Im not really good driving a stick I can drive but i cant down shift when racing or keeping up so my question is from 5th gear do you down shift to 4th gear or you drop to 3rd gear and then go to 4th gear im really confuse if anyone can tell me im listening so plz i need ur info guyz flaming_ poke

 

moving to TRANNY forum.

 

Kiddelantra, think of the gears as steps, the higher the gear, the faster you can go. You need to figure out (with any manual trans car) what the top speed is in each gear. Just drive it nice and slow up to the top speed in 1st then 2nd etc. REMEMBER THESE SPEEDS. From then on, if you're going 93mph and 3rd tops out at 85mph then you know not to put it in 3rd. Another thing is don't skip gears. If you're in 5th and you want to downshift into 3rd then clutch it, put the shifter into 4th and keep the clutch in, then put it into 3rd and let the clutch out. This will help you avoid doing something HORRIBLE like accidently putting the car into 1st going 75mph!!! Just practice driving a stick and it will become second nature to you. I don't think there's a single person that has never driven a stick and just started driving it and suddenly completely understood it so if it seems foreign to you, don't worry, that will pass.

 

Kid, Russ is 100% correct in what he says.
As a dedicated stick driver (like 99% of all Brits) I hate Auto boxes... learn your car and you will soon be able to play silly games like we all do over here... Hit 90Deg bends at stupid speeds, stand on the brakes, change down to 2nd, drop the clutch and pull out the other side, without either locking up the brakes (or making the ABS kick in) or coming to a complete stop or judder when you pull off....

Stick is way more fun, and you will never go back once you get used to it...

 

so what happens if im in 5th gear and i wanna speed up do i down shift to 4th then go back to 5th gear

 

Okay kidd, when you're driving a stick and you're 'crusing' (ie. partially on the throttle) and want to conserve fuel, you want to put it in the tallest gear possible to lower thr rpms.

-If you're crusing @ 25 mph, 5th gear is probably too tall for that speed so you might go with 3rd

to answer your question, sure you can drop it into 4th gear and accelerate but what if you are doing 40 mph? Downshifting into 4th will not accelerate you much faster than 5th 'cause you will not be in a high enough rpm.

So what do you do to accelerate the fastest @ 40 mph (or at any speed)? Put it in the LOWEST gear possible. Well, you know 1st gear runs out @ 35, so the next logical gear is 2nd which starts @ 35 so BINGO!

Thats what we're all talking about, to accelerate the fastest put it in the LOWEST gear possible. Thats why you gotta know your car to know the limits of each gear. Make sense?

 

well here's my take. i could do without the speedometer. i like to cruise between 3 & 4k rpm. so i use what ever gear i need to be in to get that. i just find that i get much better cruising throttle response in that range so if i need to maneuver for some reason, i'm there. on the other hand when i'm in a rally, i know that 2k in 3rd is 25 mph, etc. also, for a quick pick up i'll downshift to the next lower gear, punch it to get my speed up then upshift.

[ April 07, 2003, 11:34 AM: Message edited by: frogger ]

 

Just remember Kidd, drive your stick and get use to it. You get a good month of driving and you'll understand how everything works with it. It really shouldn't take you a month. Just a couple of weeks or so of screwin' around (responsibly) behind the wheel and you'll get the hang of it. Just don't ride the hell out of your clutch or anything and you'll be fine.

 

if you're going UNDER 35 and you want to downshift into first, put the shifter right up to first and blip the rpms up to about 5k to help it synchronize, then drop the clutch. wink it's pretty fun. 1st needs a little synchro help when you're going about 10+.