Okay, I'm starting to think that I have a problem... Like I said in a previous thread, I've driven stick my whole life... but they've always been on used cars with semi worn/broken in clutches... But I can't seem to drive smoothly in the xA... In my 97 Golf, I was able to drive seamlessly (no one could tell when I was shifting), but I've stalled 3 times on the xA and chirped the tires a few times. Clutch travel is too little and the powerband too short.

Am I ruining my clutch/transmission?

What am I doing wrong?

What can I do better?

Thanks again. I know I have a lot of questions and some are probably stupid.

 

do you have your stereo loud enough that you can't hear the motor at all? you may not be realising that the motor's rpm is falling too low or not if you can't hear it? That's about the only time I get a little unsmooth with the clutch trying to pull away from a stop.

 

A lot of it has to do less with the car and more with the seating angle. Because of the high seat height, your shins tend to be more perpendicular with the floor. However, the angle that the pedals maintain with the floor is rather steep, meaning that you have to lift your foot up quite a bit.

With most other cars, the angle is less steep, as you tend to sit with your legs stretched out, and with a shallower angle to the floor.

You'll get used to it after awhile. . . but I could drive a Porsche through traffic for 10 hours without any fatigue. After about 3 hours of driving in traffic in the xA, I start getting fatigue.

It's less of a problem for the auto, since the smoothness has nothing to do with releasing the clutch (if you can't drive an auto smoothly, you should not be driving). It's not to say that manual's are hard, but this particular car can take some getting used to. It's not as bad in the xB either, since there is more leg room, you can extend your legs out a bit more (but then the wheel can be too far away if you have short arms. . . )

 

Run it out to redline a few times, get a good sense of where the powerband is. You'll find that in day to day driving, shifting under 4k rpms won't be very smooth. This car does take some getting used to, but once you do, it'll feel quite natural.

 

I felt the same way when I got mine. Clutch would chatter then motor would bog but not always so it was impossible to try and compensate. After about 700 mi it started getting better (NO it's not that I'm getting used to driving it). Now with over 1k on it, it's not too bad. I'm sure your's will improve also.

 

Here's an update:

I mastered my Scion xA last week... no more jerky starts, chirping the tires or stalling (3X since picking it up). I'm back to my old self with no discernible shifting... just completely utterly smooth driving. The shift action still blows chunks though. The shifter's probably gonna suck 20X more in the winter.