How often do you make mistakes?

[silent425]

Great topic, I was wondering the same too. So I've been driving a manual for more than a year, pretty much daily, and what I can say is that there are good days and bad days. Here is what I mean.

During bad days, I catch myself that I'm either not giving enough gas and end up almost stalling, or the opposite, give too much gas and go too hard on the clutch. 1st to 2nd shifts all of the sudden become a problem as the lack of smoothness starts to bug me. I probably have a day like this once every 3-4 weeks???

Good days are when everything runs perfect. Every shift is smoother than a baby's butt cheek. Just enough gas given, right amount of force on the clutch. Almost every day is like this.

Now there are also some awkward days...where let's say I'm wearing a different pair of shoes than usual and it takes a bit to get used to it. I also find it that not getting enough sleep affects driving too. Just the other day, I for some strange reason released the clutch while in 1st while I stopped at a stop sign..... that was embarrassing

[Shadow]

words words experience words words mistakes words words car

I'd say experience has a lot to do with it. I make fewer mistakes now than 2 years ago because I've stopped thinking so much. I have more confidence in my adultery to drive the car and am not as nervous about stalling and making mistakes.

As for the car, I think that Clifford is definitely easier to work with than my Forte was. The clutch is more predictable, and I don't have a throttle delay (that I can tell) or a clutch delay valve mucking things up. It's all around more pleasant

But beyond being a noob....that's what I'm talking about. Of course a noob stick driver is going to make lots of mistakes. That much is fairly certain. Once one gets beyond his/her noobness and has a good grasp on driving stick, does continuing experience cause mistakes to decline? I think so....but I also think we all reach a plateau when it comes to our stick-driving skills.

[Shadow]

Not to take away from your skills or anything, i'm sure you're a great driver, but i've driven Audis such as the A4, S4, and S5 and they are so incredibly smooth and easy. Getting into 1st is buttery smooth.

Like I said, the car plays a role for sure. My car is very easy to drive smoothly. But my Audi is only one of many stick shift cars I've owned over the years. So I can say that I've lived with easy & hard cars to drive, and everything in-between. That's part of the experience I'm talking about. Every car has it's own little idiosyncrasies. As drivers, it's our job to figure them out and adjust accordingly.

[tankinbeans]

I'm sure there indubitably comes a point where you're about as good as you're going to be and your "bad" days are more a fluke than the norm. At that point you can really start experimenting and making a whole new set of mistakes.

[bk7794]

It's interesting for me. If I have a bad day, I usually carry that throughout the week. I'll either make the shifts perfectly and keep screwing up on the launches, or I'll screw up the shifts and make perfect launches. Quite odd.

[Squint]

I make plenty of little mistakes. Not matching downshifts perfectly, staying on the clutch longer than I should, etc...

But bigger mistakes? Grinding, stalling, etc..? They don't happen often. I would say over the past year I've stalled maybe two times, and had a handful more grinds - usually when I am super distracted. Both stalls happened in parking lots when I just didn't quite keep enough RPM while crawling into a spot.

[Shadow]

If I regularly flubbed my shifts, I don't think I'd really enjoy driving a manual transmission. I'd want to get better.....and if I didn't improve, I'd probably just eventually give up altogether.

Does that mean we should all be perfect? No, not really. Stalling or grinding gears should be something that RARELY happens, IMO. But something like a rev-match downshift is different--it's unreasonable to expect perfection every time. When I do it perfectly, it's a satisfying feeling. When I'm off by a few hundred RPM, that's okay too. I don't really consider that a mistake....it's more like a slight miscalculation if anything....

A while back I wrote about an embarrassing moment where I stalled my Audi twice in a row while pulling it into the garage. Without going into too much detail, it happened because my front tires were right up against the concrete apron entering the garage. I didn't realize that and the extra resistance from that lip was just enough to make me stall. Other than that brainfart, it has been many years since I've stalled a car. What are some of you guys doing to stall your cars? Does it happen on hills? Or just during a regular start from a stop?

[ClutchDisc]

What are some of you guys doing to stall your cars? Does it happen on hills? Or just during a regular start from a stop?

It's very rare that I stall anymore. If I do it's usually that I park, forget I'm still in gear, and pull my foot of the clutch.

[six]

What are some of you guys doing to stall your cars? Does it happen on hills? Or just during a regular start from a stop?

I can count the number of times I've stalled in the last four years with one hand. It usually happens like the situation you mentioned, brain-fart moments like backing over a newspaper in the driveway or not realizing you're still in gear after you parked and you release the clutch. Those kinds of things, and they're as rare as they can be...

The days of stalling while at a light ceased completely about a couple months into my first driving stick...

[tankinbeans]

I don't stall so much anymore, but on occasion the car will stumble. I'll release the clutch more quickly than normal and won't get on the gas quite fast enough then I'll be slow in first. Thus usually happens when I try to increase the speed with which I release the clutch and get on the gas.

I'm almost sure my speed is about average, but it's when of the last things I really need to work on. My head could be playing mind games with me, making me think that I'm slower than I am.

[rml605]

I've been driving for a year so i'll start from when I actually got consistently good to count my stalls. I'd say 8 months total I stalled like 4 times. I can remember them too. Once in bumper to bumper trying to no gas launch, another parallel parking and hit the curb and didn't realize so released clutch, and another the other day somehow I stalled at a DD Drive Thru.

How often are you guys usually off on your rev matches? If so, by how much? What is acceptable as "not a bad rev match DS"?

[Shadow]

How often are you guys usually off on your rev matches? If so, by how much? What is acceptable as "not a bad rev match DS"?

I'd say that I nail them at least 50% of the time. When I'm off, it's not by much. Certainly close enough that the clutch absorbs the revs to the point that it would be imperceptible to passengers. I doubt anyone does it perfectly all the time...unless of course he's driving something like the Nissan 370Z with the SynchroRev Match feature. From what I understand, that system puts the revs in the perfect spot every time without failure.

[potownrob]

haven't botched a shift or stalled since at least january

[tankinbeans]

haven't botched a shift or stalled since at least january

You've just jinxed yourself.

[potownrob]

You've just jinxed yourself.