the "right Way" to drive 5-speed

what wears your clutch is the differential in speed between your engine and transmission..

and yes, holding down the gas while shifting is a stupid idea.

Ive been driving a manual for 5 years and my question is; What is Pedal Shifting?

Dont just add gas as you let off the clutch. In first there is a give point in the transmission. Sit in your car one day, start it and slowly let off the clutch. You will fill the car about to stall--that is the give point that is where and when you need to to apply the gas. All the other gears are easy as soon as you find and master the give point in your clutch. When you do master it your gear shifts will be smooth as can be.

the "right Way" to drive 5-speed

Ok ive herd alot of different shit on the correct way to drive a manual car..and i kneed u guys to tell me the correct way

first gear
1. push clutch
2. steadily let off clutch and give gas

first to second
1. push clutch shift it.....
now here is is where my question enters the equation( is it bad to let off the clutch and give it gas at the same time??????) is that called pedal shiffting???????

does it wear down my clutch????


- thanx alot

thanx alot guys !!

It is funny, I had a very worrisome thread like this posted 4 months ago as well when I got my XRS and I had problems with misshifts (XRS stick shift gates are very close to each other and throws are pretty short) and clutch would give burning smell (new clutches always smell like rotten eggs).

Very simple strategy is to learn where exactly the "grab point" for the clutch is. Pressing the gas pedal while holding the clutch is at grab point will allow you to send more power to the wheels while keeping the revs to a minimum and keeping pressure off of the clutch. In essence, it allows you use the torque between 2000 - 3000 rpm more effectively.

Step 1 - Grab point:

You can simply try start letting the clutch out while idling and see once car starts to jitter a bit, that is your grab point.

2 - Letting the Clutch out to the grab point:

Once you know what the grab point is, let your clutch out everytime till you reach slightly below the grab point and then start pressing the gas pedal lightly as if you are feathering it while holding the clutch at the grab point. Once the car revs up a bit, start letting out the clutch steadily while keep foot pressure as if you might have to press it back again and press the gas a bit more (never let go of the clutch quickly since it causes jerks, which is bad for the motor mounts and transmission. Avoid jerks at every cost). This practice is slowly building up the low end torque while you still have the clutch half way pressed.

3 - Listening to the engine sound:

Don't judge the release time of clutch by the motion of the car, but rather start understanding what the car is telling you. Get the understanding by listening to the engine sound and see what it tells you. That will help you understand how the car will react if you completely let go of the clutch at that very moment. The car's engine sound might still be fluctuating up and down as you are pressing the gas and getting the car to move. Once the car's engine sound stabilizes while it starts moving, let go of the clutch completely.

clutch too light

I have a 2004 Corolla 5 spd 1.5L engine, in Hong Kong, and prefer driving stick shifts. In past, I had BMW 530i and 535i, also stick. I find the Toyota clutch too light, meaning that when letting up on the clutch, your left foot should be able to feel when the "give point" is being reached, or that the clutch should have slightly different resistance feeling before and after the give point; so that once your left foot feels reaching the give point, your right foot on gas pedal can start feeding in gas. At least, that's the feeling I had on the BMW clutches. In the Corolla, letting up the clutch has basically no feel all the way up, and the only way to know when the give point is being reached is the car starts to move, or you assume your left foot reaching about half way up.