Parking in gear or in neutral
Discussion
moneymakestheworldgoaround said:
CanAm said:
Which gear was it in and how steep was the gradient?
1st and not very steep, but was parked in a carpark so couldnt turn the wheels towards a kerb. To answer your earlier question it holds the car on the engine friction.
Pica-Pica said:
kieranblenk said:
In fact whenever I've driven other cars I tend to park in gear as habit and had several people get in and the car lurch forward after I've left it in gear!
It is their starting procedure that is wrong.Burgerbob said:
Slightly surprised at the number of people on here who leave the car in gear. It is very rare that as a passenger I ever see a drive who has left it in gear.
I only ever do on steep hills, ferries, or my motorhome which I park up in gear, handbrake off but for long periods at a time.
I think the conclusion to take from all this, is that people do whatever they do based on personal experience, rather than a specific dogma.I only ever do on steep hills, ferries, or my motorhome which I park up in gear, handbrake off but for long periods at a time.
a) They have driven manual cars from an era when handbrakes degraded very quickly and don't trust them..
b) They can feel/already know their handbrake wont hold on that particular incline.
c) They or someone they know, has had an expensive handbrake failure.
If you've never seen a problem occur with a handbrake, then mistrusting one is an alien concept.
GroundEffect said:
But foot on clutch is a catch-all solution. It doesn't matter if it's in neutral or not. Seems sensible to me.
Yes it is a fail safe in that sense, but it's an irritation that millions of people have managed without by the simple expedient of checking the box in in neutral before starting. This is pretty much a muscle memory for me, I don't even think about it.Also irritating if you are working on the car and want to reach in and start it (in neutral).
Rovinghawk said:
Pica-Pica said:
kieranblenk said:
In fact whenever I've driven other cars I tend to park in gear as habit and had several people get in and the car lurch forward after I've left it in gear!
It is their starting procedure that is wrong.I'm an in-gear person. I'm apparently also quite firm on the handbrake, which I guess improves the grip of the handbrake while it's good... and increases the long term risk of failure.
It's pretty much automatic to me to give the stick a waggle before cranking the engine - as long as I make sure it's out of gear for winter "start engine before I scrape the windscreen" starts...
It's pretty much automatic to me to give the stick a waggle before cranking the engine - as long as I make sure it's out of gear for winter "start engine before I scrape the windscreen" starts...
I passed my test 12 years ago aged 17 and have always parked in gear. It isn't something anyone taught me to do, it's just something I've always done.
My car is an auto these days, but I always use the handbrake in that, too. My girlfriend goes off it with me when I park her car in gear, it's not really something I consciously do, however. She's the opposite if she uses my car and just leaves it dumped in park without the handbrake. It irritates me no end. I've seen handbrakes fail on 3 cars and the damage caused when they do. No thanks.
My car is an auto these days, but I always use the handbrake in that, too. My girlfriend goes off it with me when I park her car in gear, it's not really something I consciously do, however. She's the opposite if she uses my car and just leaves it dumped in park without the handbrake. It irritates me no end. I've seen handbrakes fail on 3 cars and the damage caused when they do. No thanks.
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