Driving Tips - Manual Transmission

[Jim Hendrickson]

Listen, I'm not saying you have to, or anything like that. Just what I've seen and learned in my short few years. If its any consolation, I've never personally seen a throwout bearing fail on anything newer than 2015, but then again, I didn't work on many modern cars.

When I was a teenager I wore out the clutch on a '76 Chevy malibu, ruined the tiers as well. As an adult I have owned 6 cars with manual transmission, that I can think of. Most I sold or wreaked, that aside I have only had 1 clutch plate wear out, in a '66 chevy Belair my brother gave me, with over 100K on the odometer.

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[Redback]

When I was a teenager I wore out the clutch on a '76 Chevy malibu, ruined the tiers as well. As an adult I have owned 6 cars with manual transmission, that I can think of. Most I sold or wreaked, that aside I have only had 1 clutch plate wear out, in a '66 chevy Belair my brother gave me, with over 100K on the odometer.

This got me thinking about my automotive manual transmission resume...
Austin Lancer
Volkswagen Beetle
Holden Gemini
Holden Commodore
Ford Escort
Suzuki Swift
Honda Civic Si
Honda Civic Type R
Mustang
I have never had a clutch wear out, even on my 89 Escort on which I clocked well over 300K.

 

[Cz_Ziemniak]

I think the only difficult to use manual transmission I’ve ever driven was an Auto Union.

I absolutely love a column shifter, but that car was atrocious to operate. Finding reverse was genuinely challenging. Watched two people give up before I gave it a try. It almost seemed like something was wrong or broken, but I drove a second one and it was the same story.

 

[LouG]

How does holding the clutch pedal down at red lights contribute to wear? I had a vehicle many years ago that I bought brand new, and sold with over 300,000 km on it and never replace the clutch. Over 200K km on the front brake pads. Car in gear, clutch engaged at every red light.

The clutch throwout bearing will be constantly under load doing that. That's what will wear.

 

[Aki]

I think the sentence in the owners manual that started this thread has appeared in the handbooks of other cars as well. Nothing pony specific, just best practice to keep it in gear, same way as you keep your hands on the wheel.

Driving habits can always be re-learned, if that is the desire. You're not too old if you're still upright. It can even be fun, and that's what driving these should be all about anyway.

 

[Zig]

The clutch throwout bearing will be constantly under load doing that. That's what will wear.

Although i wonder which method experiences the 1st gear thunk more often.

 

[Jim Hendrickson]

This got me thinking about my automotive manual transmission resume...
Austin Lancer
Volkswagen Beetle
Holden Gemini
Holden Commodore
Ford Escort
Suzuki Swift
Honda Civic Si
Honda Civic Type R
Mustang
I have never had a clutch wear out, even on my 89 Escort on which I clocked well over 300K.

British, Australian, Japanese, German, American..., impressive. I have purchased 1 German car (2013 AMG E63), other than that all Chevy, Ford and one Chrysler.

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