as you may have read, i just got a 98ls, and im waiting for the paperwork to get sent home sometime next week. do you have any tips for me on learning how to drive it?

 

Hmm.. It's not very hard to learn on a FWD car, it just sucks that you have to learn on your new integra. Just start off by feeling where your clutch starts to engage and remember that point. The hardest thing to learn is just going from stop to start, 2-5 gear shifting is cake. Eventually you will know when to shift in any gear, I can go by the sound of my motor or the speed I'm going. Just takes a little time to get used to it, try to stay away from uphill stop signs. Rolling backwards sucks when your learning, don't panic.


[Modified by 97RedTegGSR, 2:05 PM 2/27/2003]

 

its funny that you say thta, becuase my drive way is loke a hilll... i stalled like 5 times trying to get up the hill and into the garage... haha

 

take it out by yourself and just drive...best way to learn!

 

1. getting a feel for the clutch.....
Find an empty, flat, parking lot. Put the car in 1st and, without using the gas, slowly release the clutch (if it starts to die, feather the clutch in & out). Get the car moving then stop the car and repeat in reverse. Do this a few times(until you can do it comfortably without killing it).
2. same thing but using gas pedal
Slowly release the clutch and apply gas at the same time. 1st and reverse, till you're comfortable.
3. shifting smoothly
as you're accelerating and about to shift, taper off the accelerator a little ...... shift ..... then back on the gas. Take your time shifting and let the lever guide itself a little. Very little force is required to shift so ease up with the kung-fu grip and stay off the steroids.
4. Avoiding mis-shifts
read this a while back ..... can't find the site so I'll just describe it. Placement of hand on shifter: 1st to 2nd directly on top or palm facing you. 2nd to 3rd on side palm facing away 3rd to 4th on side palm facing away 4th to 5th on side palm facing away --------- 5th to 4th on side palm facing away (let it guide itself) 4th to 3rd directly on top 3rd to 2nd on side palm facing you ....
5. hills
easiest is to use the e-brake.
little more difficult is to have your foot on the brake and roll the side of your foot over and give a little gas. Learning this also comes in handy under heavy braking w/downshifting. Then there's just letting off the brake and on the gas/release clutch all in one quick motion. If you kill it, put your foot on the brake, you're rolling backwards.....

then there's always just revving it up to 5k dropping the clutch and stomping on the throttle.

 

thanks!!!

 

those hills are a bitch eh? same thing happened to me when i learned

 

one more thing ...... downwshifting all the time to slow the car is highly overrated and puts excess wear on the tranny. Brakes are cheap & easy to replace, tranny's aren't.