Question about driving stick shifts?

redhzkingswood

You should never be in neutral when moving at any time, even when coming to a stop, it is a dangerous practice.
The only time you should be in neutral is when you stop at lights, when you should put the park brake on and then put the box in neutral, and be ready to engage first when the lights change.
The reason for this is that if someone hits you from behind when you are stopped, having the parking brake on stops you from being shunted into the intersection.

While you are moving NEVER put the vehicle in neutral, if you have to make an emergency maneuver you will take too long to get under control.

Ryan R

First, you should not be coasting in neutral. In some states, it's illegal. This is because when you are in neutral, you have no control over the engine; you can't accelerate if you need to (such as to make a turn to avoid a collision).

Second, you do not need to disengage the clutch when stopped in neutral to keep the engine running. This is because you're not in gear anyway. (When you press the clutch pedal in, you are actually disengaging the clutch, not engaging it.) If you're parked on an extremely steep grade heading up, this is why you're best off leaving the parking brake engaged while putting the car into neutral and slowly accelerating while slowly releasing the parking brake. This way you won't roll back too far.

Monkey

yes u can apply the brake without the clutch. but just remember to push the clutch in when u go to put it in gear

Mud Killer

Yes you can. But why would you? Unless you are driving a truck from the early 70's or earlier, it's not that hard to push in a clutch. Keep it in gear while downshifting so that if you need to accelerate you don't have to push the clutch back in and then shift into gear. Driving a standard is not that hard folks.

Jesse

most definitly YES! when the car is in nuetral you can use the brakes just like an automatic to stop the car w/out pushing in clutch

jose o

Absolutely.

Whether you've pushed in the clutch or set in neutral, you're transmission gears will be disengaged from your engine and both will put you in coasting mode.

Visit and explore this stick-shift online simulation:
http://www.hondacivicrepairs.com/stick-shift.asp?q=Learn%20to%20drive%20stick%20shift%20-%20Honda%20Civic&id=29

Good luck!

stephb

I always stopped that way when I had a straight because my leg would get tired. If you can watch the light going the other way, when it turns yellow, you can put your car in gear. That way your leg doesn't wear out. Hope this helps

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: