Hi everyone, ( Sorry for english mistakes) I am now living in a new country where 95% of the cars are manual so I bought a manual. All the past cars I had were automatic, I thought it was easy to learn, like in 1 hour I would be okay to drive like I did with automatic. The problem is that I'm not good a shifting the gear 2 to 3 or 4 to 5. Here is an image I did with paint to show you. When I mess up shifting from 2 to 3, I get stuck in the neutral zone. http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/502/manuelle.png/ So the I got an idea to avoid my tempory problem ( I know that with time, I will not have this problem anymore ) If I could see the manual box (of a ferrari) like that, I would have not problem shifting : http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/847/t813c.jpg/ My questions is : What happens if I remove the leather on my manual box like on this image, does I will see something like on the manul box of the ferrari above : http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/809/leviermanuelleimagephot.jpg/ I know it sounds dumb but this is the only problem I have and I need to be okay for driving tomorrow. Same if I practice, I still get stuck many times in the neutral zone. Thank you
Instead of removing stuff, I'd focus on practice. The more you practice with manual shifting, the better you'll get. It just takes some time.
No problem , shifting from second to third is easy if you do some practice. You can easily learn this without starting your car..just shift all gears daily for practicing its not a big task..
That's not that difficult, spend a day on changing gear, sure it will be fine Or you might consider to change the gear box from manual to auto
There are two aspects to shifting. 1. The location of the gear you are trying to move into. That is the easy part. You do not usually need to even look at the shift pattern, and having driven a Ferrari, I can assure you it is no easier having the gear patter visible, it is the same as printed on top of the shift knob. To practice that pattern, you can just sit in a parked car with your foot on the clutch and practice moving the shifter from 1 to 2, and 2 to 3, and 3 to 4, and then back to 3, etc. You should be able to FEEL where it is and KNOW whether you are in a gear or in neutral. 2. The second part of shifting is changing the RPM of the engine so that when you make a shift, it is smooth and easily accepts the new gear. When shifting up a gear, say from 1 to 2, or 3 to 4, you are going to need FEWER (slower) RPM to maintain the same speed. So if you are in 2nd gear and moving to 3rd, and going 20 MPH/MPH and your RPM is at 3000 - then when you go up to 3rd gear, your RPM would need to drop, maybe to 2000. (These numbers are just for example so you understand what you are doing). Likewise, if you are in 5th gear and slowing down and moving into 4th gear. If your RPM was 4000 in 5th gear, then you would (as you are shifting with your foot on the clutch) increase the RPM to something OVER 4000 so that when you drop the car into 4th gear, it can smoothly transition at the same speed. So going 20 MPH/KPM in different gears requires a different RPM. If you do not get the RPM correct, some cars will kick in out of gear and into neutral which maybe the problem you have. If it just that you can't remember or find the gear you want when driving, you can just practice that when parked, the car off, and the clutch pedal pushed in. So, to sum it up, when you increase the gear from 1 to 2, or 2 to 3, your RPM has to DROP. When you decrease your gear from 3 to 2, or 5 to 4, your RPM has to GO UP. You have to realize your are trying to match two spinning gears and not have their teeth grind by being at different speeds. So when moving from one gear to another, you always need to be making subtle adjustments with the gas pedal controlling the RPM. The point at where a perfect shift is made, is called synchromesh, which just happens to be one of my favorite words. I have driven many manual cars from VWs to Corvettes and Ferraris, they all work the same. DO NOT make any adjustment to your car as that will not help you and has the chance to make your car dangerous to operate. In nearly every car it is the same. 1 is up, 2 is just below. Then 3 is up, but to the right of 1, and 4 is directly below 3 and also to the right of 2. 5 would be up again to the right of 3. There is a point where you shift nob rests in neutral and that is KEY. In my Audi, I think it is between 1 -3 and above 2 -4, so as a starting place, I have to move left and up to get into 1. If I drop in directly down from 1 I can get into 2, but I usually skip 2 and go from 1 to 3. So I know that I have to go down, then to the right and back up to 3. Really, the best thing you can do is really practice so that you can find these gears without ever looking down. I can't remember the last time I looked at my shift knob when changing gears. Remember, you need to shift UP, then to the RIGHT, then UP again. You can't get there in a straight line, you must get up in to that middle neutral area, then move to the right and up. If you can't find it while parked, then you won't find it while driving either.
If you are not happy driving a manual car go back to a slush box as you had before or carry on and with a bit of practice you will master a manual.
Thank you for all the answers . With the detailed answer of browntwn, I think I will be all right. I will practice all the afternoon and will get back to you guys. Thank you very much
Good on you for jumping in the deep end People who can't drive manuals are like people that can't swim or ride a bike. It will take more than an afternoon. It's just like switching from a tricycle to a 2 wheeler when you're a kid. It seems to take AGES to get good at it, and it seems impossible - but once it clicks, you'll wonder what all the fuss was about, and you'll be able to do it forever. I only drive a manual every few years (usually when I hire a van or something), and it comes back to me within 60 seconds. Once you can do it without thinking, you'll love it. *** Going by your username and location... Please tell me you've bought a Renault, Citroen or a Peugeot