Thegame

iTrader: (26)

When you start to practice on hills, you will smell burnt clutch... Don't worry about it, it's not too bad for the car. Better to learn hill starting with nobody behind you than some a$$hole who pulls up behind you 2 inches from your rear bumper. If you do get caught in this situation though, just engage the e-brake so you don't roll. And as soon as it's time to get going, let the e-brake out slowly just after you catch 1st. Just a beginners tip. I had to use it once.

jerchi

iTrader: (1)

Do you have to use the e brake on a hill or can you practice and get good to a point where you can start going on a hill with just the pedals without moving backwards?

jerchi

iTrader: (1)

By the way does not using the ebrake on a hill kill the clutch?

astondg

Yes it is possible to do, I don't use the handbrake much at all. You have to get the clutch to the point where it is just starting to grab (same as you would do if you were using the handbrake) and then you have to move your foot quickly from the brake pedal to the accelerator pedal and get the right amount of throttle and start to release the clutch pedal. That bit has to be quickly and fairly accurately, so you don't roll back, stall, or use too much throttle, and it takes practice. As soon as you take your foot off the brake you could roll backwards, the more you release the clutch pedal before you get off the brakes the less the car will roll back but it will be harder on the clutch and there is a greater the chance it will stall. On steep hills you might still have to use the handbrake if you don't want to roll backwards a bit. You could also try to have half your foot on the brake pedal and the other half on the accelerator or something if you wanted but that would take more practice and I think the normal way is good enough.

Doing it without the handbrake can be a little bit harder on the clutch but if you do it quickly and smoothly it shouldn't be much worse fo it. As long as you don't have the clutch slipping (holding it at the grab point, especially if you aren't moving forward) for more than a few seconds it should be ok. Around 3 seconds is probably ok, I think I use about 1 or 2 depending on the steepness of the hill. Steep hills will be the worst and for them it is probably best to use the handbrake.

It doesn't really matter which way you do it though, with pedals or handbrake, both achieve the same result. I think I actaully found handbrake hill starts harder when I was learning so I didn't do them and now I have got into the habit of just doing it with the pedals.

Aston

newuser03

I am a beginner too. I drove my car to a friend's house where it had lots of hills. It was a perfect place for me to learn and master the uphill start challenge. The friend kinda asked if he could test drive the car. I was thinking why not.. i mean he does have like 3 years of stick shift driving experience on his 3000GT. Now i kinda regret that because after he drove it for 2 minutes but i already smelt lots of burning inside the car. I didn't know what the smell was from. He told me it was probably from the oil change i had a week ago. I didn't really believe him because when i drive the car, i don't smell any burning at all.

I've had the car for 2 months and still afraid to drive the car to hilly places... I tried parking the car on a hill just using the ebrake but the car still rolled back. :-( I asked friends why, they told me that i didn't pull the e-brake fast and hard enough. Is that true?

kmcconn9

iTrader: (33)

The only thing to do is jusy practice, practice, practice. The more you drive around the more situations you will encounter and learn from them..

headingnowhere

I learned a stick on an 87 VW Scirocco. Awesome car by the way. It was a $450 beater. A mechanic stalled it twice trying to get it into a mechanic bay then called his friend who stalled it once then asked if I could drive it. The car was all messed up, you pretty much had to bring it up to 3000 RPM before you let up on the clutch. The clutch engagement area was about an eigth inch too. haha. Plus I live in an area where some hills are so steep, automatics roll back and trucks gotta lowgear down the road. Practice.

evo_rc

iTrader: (20)

i'm with you on that.I kept practicing where i dont hit the gas at all until i mastered it,which help me a lot on launch.

rane

Are you saying even with the ebrake all the way up the car was still rolling? That sounds like a definite prob with the ebrake...but if it just rolls when you're pulling it up, then I'd say keep your foot on the regular brakes a little longer. Also, I prefer to keep the car in gear while parked. If it's in neutral and something knocks down the ebrake, that car is going to do some rolling with even a slight incline.

As for the original poster, yeah, what they all said--practice. However, doing research ahead of time is always a good thing. One of the most important things I did, before I even had my first stick shift, was to read up on how the transmission actually worked. Once I knew why I needed the clutch, and how the gears worked, it became easier to know when I needed to do what.

Richard EVO

Practice practice practice. Be sure to blip the throttle on downshifts to match revs.

I have been driving manual gearboxes for 33 years and I would never own an automatic, tiptronic or even DSG or F1 car. Driving a stick/clutch is a much more rewarding and engaging experience. Especially in an EVO. You are lucky to have an EVO as your first manual car. I had a used 1969 VW Beetle for my first stick and it was a POS.

Fp3052

iTrader: (5)

your friend was pretty messed up for doing that

lords3t

iTrader: (4)

With a lot of practice... you should be able to be swift enough to catch the car in an immediate forward roll up hill from brake to throttle. It's not easy though so don't get frustrated when it doesn't work right away. Obviously, don't start off your driving experience on upward hills ( sorry San Fran ). As for parking, in case you were wondering. I would NOT use gears... but that's just me. Use your e-brake. If you have to ... do some maintainence to increase it's holding power.. and more importantly, park close to a curb and turn your tires so as to roll into it if it were to release... so if you're parking facing uphill.. direct your tires away from the curb, if you're parked facing down, turn your tires into the curb. That way, even if you do roll a little... the car isn't really going to go anywhere cause the curb will hold it in place (of course along with whatever stopping power you're getting from the e-brake). But that's just my 2 cents... don't use a gear for parking power.

boostinjuice

iTrader: (5)

just practice.. best way to learn is practice!

boostinjuice

iTrader: (5)

well. i just noticed that this thread was made in 2005... im pretty sure he learned how to drive now.. haha

4WS Tuning

iTrader: (73)

turn the car off while pushign the brakes.. put it into 1st if facing uphill, reverse if facing downhill then pull up the ebrake and let off the brake... itll split the wieght between the gear and e brake... when you pull it up dont hold the button.. just yank it as hard as you can.

cheers!