First Car! First Manual!

[Smuckin]

Hey everyone,

I just recently leased the 2016 Honda Civic LX model 6MT! I have never driven a manual transmission car before but I have 10+ years of motorcycle experience so I'm familiar with how a clutch works. I was just wondering if you guys have any tips and tricks to driving a manual. I have about 400 km on it already and i think I'm pretty smooth when I shift at 3000 but if I want to accelerate quickly and run through the gears I'm a little more choppy. Also i cant seem to get the hang of downshifting and using the engine breaking unless i have a lot or room to rev match and change gears.

Please send me any tips you may have from being in my shoes!

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[Control freak]

Also i cant seem to get the hang of downshifting and using the engine breaking unless i have a lot or room to rev match and change gears.

Look up heel and toe shifting. It's the foot equivalent of rolling the throttle while squeezing the brake on a motorcycle. If you're using the front brake. But I find the brake and accelerator pedals are a fraction of an inch to far apart on the civic.

The way a car clutch differs from a motorcycles is that you really want to get out of the friction zone as quickly as possible since starting in it is worse for the dry clutch cars have vs. the wet clutch on most motorcycles. I have a problem riding the clutch (resting my foot on the pedal), so I try to put my foot on the dead pedal as quickly as possible.

re: shifting quickly, if you're reving it high enough- after your break in period, of course- it's okay to skip a gear. I'll often skip from second to fourth. Yeah, it might come out of the power band, so you might want to do a 3-5 or 4-6 skip at which point you're at cruising speed anyway.

PS: and enjoy the relative lack of infotainment issues compared to the higher trim levels.

Oh yeah, also note that on a steep enough incline, the brake holds for a fraction of a second after you release it, giving you enough time to get to the gas before the car drifts backwards. This is always active (on an incline when you're in gear) and separate from the Brake Hold button. It's in the owner's manual somewhere.

 

[Smuckin]

Look up heel and toe shifting. It's the foot equivalent of rolling the throttle while squeezing the brake on a motorcycle. If you're using the front brake. But I find the brake and accelerator pedals are a fraction of an inch to far apart on the civic.

The way a car clutch differs from a motorcycles is that you really want to get out of the friction zone as quickly as possible since starting in it is worse for the dry clutch cars have vs. the wet clutch on most motorcycles. I have a problem riding the clutch (resting my foot on the pedal), so I try to put my foot on the dead pedal as quickly as possible.

re: shifting quickly, if you're reving it high enough- after your break in period, of course- it's okay to skip a gear. I'll often skip from second to fourth. Yeah, it might come out of the power band, so you might want to do a 3-5 or 4-6 skip at which point you're at cruising speed anyway.

PS: and enjoy the relative lack of infotainment issues compared to the higher trim levels.

Oh yeah, also note that on a steep enough incline, the brake holds for a fraction of a second after you release it, giving you enough time to get to the gas before the car drifts backwards. This is always active (on an incline when you're in gear) and separate from the Brake Hold button. It's in the owner's manual somewhere.

Thanks for the tips that's helpful! I didnt know that skipping a gear was a thing! Also I feel like i am getting out of the friction zone quickly most of the time but sometimes when I'm shifting and I want to be smooth ill release the clutch a little slower and maybe I'm in the friction zone for 1 second or less, is that bad? also when I'm in reverse i am riding the clutch because I don't want to go flying backwards. Is there a better way to do this?

ps. I have the Canadian version of the LX, its similar to the American EX in that it has the 7" display and the break hold button!

 

[Control freak]

Thanks for the tips that's helpful! I didnt know that skipping a gear was a thing! Also I feel like i am getting out of the friction zone quickly most of the time but sometimes when I'm shifting and I want to be smooth ill release the clutch a little slower and maybe I'm in the friction zone for 1 second or less, is that bad? also when I'm in reverse i am riding the clutch because I don't want to go flying backwards. Is there a better way to do this?

ps. I have the Canadian version of the LX, its similar to the American EX in that it has the 7" display and the break hold button!

Some amount of time in the friction zone is inevitable, don't worry about it too much, so long as you minimize it while still being smooth.

I think Brake Hold is standard on all (maybe not the DX since I'm not familiar with other countries' trim levels), as is the Hill Start Assist, but they are still separate and the Hill Start Assist is always on.

 

[Smuckin]

oh wow I didn't realize there was a difference between Hill Start Assist and Break Hold, that's cool.

 

[Control freak]

Yeah, and Hill Start is also on the CVTs so they don't drift backwards down a hill either.

 

[Tearhammer]

brake hold helped my wife try and learn tonight - It was not as bad as I thought

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