[Metallicat]

My girfriend was here, visiting me from Poland this week, and she of course wanted to drive my new car.  Now, in Poland all of their cars are manuals (she never even knew an automatic transmission existed until she came here and drove my truck a couple of years ago) but she lives in Krakow and their public transportation rocks so she doesn't own a car and rarely does she drive.  In my manual Fusion, she did ok starting out.  She stalled it at almost every stop but was able to shift through the gears.  She has a funny way of dealing with inclines.  In Poland, they are taught in driving school to pull the emergency brake on an incline when you are stopped.  When you wish to take off, you are supposed to rev up the engine, engage the clutch a bit, then disengage the brake lever and wham - you take off.  Pretty crazy if you ask me.  Today she tried that and all I could smell was my clutch burning as she was revving the engine at 3500rpm while trying to work the clutch.  She even commented on the odor.  She probably took 10,000 miles off of the life of my clutch during that one incident.  I just held my head with my hands and told her to please stop frying my clutch!  Yesterday she told me she started out in 2nd gear. I can imagine how the clutch liked that.  She also forgets to push in the clutch when stopping at times and the car jerks nicely as it dies to a halt.  I think my Fusion is glad she is gone.  If we get married, she is getting an automatic.   

 

[captainhook]

Not sure where you are at, but here in the burgh the e-brake thing is a common thing.

Parallel parking can be pretty tricky on some of the hills here and it has saved my butt/clutch a few times. The key is to hold the car on the clutch and accelerator before releasing the e-brake.

 

[Metallicat]

Really! I never even heard of the e-brake thing before! I guess that is because I was taught to drive a manual by my dad who learned to drive when the e-brakes were the foot-operated type. You would need 3 feet to do that on the old manuals. Even on the steepest inclines, I keep my foot on the brake while tilting the top of my foot enough to the right to depress the accelerator. Then I release the clutch enough to load the engine and from that point I can take off from even a 30 degree incline. Where I went to college at Michigan Tech (Keweenaw Peninsual, Michigan) we had some wicked hills around my university that would rival those of San Francisco and I could always manage to work the clutch, brake, and accelerator to allow a smooth take off without rolling back into the car behind me.

 

[Donald T]

[quote author=captainhook link=topic=46024.msg706081#msg706081 date=1146961526]
Not sure where you are at, but here in the burgh the e-brake thing is a common thing.

Parallel parking can be pretty tricky on some of the hills here and it has saved my butt/clutch a few times. The key is to hold the car on the clutch and accelerator before releasing the e-brake.
[/quote]

my dad taught me this also.  I learned to drive a stick in Colorado when I was senior in High School, but we're from Penn.

 

[Nr9]

in taiwan the driving test has this also. for automatics you also have the same test but you dont need to do anything

 

[Metallicat]

I guess us flatlanders in the Midwest missed out on that tip. Could come in handy so I will have to practice that sometime...or not. There aren't any hills here.

 

[shadowfall1976]

I have done that too, when I was driving in Wimington, DE, the streets are somewhat
inclined there. and that is how I learned to do that, although in lower Delaware where
i'm actually from, there was not much need for it, only when the rare occasion I went
up there.

 

[ito]

I also went to Michigan Tech, and remember those damn hills. The one in particular I remember being horrible was near the Backroom Bookstore. Those hills were a pain when driving a stick! I was never told about the E-brake procedure, but it came in handy a couple of times in my Eclipse. Some people with automatics don't understand to give a stick a little room on a steep incline.

 

[Metallicat]

Tech was a riot. I lived in Wads, then up at the apartments on top of Champion street (another fun street for manuals). Back then, I was driving a Tempo manual and the parking brake never did work so I had to manage without it. I was also a member of Triangle. Had some good times there! I miss that darned place! Miss the old Strohs Dark that used to be served at the Dog House. And the old Library Bar, the new Library is too yuppy for my taste in the Keewenaw.

[quote author=ito link=topic=46024.msg711101#msg711101 date=1147201504]
I also went to Michigan Tech, and remember those damn hills.  The one in particular I remember being horrible was near the Backroom Bookstore.  Those hills were a pain when driving a stick!  I was never told about the E-brake procedure, but it came in handy a couple of times in my Eclipse.  Some people with automatics don't understand to give a stick a little room on a steep incline.
[/quote]

 

[ito]

I, too, lived in Wads... That place was a riot!

I agree about the new library, not a fan.

 

[Metallicat]

What year did you graduate? You probably graduated after I did as I think the Backroom used to be in Hancock and then moved to Houghton shortly after the time that I graduated, 1994.

[quote author=ito link=topic=46024.msg717304#msg717304 date=1147450203]
I, too, lived in Wads...  That place was a riot!

I agree about the new library, not a fan.
[/quote]

 

[lincolnzephyr]

[quote author=ito link=topic=46024.msg717304#msg717304 date=1147450203]
I, too, lived in Wads...  That place was a riot!

I agree about the new library, not a fan.
[/quote]

Hey guys i went to tech too.....lived in wads and then daniel heights