how do you cruise in neutral?

 

^coasting down a hill or to a stop sign/light

It won't hurt it.

Also, I never put both hands on the wheel unless it is during performance driving. Other wise on arm on the window sill with hand on the wheel, other hand either resting on the shifter or on my knee with on finger on the wheel.

 

Where do you live?

 

I usually just "hold" the steering wheel with my knees because I need both hands to wrestle the thermal cup out of the cup holder.

 

THAT I understand. The cup holders are way too tight.

 

30-24

 

Absolutely! But I hear now that 10 and 2 is passé, and it's 9 and 3, so how do you do that on MINI's 3 spoke wheel?

 

The little bumps at 10 and 2 are perfect for resting your thumbs on

 

I've been keeping the clutch in at lights for about 11 years now and I've never had to replace a clutch. Of course the most I've ever kept a car is about 5 years or 70K miles.

Guess I better change my habits or get a new Mini when the lease is up.

 

I looked at my hands today while driving--they were very naturally falling at 9 and 3. Drove to and from Florida (2500 miles) with no problems and hands in this position. Not sure why you are having a problem.

 

I think it's the 5 years/70K miles that's saving your bacon. My last car (BMW) was 13 years and 190,000 miles, all original equipment. We keep our cars a long time--hope the MINI will be in this group.

 

Those thick spokes that are at 9 and 3 keep me from wrapping my fingers around the wheel. The best I can do is hang my thumbs over them. Maybe 9:30 and 2:30, but not 9 and 3...

 

This is the steering wheel of one of the fastest cars in the world. My MCS steering wheel looks very similar. Good enough for me then.

 

Then don't wrap your fingers around them

 

ALL MY LIFE from my first teenage 59 VW on, I have never held the clutch down at stoplights, whatever the car was. Motorcycles, too. Yet the lady of the house has gone through a string of bought new commuter cars over the last 15 years...a very early Hyundai hatchback coupe, A Saturn sedan, now a Toyota Yaris hatchback currently sporting just under 30k and just a year old. The first two cars both went around 230k trouble free miles, and she holds the clutch down all the time she's stopped anywhere for any reason. We have had "discussions" about this. Black and white, oil and water.
I still think I'M RIGHT. But the facts are getting in my way. I'll still be letting the clutch up on "The Fridge" every time I'm at a light.
Hey, I'm a guy. I don't ask for directions.
BTW, she changes her own oil, air and oil filters, spark plugs, even brake pads. Wipes off my tools and puts them back in the correct drawer in the rollaround box. Gets her tires rotated for free on schedule. Keeps a record book on everything she does on her cars, reciepts stapled to the page. Drives four times the miles I do each year, never gets a ticket, never has an accident. I call her Tracy Driver.
Picking up a pizza tonight, I saw a mom with her approx 8 year old daughter. The back of the daughter's cute little pink jacket was embroidered
"GIRLS RULE".
What else can I possibly say? Think I'll go have a slice of COLD PIZZA.

 

What a lucky guy!

 

Ditto. You shouldn't "grab" the wheel. You should drive with your fingers on the wheel, not your whole hand. My palms rarely ever touch the wheel. On the track it is fingertips only to guide the car around the turns. Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle. Don't force the wheel through the windshield or firewall.

 

As far as the being hit by a drunk argument:

How is sitting in neutral with your foot on the break any different from being in an automatic in the same situation? (unless you put it in park at a red light)

 

I have the same habit, it annoys my wife to death. My ADD also doesn't help things, lol.

I also have a tendency to go from 6th to 5th to 4th to 3rd to 2nd to 1st when I stop at a light. I have no idea why.

 

Because it sounds cool!!! (at least thats my reason)

 

Because in the old days before syncromesh, it helped line up the gears. At least that's why I did it in my Bug. But back then there were only 4 gears to worry about.

I shift back and forth from 2nd to 1st at a stop because I'm always worried when I step on the gas I'll go flying into the car behind me. Reverse is too easy to get into....

 

It's called engine braking without excess revving.

 

Yeah I'm talking about after I've already stopped completely. If I forgot to shift as the car slowed and I'm still in 6th while stopped. Whats even funnier is that if I hadn't noticed I was in 6th till the light turns green... I still do the same routine.

 

I agree with the previous post: Shifting to neutral at a stop anticipates the chance that you might get "bumped" by the car behind, and the shock could cause your foot to slip off the clutch pedal, sending you into the traffic passing in front of you. An alternative scenario might be when you are trying to close the rear sunshade. Or maybe you are terrorized by a wasp who flew in thru the sunroof. ...

 

Or a sudden spasm in your left leg. Or you have a doctor in the passenger seat and he decides to test your reflexes. Or someone drops a nuclear bomb a block behind you and the shock wave makes you flinch... Maybe I should have gotten an automatic. Those clutches are so dangerous, and I have such a hard time figuring out which pedal is which. I know the one on the right makes you go, and the one on the left disengages the clutch; but what in the world is that extra one in the center for?