Borrowing from a thread in Discussion:
"BTW, the heated rear window on the domestic boss's vauxhall shuts off after @ 15 minutes."
What a sensible thing to do. I suspect that 99% of drivers don't realize that the heated rear window is probably the biggest electrical power drain in the car. All the handbooks I have make this clear and instruct the driver to minimize its use, but how many read the handbook?
What other basics do you think most people are unaware of?
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Slipping the clutch at traffic lights on a hill instead of using the handbrake.I assume these people have no idea how a clutch works or they would not do it,quite apart from the danger of the foot slipping.
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Crashing down through the gears to "save the brakes". I had a spell of doing refresher courses for the elderly a couple of years ago and the number who did this was amazing.
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Crashing down through the gears to "save the brakes".
mmm, the first thing i do, when approaching a junction around town, is ease off for a bit to allow a gradual slow down, then change down. Use of the brakes only comes in near the end when i need to stop. Am i doing the wrong thing.
Anyway, people who know little about cars nearly always forget to let their engine warm before pushing it hard.
Also, the amount of people that don't/can't check anything under the bonnet is amazing but not really surprising.
Sometimes, if people actually read the handbook, they might learn a bit more.
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I'll always approach a hazard or junction in third no matter what speed I'm doing. I like to think I'm being easy on the gears by double declutching.
Please don't dispell this!
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Adam
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mmm, the first thing i do, when approaching a junction around town, is ease off for a bit to allow a gradual slow down, then change down. Use of the brakes only comes in near the end when i need to stop. Am i doing the wrong thing.
Providing you are matching engine revs to road speed you are doing it right. It is the practice of using the clutch to suddenly knock your speed off as it bites that I was referring to. I always get a mental picture of the torture the transmission is going through when someone does this.
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Slow with the brakes, block change down to the gear you think is right for accelerating away, blip the gas with the outside edge of the right foot and away you go. I'd rather change brake pads and discs than a clutch or gearbox any day. Also, the sooner in a manoeuvre you know your brakes aren't working, the better.
If you get the revs right changing gear, you should be able to move your left foot sideways off the clutch, let it snap into engagement and not feel a thing. When you're consistently that good, you can then dispense with the use of clutch altogether once the car is rolling.
I'm not that good, I hasten to add.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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Hawkeye could have been describing the way I approach slowing down.
"I'm not that good, I hasten to add"
I am ;-) Learned it driving a car from exeter to south west london with no clutch.
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>>Sometimes, if people actually read the handbook, they might learn a bit more.
Possibly.But some are not mechanicaly minded-have a fear of the workings on a car.Ie because they dont understand/want to. They just leave the simple checks to others.Or just dont bother.This I find annoying but its the way it is..Thats life!
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Steve
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Wouldn't it be great if there were 15 minute cut-outs on front fog lights??!!
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>>Wouldn't it be great if there were 15 minute cut-outs on front fog lights??!!
You missed the rears?
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Steve
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