Driving Tips: Five things you shouldn’t do while driving a manual
Driving Tips: Five things you shouldn’t do while driving a manual
Engineering
Explained has made a brilliant video describing the most common
practices that one should avoid while driving a manual gearbox equipped car.
Since most of the cars available in India (below a certain price tag) are
manuals, this is relevant to our market as well. Follow closely as we quickly
explain the pet peeves. Also, don’t forget to check the video at the end of the
article.
Resting hand on the gearlever
Solution: Keep your hands off the gear lever when not in use
Unless
you drive like a race-driver (with thumbs at the 10 o clock and 2 o clock or 9
o clock and 3 o clock positions), there’s a good chance that your left hand
sits on the shifter. That has two majorly wrong consequences: one, it means
that your control over the steering reduces; and two, you end up,
inadvertently, wearing the selector fork. Stop doing that!
Leaving the car in gear
Solution: Select neutral and use the handbrake
You
stop at the traffic light and instead of shifting to neutral, you leave it in
gear with the clutch depressed. Now if the car is switched off and you have
taken your foot off the clutch, then it doesn’t make any difference. However,
if you have the ignition turned on, then it means that you are exerting an
extra pressure on the clutch’s throwout bearing. Excessive pressure will lead
to premature wear, and that will eventually mean a replacement. All this can be
avoided by just coming to a halt, switching to neutral, and engaging the
handbrake.
Use clutch to stop the car from rolling (at
an incline)
Solution: Use the handbrake (in most everyday scenarios)
In
the lack of a hill-start assist, what most drivers do is that they use the
clutch to power the car upwards. By reaching an equilibrium between the force
pulling the car downwards and the applied pull by the engine, the car stays in
place. A tricky situation, going uphill, but due to the partial engagement of
clutch, the wear is higher than in normal scenario. Like in the point above,
the handbrake can be used to ensure the car doesn’t go in reverse (direction).
To move from a stationary position, all one needs to do is apply throttle (and
gradually let go of the clutch), and as soon as you feel the vehicle is about
to move (while releasing the clutch), release the handbrake. It’s easier than
it sounds, but certainly needs some practice.
…5 things you shouldn’t do while driving a manual:
Continued below…
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