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I think people are making to much of downshifting to slow down. Yes it can be done but it takes practice. As a beginner, forget it. Learn how later. The OP is questioning what to do when approaching a roundabout. One should slow down by simply taking their foot off the gas, Then a decision has to be made:
1.I have the right of way thus I am not going to stop, I going to proceed. If deciding you have the right away and are going to proceed, you may have slowed enough to need to downshift if the car is "lugging/jeking" as in not running smooth. Then clutch in and downshift from 4th/3rd to 2nd gear then proceed as in gas it baby.
2. I do not have the right away so I am going to have to stop. Foot on brake as the car slows, other foot on clutch. Stop and shift into 1st gear with foot still on the clutch. When your turn, proceed.
3. Intersections fall into I do not have to stop or there is Stop Light/Stop Sign. If not having to stop, proceed as normal. If having to stop, see #2 above.
The thing about downshifting though is that my driving instructor is telling me to do the same thing so I’m kind of forced to do it. I guess since I drive a stick car it’s the only option?
Also, there are these types of roads my instructor calls “junctions” where I have to turn either left or right and those are very stressful. It all depends on whether or not there are cars present and I have no way of knowing that until I’m right at the edge. So stressful
But those tips were really helpful, thank you so much! I’m going to apply them to junctions
The thing about downshifting though is that my driving instructor is telling me to do the same thing so I’m kind of forced to do it. I guess since I drive a stick car it’s the only option?
Also, there are these types of roads my instructor calls “junctions” where I have to turn either left or right and those are very stressful. It all depends on whether or not there are cars present and I have no way of knowing that until I’m right at the edge. So stressful
But those tips were really helpful, thank you so much! I’m going to apply them to junctions
If you're going to continue driving at a slower speed without stopping, yes, you need to downshift or the engine will stall after it slows too much. If you're going to come to a complete stop, by all means, skip the downshifting and just use the clutch and brake until you're at a stop. Then shift into first, when ready to go, let the clutch pedal back up and give it a little gas to take off again.
My oldest son drove for an hour in a school parking lot on a Sunday, then drove his car home, never having driven a manual before.
My second son still hasn't picked it up completely, of course he doesn't have daily access either, while the first son owns the car and drives it daily.
They are both very athletic and well coordinated, but one did and one didn't learn in a hurry.
Back to the original premise, get off the street go to a back parking lot, practice, practice, practice!!!
You don't learn to ride a bike the first two minutes, and even if you are good at it after a few hours, one still continues to improve for months or even years afterward, same with any eye/hand/foot/brain coordination activity.
You will learn to "feather" the clutch. Your foot will actually feel just how close to being out of gear you are, and you will hover just at this point of disengagement as you wait to gun the engine into the turn.
You can practice that going straight and very slow in a parking lot or a on remote street. Almost stop, then go! Almost stop, then go. Etc.
Miss that feeling and the fun of a standard shift sports car.
When I was learning, I didn't know anyone that had an automatic car. My mother never got a drivers license.
When my kids were learning, we went on weekends to the nearby university on weekends when no one was around and they practiced in the empty parking lots.
I owned many stick shift cars, but now I would not have one. With the automatic I focus on the traffic, not on shifting gears.
When I was learning, I didn't know anyone that had an automatic car. My mother never got a drivers license.
When my kids were learning, we went on weekends to the nearby university on weekends when no one was around and they practiced in the empty parking lots.
I owned many stick shift cars, but now I would not have one. With the automatic I focus on the traffic, not on shifting gears.
I wish I had my parents around to teach me but my mom lives in another country (Greece while I’m in the UK) and my father has passed away .... so the only person I have is my very expensive driving instructor. Automatics cars are so much simpler I don’t blame you for not wanting to go back to a standard one. If I were to learn on an automatic car I would be cruising by now. lol . But in the UK driving stick is the norm so I guess that’s what I’m doing
It'll start getting much easier pretty soon, I'd guess. I've taught lots of people to drive a stick over the years. I have a son and daughter that learned to drive various sticks. When they got it mastered, I'd set a drink on the dash over their laps and tell them to start and drive around the block. They both made it. That was their final test from me; next it was the test for the license. Both bought lots of sticks over the years -- always new cars and trucks, but I think most cars were sticks until fairly recently.
To be perfectly honest, I much prefer freeways to intersections and roundabouts. In freeways all you need to do is drive in a straight line and perhaps go a little faster but I don’t mind speeding. The part I hate is stopping and deciding how to stop because it’s so complicated. I so wish I could just learn automatic and be done with it. I would have already figured everything out by now and would have been close to ready to take my test. Americans are so lucky lol. But if I break while shifting into a lower gear won’t that make the car stall? How exactly does the car stall? I know that one way for it to stall is by going too slow in a higher gear but there are other ways as well because I’ve stalled many times while in first and I hate it.
100 hours omg with 54 pounds (close to 60 dollars) per lesson my bank account was in a lot of pain reading your message lol.
Nah, automatics suck. I wish we had as many manual cars as you do in Europe. Keep your head up and keep practicing. The more you drive, the more comfortable you'll get driving a stick.
So...stalling. If you're stalling when coming to a stop, you're staying in gear for too long. It's a little tough to explain through text, but imagine that you're just sitting in a parking spot with your car running; you won't be in gear, and your engine will be idling at roughly 800rpm. If you start driving, and let the rpm fall below 800 any time while driving, your car will start bucking, and if the engine speed drops too far below 800rpm, it will stall regardless of what gear you're in. It stalls because the speed of the engine is too low to overcome the rotational mass of the internals. I'm not sure if that makes any sense, but hopefully it gives you some understanding of how and why an engine stalls.
To keep from stalling when coming to a stop, push the clutch in before the engine speed falls below idle (which, again, is roughly 800rpm in most cars). Ideally you'd push the clutch in at about 1,000rpm, and once you've pushed the clutch in you can shift into neutral, and once you've shifted into neutral you can let the clutch back out without the possibility of stalling.
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