Manual Transmission Fun, Driving Thread

As sad as it is for me to say it, I'm probably now one of a very few people that can probably not only drive a manually shifted vehicle, but also increasingly knows about all the fun things you can do with a stick shift when you live in the mountains like I do.

My vehicle is a 1993 Ford Ranger Super Cab with a 182 c.i.d. (3.0L) V6 and a 5-speed. Because my house's driveway is inclined, I've gotten into the fun habit of starting my truck by allowing it to roll backwards down the driveway a bit and releasing the clutch pedal for an instant to crank it, using gravity to start it instead of the starter. It's fun to do, and I'm saving wear and tear on a component that's a bear to change out when it goes bad.

So who else in here not only drives a stick, but also knows about a lot of nifty tricks you can pull off with a clutch that are impossible with an automatic, and don't even apply with a hybrid? I know quite a few others, but I'm wanting to see if I'm the only person on here who knows them.

Patriot1776;

Even though I don't own a vehicle now most that I did own were stick shift. I learned to drive in the late 50s' when most cars were still manual, automatics being an option. Stick shift is better in snow as you can gearup to get traction rather than just sit there and spin your wheels also braking by gearing down cuts down on skidding and fishtailing.


Camac.

Of the five cars I've owned, three were manuals, including the Thunderbird I have as a summer car (Yes, Ford made a 5-spd T-bird in the 80's. Hard to believe, eh?). In my old VW, the starter had already stopped working 90% of the time (I found out it was a rusty terminal bracket, after changing the starter, and the old one had nothing wrong with it), so I had to make it a habit to park on hills everywhere I went. I even managed to jump start the thing in reverse once, after only letting it roll out of a parking space at the bank, and the parking lot was full, so I was also making a 90* turn.

Trucks and SUVs have been a different story. Two Jeeps, a C10, and I've even had two CVT's. One in my first car, a Subaru Justy, and in our newest SUV, a Saturn Vue. Sadly, you couldn't get AWD and a Manual on the Vue.

Patriot1776,
I have a 1996 Mustang GT Convertible 5 sp. sitting in my garage that I drive when the weather cooperates. I won't tell you my tricks as hubby might see this and then I would be in trouble.

Val

You're only in trouble if he has to pay for tires and can catch you. What's he driving?

One thing that I used to do a lot of, but not anymore, was clutchless shifting without clashing the gears too. Stopped doing it partially however because I discovered I was wearing the synchros out 10x as fast doing it. Haven't done it in the current Ranger, and got out of the practice of it when I had a four cylinder Probe.

The only part of clutchless shifting I still do is pull out of gear into neutral without touching the clutch, and I do it quite often in city driving, pulling into neutral when I see somebody in front of me slowing down to turn off, then going directly of course to the appropriate gear for the speed when it's clear in front of me again.

I think the craziest thing I do with my vehicle is, when I start going down really long grades, and I'm not listening to any music, is turn off the ignition without locking the steering wheel. I do this to save a bit of gas while going downhill, and I don't have to worry about backfiring thanks to the fuel injection, turning the key back on once the bottom of the hill or mountain is reached. People who are with me are shocked seeing me do it at first, so I steer the vehicle a little to show them I've still got full control. Sometimes after turning the ignition off I floor the accelerator for the thrill of listening to my exhaust.

We both contribute to the bills so no problem there. He drives a 1996 Ford F-250 diesel pickup. Really do not think he could catch me.

Val

This used to be a common practice, but the state of NC outlawed it many, many years ago. If the HP knows what your doing, you will get a ticket.

That all depends on if he'd got any goodies on that diesel. Stock? Not a chance.

Are you serious, turning off the ignition like that is illegal? I've never known this. Was it decades ago or less than a decade that they outlawed it? I've been driving since around 1998.

And, I keep the vehicle in gear at all times when I do this, so the motor never stops turning, it's just being driven by the vehicle's momentum, so I still have full power-steering and power-brakes.

Pop the clutch and burn rubber!!!Oh ya I would drag race too,and my Mother said I should of been born a Boy.I don't know what made her think that

The joy of my life,1967 Chevy Supper Sport. 396 engine, 4 speed racing shifter,air shocks,70's on the back tries.

Oldraven,
It is stock, no way would he catch me.

Harlot,
There are kids in town that pull up at beside me at the stop light and rev up their motors when I have the Mustang out. I still can't resist. So far no one has beat me. I am still a tomboy and I am almost 50.

Val

I used to race pretty regularly (I would go out for this very purpose, and my wife hated it), but once Coira was born I don't have the desire like I used to. Well, I still want to, but I start thinking about it and hold back. The first race I lost was my last one, against a heavily modified RX7 TurboII. I ended up getting to know the guy after that, and started going to meets in stead of race the streets. I'll rip it up on the highway now and then, but racing in city limits is just too risky now. Too much horsepower out there with too many inexperienced drivers.

Patriot1776;

Yet get caught turning of the ignition and coasting down a hill here in Ontario you get fined heavily. That is if the O.P.P. don't shoot you on the spot


Camac.

I've never drag raced. With the roads being how they are around here, it's more corner carving instead. The current Ranger and a previous one that had the same engine and 5-speed transmission combination I've figured out well the limits of the handling and so how to get them both to do things you would think only a sports car could do.

The 5-speed Probe though, sheesh. That thing, even though it was a four-cylinder, was about the most dangerous car I ever had. Not long after I got it I tossed it into a ditch one time without doing any real damage to it, and before that, dad actually managed to really scare me coming back from a friend's of his house in it. We were going to be running late for the local high school football game (American Football) that we were going to be volunteer cooks at, so dad took the wheel of the Probe and proceeded to run this one curvy road most of the way at 70-80 mph that normal vehicles hardly ever got above 40 on, and was taking curves at 50-60, sometimes 70 mph, that had posted speed limits of 20-30 mph. Freaking rush of a ride that I still remember, and dad did this despite the brakes on that Probe not being in the best of shape either at the time.