Couple questions learning stick again *Update picked up new car

[pcgeek11]

??, are you talking about stalling or how to take off from a hill, because his description for the later is bang on!

Well I can only speak for myself. I learned to drive in the mid 1960s and have never used the parking brake starting off on a hill of any size. I've never rolled backwards down a hill either. I have driven all up through the Smokey Mountains and in San Francisco etc and I've never used a parking brake when starting off on a hill. You just need practice and a little bit of coordination. The parking brake "trick" sounds like something my grandmother would have done because she really didn't know how to drive very well. Must be some modern way or something.

 

[Pacfanweb]

^ This...seriously!

I agree. If you have to "relearn" how to drive a stick, then you never really knew how to in the first place.

That said, I wish you good luck and no burnt up clutch discs.

 

[MongGrel]

^ This...seriously!

Yeah I detect a large amount myself.

If your driving 18 wheels this would be a moot point to begin with.

I agree. If you have to "relearn" how to drive a stick, then you never really knew how to in the first place.

That said, I wish you good luck and no burnt up clutch discs.

Yep.

I learned myself on my 70 Camero, my dad helped me replace the burnt out clutch the first time on that over-cammed thing and showed me how to do it.

He took off and I didn't see him about about 2 hours after that, he hit the country roads and got froggy.

I think I ended up replacing two of em solo in the next two years, he he.

And I was even dropping the heavy duty ones and a new throwout bearing everytime

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

lol. You idiots are hilarious. I'll gladly take a pic of the inside of my 13 speed mack with a big handwritten sign telling any doubter to f off. Btw I picked up a new fiesta st yesterday and have been driving it. Which I can afford to pay for because I drive an oilfield tanker truck. I'm what they call a professional driver. Mo f'ers pay me well for my skillz. It was pretty easy to pick back up learning a car stick. I was just asking for some refresh tips not asking on advice on how to drive one.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I agree. If you have to "relearn" how to drive a stick, then you never really knew how to in the first place.

That said, I wish you good luck and no burnt up clutch discs.

I knew I'd have some idiots popping off because I asked for tips on relearning stick. You're not special because you drive car stick. I got back in one yesterday and by the end of the day had it back down. It's silly easy and something a 16 year old first time driver could pick up in a week or two. It took me about 5 months of driving a big rig several hundred miles a day to get it down pretty good. There are still guys that would drive circles around me. So yeah take your little pompous attitude about you being special because you drive car stick and shove it.

 

[JCH13]

Enjoy the new ride!

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Enjoy the new ride!

Thanks. Updated OP with pic. Also thanks to all those that gave helpful advice. Yes I drive an eighteen wheeler and yes the transmissions are somewhat similar in some regards in other ways they are complete opposites. I was looking for helpful advice so as to not damage my new ride so doing a little research on relearning stick on a car seemed like a good way of doing that. To Pacfan and Mongrel please go f yourselves. Thanks to all those that provided advice. It really helped me to get the ball rolling mentally before trying a stick car in 16 years. Now I feel pretty comfortable and having some fun. Lame drives to the store are now fun again. Like when I was 16 driving my RX 7. :thumbsup:

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

nice car dude. Gonna be really fun to drive. I'm kinda in the market for a focus ST right now. Still trying to figure things out...I've done tons of research but can't pull the trigger. I may make a post on here to try and hash out whats in my mind and get some insight.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

nice car dude. Gonna be really fun to drive. I'm kinda in the market for a focus ST right now. Still trying to figure things out...I've done tons of research but can't pull the trigger. I may make a post on here to try and hash out whats in my mind and get some insight.

Thanks. I did a lot of research myself between the two (focus and fiesta). All the reviews I read kept picking the fiesta for fun factor. And really that's all I want out of this car. The Focus st has tons more interior and cargo room. 0-60 and 1/4 mile times are nearly identical due to the weight difference although the focus has more hp. I guess it comes down to preference. I chose the smaller of the two for flickability, ease of parking it, and I just kinda like the small car feel as I came from a honda fit.

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

Thanks. I did a lot of research myself between the two (focus and fiesta). All the reviews I read kept picking the fiesta for fun factor. And really that's all I want out of this car. The Focus st has tons more interior and cargo room. 0-60 and 1/4 mile times are nearly identical due to the weight difference although the focus has more hp. I guess it comes down to preference. I chose the smaller of the two for flickability, ease of parking it, and I just kinda like the small car feel as I came from a honda fit.

dude, you're kidding. I drive a 2009 honda fit sport right now. Love the car actually (I drive with the paddles almost 100% of the time), but I recently took a trip to san diego and stayed in one of the finest/most expensive hotels in the country...and in this hotel you can take out a porsche every day. I know that sounds crazy...but they have an agreement with the porsche dealership where you get to take out a porsche for the whole day. So, first day I took out a cayenne GTS, it was amazing. Never thought I would drive a better car...until the next day. I took out a convertible 911, brand new $100,000 car. holy shit. Soooo fucking fun.

And thus, my need to drive something faster has arisen. The focus ST seems to be the easiest way to get myself into a fast car for about 25 grand, and still have room to fit all my hockey equipment.

 

[SearchMaster]

Enjoy the car! I love what the FiST is (though I haven't driven one) but it was just too small for my family.

I'm kinda in the market for a focus ST right now. Still trying to figure things out...I've done tons of research but can't pull the trigger.

