Frustrated with shifting

[Micko700]

Hi guys, so I have a problem. I got a manual MK6 golf and been driving to school for a couple weeks now and I have a problem. First to second shift is always jumpy. No matter pretty much what I try, it always jerks a little. When I first started driving I was ok with shifting, but now that I notice it jerks, I keep doing it no matter how much I try to fix it. Can anyone help me?

And another thing, corners. Whats the proper way to do a corner? I just put it in neutral before the turn, shift into lower gear and when I accelerate the clutch pedal feels different. Once again I have the mindset of " I don't want to hurt the clutch"... So pretty much I'm stuck and frustrated

[theholycow]

1->2 is always jerky for noobs. It's often jerky for experienced drivers too, drivers who are happy to have a little kick in the pants and those who just don't care. Your car may have rev hang (my 2008 VW did), where even though you take your foot off of the accelerator pedal the engine continues at its same RPM until you drag it down with the clutch. If so, your only option is to engage the clutch gently and progressively; kinda similar to launching from a stop in first. If you're not experiencing rev hang, tell us about the jerking -- does it send your head towards the windshield or towards the back seat?

Do corners however you want. Neutral is fine, shift just before you're ready to accelerate again. If you're in a race, in a hurry, or just like to go "VROOM!", give it a big downshift before the turn. If it won't get you too far below idle you could just leave it in gear and downshift when you're ready.

The clutch will be fine.

[Rope-Pusher]

If you want a blown clutch, get one of these:


1st gear has a lot of gear reduction, so the acceleration has the potential to be the greatest. As you approach the time you want to shift to 2nd gear, start tipping out of the throttle to let your acceleration drop off and you might not get such a jerk shifting into 2nd.

[AHTOXA]

Here's the thing.

When I was learning, I was super worried about my clutch, I was worried about the shifting and jerkyness of it - you need to not worry about it. Your clutch will be just fine as long as you don't rev it to the moon and slip it for 5 seconds before taking off (don't go and count seconds when you launch now, I'm sure you're just fine).

Most experienced manual drivers don't care about the occasional 1-2 shift jerk. It happens. In fact, most passengers don't care either. I've event asked passengers after I see their head bob a bit after 1-2 slight jerk, and they have no idea what you're talking about.

When people drive a car or ride in a car, there physical motions that are a given. There are shakes, pulls and jerks, whether it be from hitting a joint in the road, a small pothole or a 1-2 shift. Because we are conditioned the accept a certain level of coarseness when we drive, no one pays those 1-2 jerks any attention.

Occasionally, I'm not super smooth with my 1-2 shift, and I have somewhere around 150,000 miles behind a manual trans between different car's I've owned. We're all human and aren't robots.

Hell, I even stalled my car a month ago, which hasn't happened in at least 30k miles of prior driving. Being super smooth isn't the goal when driving a manual. It's the control that it gives you.

[daleadbull]

I drive an mk6 Golf too although mine is an R. 1-2 shift still jerks a little if I'm not careful, I think its a combination of the big gear ratio change and also a little bit of rev hang.

You can wait for the revs to drop then engage the clutch but that's too slow for my liking. Instead what I find works best is release the clutch slowly but smoothly while giving it gas through the engagement point. This gives me the smoothest 1-2 shift.

[six]

Just like others have said, the single biggest mistake a new manual driver can make is worrying too much about the clutch. And, of course, I made that mistake too when I started out. The key when starting out is to absolutely not worry about the clutch. It can take it. It can take much more abuse than you, as a new manual driver, can dish out.

As far as your 1-2 shift jerk goes, you can either wait a split second longer for the RPMs to fall, or you can gently drag it down with the clutch. The wear this puts on the clutch is pretty much none. But, again just as others have said, the jerk doesn't really matter. I jerk my 1-2 shift nearly half the time, and I've been driving stick for 8 years. Unless you have an extremely picky passenger (or you're the picky one lol), it will go unnoticed most of the time.