Manual gearchanging

DXP55

DXP55

DXP55

Soldato
Joined
5 Aug 2013
Posts
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Location
Shropshire
My first two cars in 70's were auto - my last three were auto and in 30 yrs in between I drove manual so know how it's done.

Today my neighbour took me out in his Mazda MX5 - nice motor - electric roof- leather - the works.

Pulled away change to second -dunk - foot straight off clutch - same with all gears - every time -dunk and head nod on my part - made my neck ache - Now he was a postie in a van before he retired so it that why he does it ?

Anyone know of anyone else that does it?

That poor clutch and gearbox :):)

dave:p
 
What's worst is people who seemingly refuse to use 1st gear when pulling away from a standstill, my dad does it all the time and you can sometimes feel the car struggling not to stall. WHY?!?!?
 
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MK3 MX5?

Has a notoriously notchy 2nd gear and quite a snappy clutch. I always had trouble shifting smoothly, especially when "pushing on" shall we say.

It also has a clutch switch which retards the engine power while the clutch is depressed to protect the drive-train when shifting; the result was a bit of a lurch when dropping to clutch to switch to second gear, almost like someone had dabbed the brakes, so don't be too hard on your friend :)
 
shauncr91 said:
What's worst is people who seemingly refuse to use 2nd gear when pulling away from a standstill, my dad does it all the time and you can sometimes feel the car struggling not to stall. WHY?!?!?
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Why would you use 2nd gear to pull away from a standstill when 1st is perfectly designed for this job :confused:
 
It's hard to believe that after well over 100 years of motoring the majority of cars still require you to shove one lever with your foot & another with your hand in order to make the car move, I find the relaxed drive of a modern fuel efficient automatic is hard to beat, particularly in heavy stop/start traffic
 
Usher said:
It's hard to believe that after well over 100 years of motoring the majority of cars still require you to shove one lever with your foot & another with your hand in order to make the car move, I find the relaxed drive of a modern fuel efficient automatic is hard to beat, particularly in heavy stop/start traffic
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There's no doubt that technically for day to day driving, an automatic is the best option.

However, there's often more to driving than just getting from A-B. Many of us drive our cars for fun, and a good manual gearbox is often part of the appeal.
 
Usher said:
It's hard to believe that after well over 100 years of motoring the majority of cars still require you to shove one lever with your foot & another with your hand in order to make the car move, I find the relaxed drive of a modern fuel efficient automatic is hard to beat, particularly in heavy stop/start traffic
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There's nothing more pleasing then a perfect heel-toe downshift before a bend and shifting through the gears quickly when accelerating hard though.

If you have no interest in driving then obviously the above doesn't matter.
 
shauncr91 said:
There's nothing more pleasing then a perfect heel-toe downshift before a bend and shifting through the gears quickly when accelerating hard though.

If you have no interest in driving then obviously the above doesn't matter.
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Paddle shift is just as fun IMO. Love S-tronic/DSG
 
[TW]Fox;25864274 said:
Why not? It can be smoother and cuts a gearchange out. I sometimes do it. Car doesn't struggle.
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Perhaps because your car has enough power not to feel it, on a small engined car you can feel them struggle and have to give a lot of revs.

It's hard to believe that after well over 100 years of motoring the majority of cars still require you to shove one lever with your foot & another with your hand in order to make the car move, I find the relaxed drive of a modern fuel efficient automatic is hard to beat, particularly in heavy stop/start traffic
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Maybe because people choose to buy a manual, not everyone wants a lazybox.
 
shauncr91 said:
There's nothing more pleasing then a perfect heel-toe downshift before a bend and shifting through the gears quickly when accelerating hard though.

If you have no interest in driving then obviously the above doesn't matter.
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The engine is computer-managed in all manner of different ways, so why not the gearbox?

Nothing more pleasing than tapping the left paddle a couple of times, having the engine blip automatically and then accelerating hard through. I love the S-tronic gearboxes.
 
[TW]Fox;25864274 said:
Why not? It can be smoother and cuts a gearchange out. I sometimes do it. Car doesn't struggle.
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Also puts more stress and wear on the clutch surely?


I agree it can be smoother but you need a decent engine for it.

Pulling off in 1st in my car is slow enough :P
 
The_Abyss said:
The engine is computer-managed in all manner of different ways, so why not the gearbox?

Nothing more pleasing than tapping the left paddle a couple of times, having the engine blip automatically and then accelerating hard through. I love the S-tronic gearboxes.
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Because part of the fun is being skilful enough to master it yourself and having complete control over the mechanics of it.

I'm not saying a paddle shift can't be fun, and I've no doubt that it would make me much faster, but a manual shift gives a sense of involvement some of us like.
 
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