Clutch cars are harder than you think....
We have a Mini Cooper now that when I get my license is going to become my car. Since it is a Mini, it happens to be a clutch car. That's right. To drive it you need to know how to use a stick shift. My sister refused to learn how to drive a stick shift and both of my parents know how to, I figured I'd give it a shot. It sucks.
My dad and I went to the parking lot at the elementary school down the road and I tried to drive it. Starting the car is fine (need to remember the sequence parking brake, neutral, clutch, then ignition), and once I'm moving, I can shift from first gear to second gear, second gear to third, and third to second. But getting moving? Not so fun.
For those of you who don't know how to drive a clutch car, here is a little lesson for you. First, you have to take off the parking brake, put the car into first gear, keep your foot on the clutch, and then, and push the gas peddle until the engine gets close to 2000 rpm. When you get close to that, you have to take your foot off of the clutch at the same speed as you are pushing into the gas peddle.
Now, if the car starts jerking about, you need to push into the clutch as quickly as you can to keep from killing the car. Needless to say, I killed the car so many times. And I think out of the 10+ times that I started it, I had one, maybe two, smooth starts. It took me four tries to get out of the parking lot!
Hopefully I figure out how to drive that car without too many issues.
My dad and I went to the parking lot at the elementary school down the road and I tried to drive it. Starting the car is fine (need to remember the sequence parking brake, neutral, clutch, then ignition), and once I'm moving, I can shift from first gear to second gear, second gear to third, and third to second. But getting moving? Not so fun.
For those of you who don't know how to drive a clutch car, here is a little lesson for you. First, you have to take off the parking brake, put the car into first gear, keep your foot on the clutch, and then, and push the gas peddle until the engine gets close to 2000 rpm. When you get close to that, you have to take your foot off of the clutch at the same speed as you are pushing into the gas peddle.
Now, if the car starts jerking about, you need to push into the clutch as quickly as you can to keep from killing the car. Needless to say, I killed the car so many times. And I think out of the 10+ times that I started it, I had one, maybe two, smooth starts. It took me four tries to get out of the parking lot!
Hopefully I figure out how to drive that car without too many issues.
Posted on July 5th, 2009 at 11:12pm
Haha.
My boyfriend's car is a stick shift...its a Ford Focus SVT.
He loves that car...and I've driven it a couple of times and I suck at driving a stick shift.
I can't do too much at once....I'm not coordinated enough for that.
WalkingOnBrokenGlass, July 6th, 2009 at 05:33:36am
I agree with this journal.
I had to learn how to drive one. It took me 18 months. I can do it fine now, but it took a long time. For some weird reason, guys tend to pick it up quicker than girls. My brother had no trouble.
Your.Pink.Diary, July 5th, 2009 at 11:17:15pm