FWIW the new Focus is being revealed this weekend, including the ST. I'm hoping they bring a version of the ST wagon to the US but I doubt it.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

dude, you're kidding. I drive a 2009 honda fit sport right now. Love the car actually (I drive with the paddles almost 100% of the time), but I recently took a trip to san diego and stayed in one of the finest/most expensive hotels in the country...and in this hotel you can take out a porsche every day. I know that sounds crazy...but they have an agreement with the porsche dealership where you get to take out a porsche for the whole day. So, first day I took out a cayenne GTS, it was amazing. Never thought I would drive a better car...until the next day. I took out a convertible 911, brand new $100,000 car. holy shit. Soooo fucking fun.

And thus, my need to drive something faster has arisen. The focus ST seems to be the easiest way to get myself into a fast car for about 25 grand, and still have room to fit all my hockey equipment.

lol. Great minds.. Yeah I liked the fit as well. They just are severely underpowered and man oh man has technology passed them by. They are great commuter cars and mine would have probably lasted the next 20 years. I just needed something with a little more character and gadgets. The ford sync and touchscreen are awesome. I'm not sure of the rebates on focus right now but the fiesta had $1500 rebates in my area and they took another $500 off and it brought it down to 20,600. For all the standard stuff that it comes with it's basically a fully loaded car with a 200hp twin turbo with a 6mt for 20k. I can't complain one bit. If you can find a focus st near you I'd suggest taking a hard look before it's scooped up. There were 2 fiesta st's in my 100 mile radius yesterday (this is including Dallas Fort Worth area). Now we're down to one. They aren't making many of these beasts so I suggest taking a serious look soon.

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

Yeah, I think a lot of people fell into the same deal as us with the fit. Economy was real bad, gas prices going up. I also had a 3 year old at the time, so needed something real practical. But seriously, underpowered...the thing is like dangerously underpowered.

The thing I'm hung up on right now...is that I've had the Fit for 5 years. Its lost all of its first-3-years depreciation, so the prudent thing to do right now is hold onto the car obviously. I'm just trying to see exactly how much money I'll be losing if I get another car. Going from no car payment to car payment is a real downer. But the mid life crisis is strong. I don't wanna envy people like Searchmaster who have the car I want. Why should I envy them when I could have one myself?

And also, I have plenty of money to afford this, and a good job, but I'm super stingy. Like most people, I just want to keep my money.

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

Enjoy the car! I love what the FiST is (though I haven't driven one) but it was just too small for my family.


FWIW the new Focus is being revealed this weekend, including the ST. I'm hoping they bring a version of the ST wagon to the US but I doubt it.

Yeah the '15 coming out isn't helping my decision at all. I guess I'm just hoping it might drive the '14 price down further. I'm gonna see what the '15 has to offer...from what people are saying, it seems to be just cosmetic stuff.

 

[ponyo]

Nice. What happened to buying new car is dumb and a waste of money?

 

[satyajitmenon]

Nice!! Did you get the Recaro seats?

 

[SearchMaster]

Yeah the '15 coming out isn't helping my decision at all. I guess I'm just hoping it might drive the '14 price down further. I'm gonna see what the '15 has to offer...from what people are saying, it seems to be just cosmetic stuff.

http://www.netcarshow.com/ford/2015-focus_st/

I gotta say, I like all the changes. Catfish mouth has been scaled down, headlights a bit more aggressive, wheels look nice and much easier to keep clean than the current ones. The interior changes look nice too though it looks like they've moved the cupholders and the console armrest back too far. Hard to say without sitting in it.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Nice!! Did you get the Recaro seats?

No. I didn't want any options. It came with the rado gray painted wheels with red calipers. That was the only option on the car. I wanted to keep the price low as possible.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Nice. What happened to buying new car is dumb and a waste of money?

Don't you have some Disney on ice you should be watching?

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

What are you guys thoughts on coasting in neutral to a stop? Is it okay on the trans to do so? I really don't care about brake wear as pads are cheap and easy to replace.

 

[JulesMaximus]

What are you guys thoughts on coasting in neutral to a stop? Is it okay on the trans to do so? I really don't care about brake wear as pads are cheap and easy to replace.

It isn't going to hurt anything but then again neither is downshifting if done properly.

 

[nitrous9200]

What are you guys thoughts on coasting in neutral to a stop? Is it okay on the trans to do so? I really don't care about brake wear as pads are cheap and easy to replace.

Just leave it in gear and shift into neutral as the car gets down to a very low speed. I prefer that to coasting in neutral because of engine braking & makes it easier in case I need to speed up (light changes to green).

 

[kitatech]

What are you guys thoughts on coasting in neutral to a stop? Is it okay on the trans to do so? I really don't care about brake wear as pads are cheap and easy to replace.

If your car has DFCO (Deceleration Fuel Cut Off) technology then you have to keep the clutch in gear to save gas....well, the point is that you don't have to DISengage the clutch to save gas.

 

[_Rick_]

You want to be in gear as much as possible, basically whenever you move.
Either to recover kinetic energy (it'll drive the belts for the alternator without using fuel) or to be able to modulate acceleration with no delay.

Oh, and if you want to do decent mpg, stay off that turbo, unless you really need it.

 

[SearchMaster]

If your car has DFCO (Deceleration Fuel Cut Off) technology then you have to keep the clutch in gear to save gas....well, the point is that you don't have to DISengage the clutch to save gas.

I don't know about the 1.6EB specifically, but the DFCO on the 2.0EB isn't THAT aggressive. Just coasting even on a slight downhill grade will not always cut the fuel but a larger grade will. The EB engines are pretty efficient when not under load so even if it's feeding the injectors, it won't be a noticeable difference in fuel economy overall.

_Rick_ is correct on staying out of boost, however. That will definitely drop your fuel economy in a big way.

Also to the OP: your fuel economy will improve significantly after ~5000 miles, then again after ~10,000. These engines take a little while to break in, and obviously you'll learn to drive them more efficiently with time.