still can't get first gear smoothly
 

From a stop, sometimes I can get it smooth sometimes not and sometimes I stall the damn car which is the worst thing! Today I was stuck in traffic and when it was time to go I let off the clutch slowly, revved the car a little till it got going, then when I let the clutch out fully, and applied more gas and the damn car jerked three times on me before it stalled! :o Man I hate it when I do that! Friggin pissed off all the people behind me. What did I do wrong and what can I do to correct it in case it happens again?

lol dont worry about other people man. just spend quality time with your car, u'll get it down. the way i REALLY learned is when me and my friend took a road trip to the college my love (at the time) was at. It was about a 300 mile trip all together and i drove his parent's manual Focus the whole time :p

and i finally drove an evo two weekends ago and had no problems driving it. it's all about getting to know the car. it's like second nature for me now driving manual cars.

but it's all about controlling the clutch. u can move the car even without pushing the accelerator at all. keep that in mind and know that the clutch is sensitive like that.

The evo has almost zero torque below 2000rpm, so if you are accelerating from a stop, rev the engine up to around 2200 or so and let the clutch out smoothly while smoothly applying more gas to keep the rpms out of the 'danger zone' (i.e. keep em above 1800). the moment the clutch pedal is fully released you should already be at 2000 or more rpms. the keyword here is smooth so it will take some practice to not be jerky at all but it should come to you in time

...try driving barefoot. The stock clutch has a very soft feel to it and driving barefoot for a short time really helped. :)

AWD is way different. Takes more slipping from a standing stop to not stall these things.

oh, and a little tip...if you feel that the car is about to stall, just step on the clutch and disengage it.

these guys have all left good advice. Just take some time and practice a lot. Try by your house where there is no traffic and just practice getting out of 1st gear. Then also practice starts on a slight incline b/c the last thing you want is to roll back into someone too. Just keep practicing

is this your first stick shift car???? i mean maybe you shouldnt get a EVO to practice stick.......

i say to try and let go of the clutch smoothly, watch your rpm drop and you'll feel the car start to move at a certain point. fromt here on, you can add mroe gas to move or if you on in incline, make it ur nature to go back to that rpm so your car doesnt bakc up into another one

i know and thats why ppl say they burn their clutch under 5k miles

Yeah it is my first stick shift car and I like it a lot! Glad to be learning on such a hot car.


Definitely. I find that I need the car to slip while applying gas to get it going without jerking. But it should be ok to slip as long as its not too long right?

All good advice! Thanks! I really wanna master the art of stick shift driving! :)

you'll get it in no time :) and once you get it, you'll wonder HOW you were having so much trouble before. good luck man!

Dude, Evo's are a beaatch no matter what. There will never be a perfect day driving the car, It is a torque-less, AWD cluster****. You WILL get used to it though. Its a matter of time. It will be live-able and fun. Get a set of brass shifter bushings and DRIVE BAREFOOT. It makes it easier to learn what the car wants!

Torqueless? I wouldn't go that far. I have no problem getting my car to roll into first with no throttle at all. Taking off from a stop, I let the clutch engage and drop the RPMs from around 800 to around 600 before I go into the gas. I don't ride the clutch, and I don't bog or floor it. I've managed to make the stock clutch last over 25,000 miles on my last Evo and I drove the hell out of it on a daily basis.

It's all about finding the catch point of the clutch. If you want to learn it, here's what you do. Go to a parking lot near your house. With the car standing still, keep your foot off of the gas and slowly let the clutch out in first gear. You'll feel it start to "grab" and the RPMs will fall. Once this starts to hapen, DON'T let the clutch out all the way and start driving. You don't have a problem once you are moving, you have a problem getting started. Push the clutch in and do it all over again. You gotta learn the sweet spot in the pedal travel. Trust me, this will help you more than anything else. Using the gas while trying to learn how to take off from a start will destroy your clutch if you slip or ride the clutch for too long (or even for short periods of time, if the RPMs are high enough.

Hope this helps. Good luck!