I’m practicing for my driving licence and I’m going to driving school, just out of curiosity though I’ve looking on YouTube how to start and run a car and I’ve seen at least 3 different methods, I dunno which one is the correct. Things like the order when you release a pedal or when you need to press the clutch keep switching…
Foot on brake, Shift to neutral, clutch in, start
Put into gear and drive
I’ve always parked with first gear engaged (and parking brake), so when I turn it on I press the clutch while still being in first. Do people not do that and instead shift to neutral?
No, you are doing it perfectly right.
Only the automatic needs the neutral.
Automatics start in park
OK so now I know again that I don’t have one :)
I do to just in case something is wrong with the parking break, then the first gear keeps the car in place, especially on a hill.
I had my car demolished once while it was parked and someone parked higher up on the him, forgot the parking break and had it in neutral. They just quickly went to the small backery to get some bread, while their car solled down the hill and hit my car. Had to buy a new one, it came down with such a force.
I always left mine in neutral but when I’d take it to a shop they’d leave it in gear and I’d lurch forward like an amateur when I left. I’m not convinced there’s a difference between the two but I’m no mechanic
do both: if the brake fails, the back pressure of the engine will have limited ability to hold the car in place! it might be enough to save not only your car, but someone’s life if it’s on a hill
Same here, always left it in neutral and let the handbrake hold the car, mechanic always left it in 1st with no handbrake.
Dude might not like the handbrake though, got an auto now and that doesn’t get the handbrake on either.
Think about it this way: in the unlikely event that your parking brake fails while you’re parked, which direction is gravity going to make the car roll? Park in the gear that opposes that roll. So if you’re facing up an incline, park in first gear. If you’re facing down, park in reverse. If you’re on an absolutely flat surface, park in whichever you want.
By the way, this isn’t just a good idea for hills, but for uneven driveways or parking lots.
I am still in the habit of turning my wheels in when I park on a hill.
You don’t need to put it in the gear opposite to the direction it’ll roll. Generally you want to put it in the gear with the lowest ratio (which in my car I think is first), as that will require the most amount of force to turn the engine. But also some engines shouldn’t be rotated backwards because that might damage them. So that would mean put it in first facing downhill or reverse facing uphill.
That’s how I always did it, using the shifted gear as a secondary brake just in case, opposite of whatever incline I was on. But I learned back when pumping the brakes was also considered a skill you had to learn, so maybe it doesn’t apply with more modern cars?