hi everybody, i've been on this sight for about a month trying to decide if i should get one...well i finally bought a '05 enthu tonight.
i thought i was driving fine but i stalled on a hill....pretty embarassing. the clutch was a bit difficult for me to manage on this hill. maybe i just have to get used to the z clutch....
at any rate, can anybody give me some tips on driving the z on a hill, from stop? thanks.

 

Congratulations!! Is sf San Francisco? Is so, you are going to have a hell of a time on those hills. I was driving a Miata there and nearly burned out the clutch. It is really just balancing the clutch and the gas on the hills. The steeper the hill, the more accelerator you have to use. It will just take practice but I'm sure you'll be an expert in a very short time.

HSDAVIS

 

Set hand brake, begin to engage clutch normally until you begin pulling against the brake, once the car starts settling, let hand brake off, continue engaging clutch normally. piece o' cake!

 

yeah im in san francisco...so many hills here (STEEP hills)....nevertheless i would NEVER have gotten the AT. so i guess i just have to deal with it....
maybe ill pracrice a bit on my driveway since its pretty steep.
so basically, i guess i have to use ebrake or slip the clutch like crazy.
anybody else got suggestion?

 

nothing but practice, son.

we drive around in the city quite a bit. just have to get used to a clutch.

 

yeah that's wat i thought...love the car tho...people say the car has a crazy blind spot but i dont notice that at all. i can see everything

 

Well first off, learn the friction point, the point on the clutch where your car moves forward without gas, Hold it a little before this and its your friction point, after you get that down you will know when to gas and how much to let off depending on how steep the hill really is. Once you know where to let off on the clutch, its easy from there. Its just as if your on flat land, but it requires more gas to move up since your car has gravity pulling from behind. Go out late at night and practice when there are no cars, because if you roll back and hit someone, thats no fun. ENJOY YOUR NEW CAR AND GOOD LUCK!

 

Yeah hears a good tip... LEARN HOW TO DRIVE STICK@!!!!! Just kd it'll take a few tries and you'll have it in no time

 

Practice, practice, practice.

Takes ***** to get a manny tranny in SF if your not used to stick!!

Good for you.

 

You'll notice your clutch will start to break in after a few hundred miles up to about 1k. The clutch is very stiff out the factory with only a few miles.

I stalled my car the first week going up a hill too! After a couple thousand miles the clutch felt nice and I could go up from dead stop wihtout rocking back.

So what everyone saidL: Practice! and let the clutch break in.

 

+1.. Those slopes are scary.

 

AS for the clutch on the Z its better to do quick lift (lift your foot more quickly off the clutch) changes when changing up ( gears 1 through 6) ... you will find you dont have to sit on it cuz you may feel tempted to cuz it feels so heavy ....Slower lifts when changing down (gears 6 through 2)


Its ok dont be scerd of the stick ..hehehe I have never owned a auto shift but that's just me

 

The poster has a 2005 clutch.. They are way different than 2003/2004 clutches. The travel is cut in half and you aren't doing a leg press to press it in. I'd say do the handbrake. I think that's the way you are supposed to do it, if you care about not wearing out your clutch.

 

Get comfortable w/ friction point & use the parking break, if necessary.

 

yeah, its a 2005...and i did notice that the clutch travel is shorter than the 2004 i test drove, and a bit softer too. thanks for the opinion fellas....

 

Yeah, I noticed this too. It seems they improved visibility on the '05s with wider angle rear-view mirrors.

 

Nice!

I don't even remember how poor the visibility of our rearview mirrors are. I slapped one of those convex Broadway mirrors on it as soon I got the Z.

Fits perfectly and took care of the right blind spot.

 

I agree with the advice given in this thread. You're better off wearing out your e-brake than your clutch. Those ultra-steep hills/streets will cook your clutch in no time...