Category: Cars

Nick finally worked up the courage to take another attempt at learning to drive a manual transmission car today. After the last time, when he never quite got the hang of it, and shaved some life off my pressure plate in the process, he’s been a tad clutch-shy. I finally convinced him that it can be done by showing him a neat trick: the one pedal launch. The healthy torque of the VW TDI motor means that if you are very smooth with your clutch foot the car will start from a standstill (on flat, or gently down-sloping ground!) at idle. His problem last time was too much throttle. I pulled the Jetta out of the garage and demonstrated very low-speed launches using nothing but my left foot. After a couple of demos I had him take the wheel. Of course the car immediately died on his first five tries. Thankfully he stuck with it and eventually got the hang of starting from a dead stop. At first with no throttle, then with gentle acceleration. I had him do it over and over on the gravel driveway, doing laps of the house. Eventually I hopped out of the car and he continued practicing until it seemed that he really had the hang of it. Next was several more laps of the gravel driveway at higher speeds (never out of 1st gear though) to get a feel for the car at rates of travel more akin to driving on the street. Then I had him take the steep part of the driveway uphill to get a feel for the amount of throttle needed to overcome gravity. I did NOT have him start/stop on this steep grade however… that comes later. Much later!

Feeling confident I drove into town and went to an industrial park south of town where the streets would be empty on a Sunday to have him practice on a paved street. The car won’t be as forgiving of poor clutch technique and timing on asphalt compared to gravel. Wheelspin isn’t going to happen with 90 HP and good tires on tarmac!

It was a small step backwards at first and his car-killing ways came back, but at least now he was gentle with the throttle and not buzz-sawing life out of my clutch plate. A lesson or two more and he’ll be ready for the real streets!