Hello all!

I just placed an order for an MCS with a manual (my girlfriend insisted). I've tried to learn to drive a manual before with various people. I never got very far partially because of all the conflicting information.

One particularly unclear point is how to come to a complete stop from a high gear. There seems to be three schools of thought:

1. Downshift down to second, then into neutral (ideally by rev-matching)
2. Shift into neutral and ride your brake in
3. Apply your brake while in whatever gear until you reach 10-15 mph, then shift into neutral

Now my gearhead friends say #3 is the proper way to do it as do the guys on Cartalk since it minimizes the wear on the clutch and brake pads are cheaper to replace.

My mother relies on #2 (she has an old Mercedes she'll actually turn off on an off-ramp and then pop the clutch a couple hundred feet from the end).

My girlfriend uses #1 on her first car and only car, an 1988 alfa romeo, but it has such low miles that she's never had to worry about the clutch (< 30,000 miles).

What do you all do?

 

This is a joke isn't it?

 

No it is a serious question. I have multiple people telling me completely different things.

 

One need not be a gearhead to advocate #3

 

Definitely don't do #2. It offers no benefits.

#3 is easiest on the engine and will also give you the best fuel economy. Just stay in gear until RPMs get really low, then shift into neutral.

#1 is more "sporty", but causes more wear on the engine. The advantage is that if you don't end up coming to a full stop (light turns from red to green), you can accelerate out without having to shift since you'll already be in the right gear. This uses a little more fuel from matching revs.

One of the biggest things to learn when driving a manual is that it's okay to use the brakes without depressing the clutch pedal. From what I've seen, people tend to push both at the same time.

Edit: I mostly do #3, but do #1 when I'm in a hurry or am driving more aggressively.

 

My advice is to do whatever the GF says. If she wants you to downshift, then downshift. If she wants you to stay the same speed, then maintain that speed. Just don't pop the clutch too soon.

 

:D :D :D

Sage advice for any man.

 

Im a #2'er


It's my car, I'll drive it the way I want to.

 

Do you ride a multi-speed bicycle? If so, then you pretty much know how to drive a manual. Visualize driving your car in a similar fashion to how you ride a 10-spd (boy, that dates me) bicycle.

Pretty much #3.

 

All three are used by manual drivers. According to most states they don't want you to coast to a stop I.e. number 2 in your list. However this option is the most friendly for wear and tear and gas mileage. You will only wear the brakes which are far cheaper to replace than a transmission/clutch. This will also net you better gas mileage as you are disengaging the transmission and won't have any sort of parasitic losses.

Number 1 can work fine if you rev match properly and don't end up over revving the engine or not getting the engine speed up enough before shifting. It's the sportiest way to drive as someone mentioned above since you will always have the car in the correct gear to apply power I guess. Usually this is what you will think of when slowing down to take a corner though and that way you can be ready to power out at the corner exit. This method of shifting was generally more popular years ago when brakes were lousy and could overheat so the engine braking was helpful to slow the car down btw.

Number 3 is probably the best way to go. You really won't hurt fuel consumption much, get a slight engine braking advantage but not be hurting the clutch or causing any shift-shock to the driveline and keep good control of the car.

 

NJ Mini, you actually use less fuel by staying in gear compared to shifting into neutral. Kind of counter-intuitive, but staying in gear means the wheels are turning the engine which uses no fuel (injectors are closed) vs the car computer having to use a small amount of fuel to idle the engine in neutral. #3 as described above uses the least fuel.

 

For the record: My Dad and I put 404,000miles on a little 5 speed Mazda Protege with the original motor, clutch, and transmission doing the number 2 method.


Food for thought.

 

I do all three, depending on the situation. I normally downshift to 3rd then neutral unless I know I am definitely coming to a stop (a long light just turned red in front of me), then I either slow down and shift to neutral put it straight into neutral and coast a bit. Despite the increase in wear, I like the first method better since I'm always ready to move when I need to.

