point is to not have the delay of getting back into gear. I wouldn't have any trouble grabbing a gear either but there are plenty of people who would fumble around like retards when they should've just been able to accelerate.

You need to downshift when you hear the engine rumbling mad, but it's more adviceable to learn to engine break. To engine break, you downshift to bring the car to a lower speed, it's adviceable that you rev-match when doing this to get a really smooth deacceleration. To engine break, you must completely push down the clutch pedal, stab the gas to bring the revs up and slowly release the clutch pedal.

1st gear is only useful to start moving or climbing steep slopes. When you're approaching a stop, you should downshift until you reach second, and finally put it in neuter and do the rest of the breaking yourself.

You can drop as many gears as you like, just keep in mind the gear you choose depends on the current speed of the car, and if you're going too fast for that gear, you'll have to rev match very high for that gear to link.

This. Hill starts are a nightmare at the beginning, and really steep ones still require you to push down both the break and gas at the same time. Or move your foot very quick.

There IS some logic about it. But that's like saying "If your hand is not always on the shifter then you are not quick enough to react".

Fuck that shit. Driving manual for a while and in case of an emergency you can quickly change gears without reacting.

Its easy if you get used to the grab point.

Do this if you dont know it:

step 1: be on clutch in brake in on a hill
step 2: start slowly dropping the clutch
step 3: as soon as you hear the engine start to stall and the RPM drop, drop both the clutch and the brakes slowly. Specially the brakes so that the car wont fully stall
step 4: you are ROLLING ROLLING ROLLING ROLLING ROLLING ROLLING!

How does it damage the clutch? Doesn't the only thing that does is push the thing away from the engine?

And yes, "muh neutral is dangerous" is a load of bullshit. All you have to do is push the gas again to bring the revs up and shift the gear that fits the current speed the most, no fucking trouble at all.

Easiest trick for downshifting when coming to a stop, just clutch in and put in neutral and coast up to the stop. Then shift into first and go.

Downshiting is the hard part. You need to worry about speed more than revs. Like you need to just watch what gear you're in, how fast you're going, and what your revs are. Then you just will learn 'I had to slow down to X to make this turn I can downshift safely into 3rd, because I know in 3rd my revs are fine at this speed'.

If you're going at a normal town speed and have to come to a near stop, it's better to shift down into 2nd and give it more gas so you don't stall out. Else trying 1st you can get a really nasty engine break(car will lurch and revs will jump).

Yeah. Well, TECHNICALLY it damages the plate that holds the clutch. Having the pedal in applies forces on the metal planks that keep the clutch away. This thing about riding the clutch is something VERY WELL documented.

youtube.com/watch?v=jPWuzONF9sg

youtube.com/watch?v=AOzIFnEm2-8

Also do the water cup thingy to train your downshifting and turning.

Well fuck. I need to stop doing that then.

However, when does this wear happen the most? Does this only happen to idiots who excessively rev up with the clutch partially engaged, or does slowly moving on trafic through the grab point damages it as well?

That's a lot more steps (more importantly time) than pushing the gas pedal down immediately because you were already in gear.

because you were already in shitty 2nd you mean?

When the fuck do you need to jerk the thing to get out of an accident anyways? If you're already approaching a stop, what's coming to you will come to you. I know it IS dangerous to have it in neuter in say a huge downhill, but still, in what case are you supposed to speed up instead of braking to avoid an accident?

Revving doesn't matter. When you rev and press the clutch the clutch aint doing shit. Its only your engine the one that is working. This happens when you HOLD the clutch for way too long too often.

Its not like you should avoid using the clutch like a plague, but dont keep the clutch in if you dont need to. If you are in a red light, just drop it on N and await. You can learn how to shift quickly if you try to experiment with eurobeat.

I do leave it on N and coast when approaching a stop, but i've also had the doubt for some time if it's a really long ass traffic line that moves extremely slow. It's more about, how much does the grab point fucks up a car?

There isn't really a specific rule of thumb because it does matter a lot with your clutch and your usage.

This isn't about taking care of a rotary car bro. Just dont over do the clutch each day, dont leave the clutch in when you dont need to, and you will almost never have to worry about a clutch change. Those that had a fuck up with the plate that held the clutch and required to change the entire thign were the kind of people that never let the car on N.

It's just another tool for avoiding an accident as is hitting the brakes. Mainly for avoiding being rear ended when possible (not much gridlock traffic here) when it comes to stop lights.

speaking of neutral vs in gear

why is hard braking in gear bad for the transmission? I know in an emergency that you're supposed to press both the brakes and the clutch, so at what point is it detrimental when braking in gear?

dunno if I'm explaining it right. I usually pop my car into neutral once I'm coming to a stop within 3-5 seconds.

Its not really bad. At best you could argue that what you are doing is forcing the crank to brake instead of just having less power to do so.

If, say, i assume, there is already enough of a mix inside a combustion chamber to power the car at full throttle, and you brake just then, you will be forcing the piston to move less compared to what it should due to its mix. Therefore slightly damaging the entire chamber.

But the damage must be minimal.

I always thought that the main reason was so that you didn't stall the car if you locked the brakes. In old cars without ABS locking the brakes while in gears meant a stall.

I learned on my dad's mustangs. 2003 and 1989. Great car to learn manual in. Lot of torque so less chance to stall. Applies to stop and go traffic and hill starts, needs very little acceleration.

You go downshift when your RPMs drop too low and you lose good throttle response.
Just push the clutch in and downshift to whatever gear is appropriate. Block downshift if you have to, such as when you are quickly decelerating at a red light or a turn.
You'll know if you're in the wrong gear if your car starts shaking like mad, but don't let it come to that.

just don't granny shift, not double clutching when you should etc.


tl;dr, too soon, junior

go to a corvette dealership and ask to go on a test-drive

Understand that driving an automatic with 'manual gear selection' (i.e. a slapstick) really isn't ANYTHING at all like driving a normal manual.

In regards to downshifting, in a manual, you need to have a bit of situational awareness to know when to downshift. Two common situations I can think of is A) Do I need to pass someone real quick? Here I would just downshift/rev-match and get into that lower gear for the added acceleration. B) Am I about to go up a steep fucking hill? Going up a hill puts extra work on your engine, downshifting will give it leverage to avoid stalling out.

In an automatic with a slapstick, you never have to worry about stalling out, the cars computer will take back control if you fuck up bad enough to even think about stalling. So, sorry user, the only way to really learn a manual is getting behind the wheel of one and git gud.

>double clutching
Fuck off with this dumb meme. Real life isn't anime, actual cars don't benefit at all from that.

For auto cars with manual mode, they automatically downshift to first gear when you stop. Manually downshift if you want engine braking or are trying to merge onto the highway. Drove a rental with paddles for the first time last month and learned how to use it properly in half an hour. It's a joke. I don't even know how to drive a regular manual.

It's not a meme. You don't need to do it as frequently anymore because all cars have synchros. But it still is sometimes necessary.