Stephen's Garage, clutches, and 'Ham hills
 

So I just got my car back from Stephen's Garage--Stephen put a new clutch in for me. As always, he did great work, and I recommend him for Mini folks in town.
Anyway, I don't want to burn through another clutch since it's not exactly the cheapest thing to fix on our cars. So I need some driving advice. My driveway is one of those steep Birmingham driveways you see all over town. To get up the driveway, I drive to the bottom of the hill on a street I live on, brake, put it into first gear, turn right and basically ride the clutch in first up the hill. If I just put it into first and take my foot off the pedal, I don't have enough torque to climb the hill all the way. Is there a trick I'm missing?

That's the way I would do it. Of course what do I know as I am not known for having my clutches last for 100K miles or anything close :razz:

Be careful not to Glaze it riding the clutch. My Stage 1 just went out in less than 10K miles. Mainly due to my son riding the clutch up hills.

my 04 has 70k. How much is a clutch replacement from stephen?