Quote:
Originally Posted by magillagorilla
Great thread.
I'm in the process of learning to drive a manual trying to make my mind up between step and stick on my 335i order. Unfortunately, Seattle's hills make a stick more of an issue that it otherwise would be. Had a series of stalls on a hill yesterday afternoon that was brutally embarrassing and seemed to last forever. I can still remember the look on the woman's face who was sitting in a different car waiting for me to get up the hill. UGH!
While hill starts and regular driving are getting manageable at this point, I seriously have not been able to get the car in reverse without stalling it. Fear I guess is that I'm going to go flying backwards if I give the car too much gas. I can't modulate the speed properly so I react by not giving the car enough gas, resulting in a stall.
I take it that what I should be doing is only partially letting go of the clutch?
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The 335i has a "great" (depends on who you ask) feature that breaks the car momentarily from rolling back when you left off the break. I think that just about everyone who is learning how to drive a manual has the same fear of rolling back on a hill. Before you tackle hills what I recommend you doing is getting a good feel for your clutch and at what points you will start to stall. Also, if you feel like you are going to stall, what to do. While I beleive it is bad for you to hold yourself on a hill with the clutch (basically, giving it just the right amount of gas and clutch preasure so you dont move), it is vital that you know when this point is because that you need to be able to quickly get to this point in order to go forward without rolling back. Practice finding that point on flat ground in a parking lot or something and you should be good to go.