I was lucky enough to get my brothers 8 (he bought a cobalt ss). I'm new to driving stick and I'm starting to get the hang of it except HILLS. I live in the Amish country in Lancaster, PA and it seems like every stoplight is on a hill. I am terrified of rolling back into the car behind me. What tips do you have for starting on hills? Thanks for your time.

 

handbrake, ease out the clutch till the car start to shake, release the handbrake and give it some gas while easing out the clutch.
or what I do is use brakes to hold the car, when I wanna go just quickly off the brakes and get on gas while easing out the clutch.

 

You just need to learn how to drive "better", thats all.

nothing special about stick shift, most automatics will roll back on steep hills too.

give it a bit more gas and careful with the brake/clutch pedal use. that's all.

 

Be a G.

 

Use the handbrake until you get good at it. Eventually you will be able to go off the break and start accelerating before your car has a chance to roll backwards.

 

I try to move from the brake to the gas pedal as fast as I can but I always give it way to much gas and let the clutch out way too fast and it jerks badly. If I let go of the clutch slowly, I roll back 5 feet until the car accelerates. How can I get the clutch to engage without rolling far back?

 

You gotta practice, practice makes perfect.

I only drove manual once before I got my 8. it was a super old pos Civic, paid 40 bux for 30 minutes lesson.

so "officially", the day I got my 8 was the first day I really really really drive a manual. I was actually doing ok.

 

I really don't want to mess up the clutch either. haha

 

its part of the "process" I guess.

you will not mess your clutch much from that, not like you're dropping your clutch at 6-8 K rpm. its like a balance thing. keep your right foot down while letting your left foot up slowly in a fast way.

sounds confusing huh? but you will know what I mean one day.

 

Yeah I'll get it down soon enough...hopefully. haha

 

In my experience sometimes it depends on the car that you drive. On my DD (SRT-4), the clutch grabs really strong, there is no vagueness. I find that it is very easy to transition from the holding the brake (not ebrake) to clutch and gas even on very steep hills (SF). However, on my 8, the clutch I found is very vague and very light. I tend to use my Ebrake for steep inclines anyway to save the wear on clutch, but on the 8 I have found it very necessary. Mind you I have been driving stick for close to 8 years in various cars. It also doesn't help that I have more torque on my SRT-4 at idle than I do with the RX8 at 6000RPM.

 

when ur on a hill put it in 3rd gear and you can take off without rolling bak works everytime ; )

 

Do not panic
Pull the handbrake
Ride the clutch
Slowly release the handbrake

 

no, dont do that you gonna slip the hell outta your clutch just to get going, hard on the clutch.

 

you just need to get the bite point then give it some gas. not to much that it kills rpm but not too little that the car moves backwards.

 

One more vote for hand brake.

Pull up the hand brake. After you put the car in gear, grab the hand brake lever with your thumb on the button.

Use the same clutch/gas action that you'd use on level ground. As the clutch bites, drop the hand brake down.

You'll eventually learn to get your foot off the brake and onto the gas quickly enough without needing the hand brake, but that takes time. Nothing wrong with using the hand brake til then.

Ken

 

definitely good info. Hand brake is the best technique.

But, if you want to get practice without the fear of rolling backwards, just go to a parking lot, and from a static (stopped) position, slowly release your foot off the clutch. SLOWLY!! Don't bother giving gas. When the car starts to move, then slowly apply pressure to the gas. From there, you will find the "friction point". Continue to do that until you feel confident enough to try it on a slope.
And remember, don't panic. The friction point is the same, on flat ground or on a slope. Just have to apply a bit more gas when on a hill

 

when i first started to learn stick, rolling backwards was my biggest fear. i just found a street in my neighbor hood that was steep and practiced.

1)line up the car with something next to you to judge how far back you are rolling
2)do what you would normally do when driving forward on a hill
3)rinse... repeat

you will notice the "roll gap" getting smaller and smaller

 

just find a place that you won't be in any danger to yourself or others and practice. It is the only way....

 

Stick a "student driver" sticker on the car... in all seriousness though : ) A lot of people like to get inches away from you and when you start to roll back there's not much room for error. Having something to indicate that they should stay a bit farther back for their own good won't hurt. That being said, practice makes perfect so just find someplace where you can practice without damaging another vehicle and you'll get it soon enough.

 

I pray to god this is sarcastic.

 

^ Yeah don't do that, when i first starting driving the 8 i just used enough gas to keep me up on the hill. Still do that sometimes unless ill be there for awhile then i just take it out of gear and use brake, when i go its just being quick (clutch, 1st gear, then gas) real quick but balanced enough no to be jerky. Its all in exp in driving a stick, im sure in a week or 2 u will be fine if its ur daily driver.

 

I never used the hand brake trick when learning, not saying it's a bad idea. I just kept the foot brake applied, started easing off the clutch until you feel it starting to grab, then you release the brake and get on the gas. Only takes a few times to get the hang of it.

 

yeah never used the hand brake neither, could work just not my thing

 

Its a good safety net until you learn the feel of your clutch. Specially for the rest of us out on the road lol