 

Number 3 all the way . . except for when I was practicing to sit my driving test (in Ireland) where the rule the instructors apply is 'never coast, because you're not in full control of the car', except for the last few metres before the car starts to 'chug'. The instant I passed my test I drove the way my Dad had taught me . . and I still drive that way now, though only when I'm home in Ireland because I no longer have a manual Mini here.

 

i always keep the rpms under 3 while downshifting to a stop. not much wear on motor or clutch, but still able to accelerate if i need to. also, i don't drop the clutch while downshifting, i always ride it out. don't realize i do it until i thought about it, but its alot smoother that way.

 

#3 unless I just want to play. In days of old brakes were not nearly as robust as with modern cars and using the engine to help slow the car saved brake wear.

Today, and certainly with MINI, brakes are great and downshifting for braking purposes is no longer necessary. My theory; brakes are much easier and cheaper to replace than transmission synchrnos and clutches. Relax and enjoy your MINI. There is no "right answer" to this one - it is just a driving style choice.

 

Good for you for taking the initiative to learn to drive a real and true manual transmission. None of that "manumatic" or "dual clutch automatic" crap for me. Give me 3 pedals.

As for how to come to a stop. Doesn't matter. As long as you don't do something totally ridiculous...i.e. try to jam it into 1st gear at 60mph, it doesn't much matter which of the 3 above you do. I do any one of those at any given time. I suppose I probably use number 2 more often than the others, followed by number 3, but I don't really pay that much attention to it.

Just drive and enjoy.

 

I agree all 3 are legitimate. My thoughts are that rev-matching, although good in theory, will actually cause more wear on the engine and the clutch and transmission until you learn to do it perfectly. And unless you're actively developing driving skills for competition, there's no reason to learn rev-matching.

I almost never leave my car in gear when slowing to a stop. For one, using the engine to slow you down is putting anti-acceleration forces on the entire drivetrain. "Compression braking" as it is called just seems to be unnecessary added wear.

That's why I just about always coast to a stop from speed (unless I'm in traffic and might need to suddenly accelerate for safety).

It lets the drive-train relax while the brakes take over. And the way I drive, I get 60,000 to 80,000 miles out of a set of brakes.

 

I put the car into neutral when exiting the freeway, coming to a red light, or a stop sign a few hundred feet beforehand. MINI's are so light that they will coast for a long time! My husband taught me to do that, and that when I'm at about 30MPH is a good time to apply the brake (if needed). I try to put my car into neutral as much as possible so as to save a little gas, since riding the brake wastes it.

People learn differently, so it may be a good idea to learn from your girlfriend. Just take it slow. You'll get it

 

Again, this is false. Putting the car into neutral uses more gas than coasting/braking in gear.

 

Then how come I get way better gas mileage using neutral? I think I'll go with my way, which allows me better mileage.

Otherwise, I put it in neutral so that I don't have to ride the clutch when coming to a complete stop.

 

Saying that slowing down while in gear saves gas over coasting in neutral doesn't make sense to me. I understand thinking that because the wheels are driving the engine, versus the engine having to idle itself. But, to say the injectors are off since the wheels are driving the engine is completely wrong. They're still shooting in as much fuel per cycle as in idle otherwise the engine would die (duh). And then while decellerating in gear at higher RPM than idle only means the injectors are opening more often, using more fuel.

 

Whether it saves fuel or not, how about we all get back to helping the OP learn how to stop? Because that was the original point, no?

 

My new Mini will be manual. My first in almost 20 years. I loved driving manual on my old Toyota Tercel. It had 4 gears and I loved how it made me feel like I was part of the car. Now that I'll have 6 gears I'm excited. I used to love down shifting. Never had a problem with the clutch for the 150,000 miles I had the car. I'm guessing with the Mini downshifting isn't such a good idea.

I basically used to match my RPM's to the gear, but my MA had me push them quite a bit higher before changing and OMG, I ordered the car on the spot. It was so much fun. I have a hunch I have a big learning curve ahead of me.

 

I'm pretty sure the MINI will have you smiling a lot I learned to drive manual on mmy husband's '98 Civic. It was just meh. Then when he sold that to get his MINI, he had me drive it to make sure it was what I wanted as well. Boy! Did that set my decision in stone! You'll love it