One obvious difference is that if you forget about the clutch when driving the manual, normally the worst that happens is you stall and that’s just a nuisance.
If you forget to move the foot from the accelerator to the brake when driving the auto, you can have an accident.
I'm sure it does happen. Just not enough to lose sleep over. As some here seem to think we should.
No. Has severe fade, but total loss, never.
Like most early cars with hydraulic brakes?
That should have left one circuit still working.
If you had total brake loss including the handbrake in an auto, I'd tend to put it in reverse, rather than park. At least then it will be a friction clutch (or more likely locked rear wheels) which will try and stop you rather than a pawl which is designed to break off. ;-)
No.
I've done both but never relied on a passenger.
If dropping back and moving over a lot doesn't give enough visibility to overtake, then I simply don't.
*shrug* you live in the USA. Its big and its flat.
Really? It is big, you got that right, some of it is flat. Check out our topography though. Once you do, you won't make stupid statements.
Same here. Lower gears are only needed for acceleration. When driving around town I often use only 1st and 5th. 1st goes up to 25mph. 5th starts at 20mph.
Agreed - I see no point in using gears to slow down. Brakes are much better at doing that in a controlled manner. I only slow down with gears if the brakes are non functional or I'm braking for a long time, like descending a very long steep hill that would overheat the brakes. Usually as I approach a junction, I just dip the clutch, then as I'm about to accelerate away, I select the right gear and go.
I like to get to where I'm going as fast as possible. You should always be:
1) Accelerating 2) Braking 3) Hooting at the moron in front who's holding you up
The clutch is there for a reason, you're wearing out the synchromesh.
I borrowed an Austin Gypsy that would not go into 1st without turning off the engine. The clutch must have been knackered too and not disengaging completely, because pushing in the clutch pedal it would not go into 1st with the car stationary and the engine idling.
Naughty girl! Me too, I drove a Ford Sierra at 90mph with a broken arm while sending a text to my girlfriend :-)
Last rear end crash I had was into a roadworks van, because I was looking at the roadworks they were taking 3 years to complete. If I'd looked at the van I would have stopped. The roadworks guy didn't give a shit, there was no damage to his van. My car had already been damaged by some stupid woman (it's always a woman) pulling in front of me 2 weeks previously, so no harm done.
Those should be illegal. There's no reason to flash a light like that. When a cyclist approaches my car with a flashing headlamp, I flash my car headlamps back, this usually infuriates the cyclist. If they can do it, why can't I?
What a bunch of whining Limeys. You should virtually NEVER have to use your left foot on the brake in normal driving unless you are un co-ordinated from having too many guiness' before leaving the pub. As a mechanic I could tell who left foot braked by how quickly they wore out the brakes. On a car with no handbrake (foot operated parking brake) if you want to "hang out" the rear on a corner with front wheel drive on gravel or snow jabbing the brake with yhour foot on the gas kinda works - but the only time I did THAT was with a standard - - -
If you can't drive an automatic without using your left foot you shouldn't be driving - or buy yourself a Soob or a Mitsoshitty - or even a VAG (volkswagen, Skoda, etc) with the hill-holder option.
That's the way it SHOULD be - - - -
Just out of interest, what do you drive?
A friend of mine had an Austin A30 (mid 1950s). Single master cylinder.
Slave cylinder on each front wheel. Single slave cylinder bolted to chassis at rear, operating a mechanical linkage to the brake shoes on both sides. The SAME linkage used by the handbrake (parking brake).
If the linkage broke, the travel on the rear cylinder was enough to make the front brakes inoperative, so there was a single point of failure.
When I first started driving RHD in left hand traffic it took me about a day to get used to it (in Zambia). Crossing into Zaire (Right hand traffic) with the LHD car was "strange".
Ten years later jumping into a RHD car down in the islands was like getting back onto a bike.
Where I DID have problems was driving motorcycle in left hand traffic
- - -
Tell that to folks driving in the Rockies, the Appalachians, the Adirondacs, the Sierras,etc. Or driving through Canada on the "north of superior" route. Or basically just about anywhere other than the breat plains in the mid-west. The little hills you have over in LimeyLand are just bumps.
WHY would you shift an automatic into neutral for a short stop???? It virtually disconnects the drive through the torque converter at idle anyway. Take your foot off the loud pedal and put it on the stop pedal. When the light turns green or it is clear to pull away,you move your right foot from the stop pedal to the loud pedal and smoothly accellerate from the stop.
A "hand brake" is almost totally non-existant in North America. The "parking brake" is usually foot operated - and in many new cars it is electrically operated by a switch on the console. Even when I HAD "hand Brake" on my standard transmission cars I virtually NEVER had to use it when pulling away from a stop on a hill.
I switch from my standard transmission Ford pickup to the automatic Sorento totally seamlessly.
I DO remember when I first started driving an automatic, pulling away quickly and jamming my LEFT foot HARD on the brake pedal of the '63 Pontiac Wagon attempting to shift to second - - - - - -. The power prakes on that beast were so sensitive I used to joke they were "light activated" . Put your foot over the pedal and the shadow - opposite of light - was seen as "heavy" - also opposite of light. That sucker would throw you through the windshield faster than you could blink - -
-
There are some cars that would jam the parking pawl if you parked on a hill without the parking brake - and you could NOT disengage park without taking the load off the pawl by pushing the vehicle up the hill..
I've seen the pin that hold the pawl shear right off - and I've seen the pawls break - and I've seen the pin torn right out of the transmission case. Nothing like reaching for second on a 3 speed floor shift before you remember you are driving a console shift automatic - or reaching for third on a 4 speed - or 5th on a 5 speed.
- and jamming the pawl in at 20, 40, or 60 MPH - - - - -
Not that I've done it - but I've had customers who did. Gets REAL expensive - REAL fast!!!
Yes
One for me
I've lost fronts, and I've lost rears
Should, and working, both require definition!!
On many current vehicles you couldn't get it into park at speed if you tried.
The most effective hand brake I ever experienced was on my '49 Beetle.
Cable brakes on all 4 wheels - and the hand brake opperated them all - through the same cables. If you lost the foot brake, you lost EVERYTHING.
Then there was the '28 Chevy. Rod operated brakes like on an old Raleigh Roadster or Flying Pigeon bicycle - Thin read drums with expanding service brake and a band hand brake on the outside of the drum. To stop" fast" you put both feet on the brake pedal and pulled back on the handbrake with both hands. At least it HAD 4 wheel brakes
- something of a novelty at that time.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.