What's your shift points on your '99? In my 2003, I'm usually shifting to 2nd at around 12mph, then 3rd at about 20-22, 4th at about 30-32, and 5th at around 45mph (I have a DX with no tach, so I have to either look at the speedo or listen to the engine).

 

I'm not really sure, i will look next chance i get, but i imagine it's similar to yours. I have a tach but i have been trying not to pay attention to it b/c i want to learn to know when to shift just from listening to the engine, i don't want to get distracted and be looking at my rpm all the time. Besides i haven't even gotten up to 5th gear yet b/c there is not enough room on my street where i practice, plus that would be about 25 mph over the limit.

 

Surely you wouldn't begrudge me a little help parallel parking on a REALLY steep hill, with a REALLY expensive car in front of me, would you? I mean, if I don't "cheat" anywhere else?

 

Hey, i haven't been able to get to this forum in a while, but i thought i'd give everyone an update.

I've been practicing for a few days pretty hard and i've gotten considerably better at driving this thing. I'm much smoother and i barely ever stall. Of course i still need more practice before i get into heavy traffic because i'm not completely comfortable yet...I'm gettin there though!

Thanks for all your help everyone!

(P.S. i've been using the handbrake trick on some of the steeper hills, it's really really useful. And anyone who wants to tell me to heel-toe it instead, try it while wearing size 12 shoes. With these feet i end up heeling the gas, arching the brake, and toe-ing the clutch!)

 

To "heel-toe" try to just kinda step on both the gas and brake at the same time with your right foot, "straddling" them.

The Protege pedals should be a decent position for this.

Then its really just a matter of rocking your foot to the right to blip the gas.

The fact is, heel-toe is not all that useful in daily driving, though once you learn it, you should become a much smoother manual driver, particularly in downshifting.

The technique is truly useful for aggressive driving:

You are fifth gear, cruising at about 60. Coming up to a ramp or corner, and let's say you need to slow down to about 35-40, and want to be in third gear so you have power during and after the turn.

The object of the heel-toe is to bring the engine revs up to where they WOULD be if you were ALREADY in 3rd gear. All while also braking to slow the car down to a reasonable 3rd gear speed.

And the fact is, if you match the revs up perfectly, you don't even need the clutch. Some very old manual trannies had NO clutch, so the only way to change gears was to get the revs perfect so the teeth were spinning together and just ease it into gear.

But done properly, you can enter a turn at 60, and while slowing down to 30, shift directly from 5th to 3rd, power through and out of the turn, and never even feel the shift happen. It's quite satisfying actually.

It takes practice, but like everything else with driving a manual car - eventually it becomes second nature. I used to rev-match and heel-toe in my Miata all the time - it just becomes the normal way you drive. I'd even no-clutch shift once in a while (up AND down) but mostly to impress my friends (and sometimes impress myself).

Keep at it, but leave the advanced stuff alone for now. You'll get there eventually.

~HH

 

i dunnno if anyone mentioned this, but once you're ok at driving a stick you should be absolutely fine on any hill. a week after i could drive around the city i did one of the steepest hills in the city in traffic. It was scary, but not risky. this e-brake crap is rubbish, and heel-toe isnt meant to be used for hill starts. if someone unexperienced tries it they'll probably just end up screwing up and stalling or causing an accident

 

hmm..
rev match..
how would you do that with no tach?..
lol.

 

By ear and by feel.

Tachometers are useful, but you really shouldn't need it to drive a stick. Or rev-match.

~HH

 

I can drive a stick without a tach...
but never done the rev-match thingy


I'm new to this myself rev-match
what happens if I take it out of gear without the clutch?
grind gears? nothing?

 

Taking it out of gear without the clutch shouldn't grind. Sometimes, at certain speeds in certain gears, it's hard to pull it out of gear without the clutch.

Just don't force it out of gear and you should be fine. If you're gentle and don't slam the shifter around, the transmission won't even let you do anything bad (for the most part).

 

Ive been driving my P5 for almost 2 years now (my first manual tranny), and I LOVE IT!

I havent learned how to heel/toe yet. I have a rather large foot (i wear a size 14). I dont know anyone that does this, so i have to teach myself. Are they any videos/tutorials on the net that show what exactly is being done with the feet when shifts are taken place? It would be nice to have a video with a multiple windows (feet, shifter, speed/tach).

Im sure theres something like this out there, but i havent found one yet.

Also, I shift with the sound/feel of the engine. I do look at the tach from time to time, and I notice I usually shift between 25 and 30.