Daffunda

I hate it. Stupid drivers who can't drive who leaves me no choice but to do the taboos of operating the manual transmission. I feel bad every time I have to do it......

I was driving behind this dumbass who can't merge during rush hour traffic, and he is not accelerating fast as he should have been.

I was behind him, I keep accelerating in 6th, as I had built up enough speed before the merge, (around 65mph) but then I had to quickly pop it in to 4th (no time to rev match) so I could avoid this dumbass who is trying to merge at 40MPH, while the semis are blowing past at 65~70. (he braked while trying to merge, probably since he was too scared that the semis were blowing past him.)

I had to slam it in 4th, and floor it, so I could miss the dumbass and still merge before the acceleration lane turned into an exit ramp. (I never grinded the gears since I got the TSX though, so that should be something I should be proud of.)

As I looked in the rearview, the dumbass merged just before the exit ramp, at a still slow speed, pissing off the semis.

At least I don't do it every time, I guess it is ok....

PJS

And this is straining the gearbox how?
Or did you just feel like having a little rant?

jlukja

^^LOL

I hate people who slow down to merge. I've seen some stop at the end of the on-ramp with the turn signal on. No-one is going to stop to let them in, they're STUCK!

Daffunda

Both..... I should have said that it is bad for the clutch......

rb1

:gheylaugh:

I call them "Magic Mergers",because they must believe a space is going to open up like magic to accommodate them even though they are going 20 mph less than the flow of traffic.

zainzb06tsx

i have an automatic..i shouldnt even be here..hahah

PJS

Only if you're slipping it - then yes, otherwise nope. You do realise a clutch mechanism is meant to be used more than 5 times a day? In fact somewhere in the hundreds is typical.
Honda/Acura being one of the more reliable brands - 100K miles is considered the norm.

Rusa

Isn't this the whole point of having the 6MT? The ability to react to these situations and the power to do so.

hunterk1

I don't like "magic mergers" either - and thanks rb1 for that phrase, it is very apropos, but you don't hurt your clutch every time you don't rev-match. I mean, in the course of normal operation you have to pull away from a stoplight, at which point your clutch is stationary and your flywheel/pressure plate is turning at upwards of 1200rpm... how do you propose to rev-match here? You can't... the clutch is meant to slip some during engagement.

Now, having the engine jump in revs due to a downshift... yeah, that puts strain on everything... Not sure how it effects longevity.

miken5678

even better are the ones that try to merge and stop at the end of the merge ramp before it goes onto the hwy..

going from 6th to 4th does put some more strain on the syncros but nothing that will kill it

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

I never understood people who don't accelerate to merge. And if they hit their brakes when there are no cars in front, that makes me even angrier. People like that should be banned from driving.

JTso

iTrader: (2)

I'm not sure if things have changed now. when I attended traffic ed in high school, the on-ramp is the acceleration lane, and the off-ramp is the deceleration lane. But then again, people were more courteous back then and actually move to the next lane so others can enter the freeway.

hunterk1

That's probably part of the problem right there - how many people actually take driving lessons nowadays, as opposed to just getting your license. I don't know if the "rules of the road" (yield the left lane to oncoming traffic, get out of the right lane to allow for mergers, flash to pass is a polite signal, etc) were taught to me in my driving school or by my aggressive-driving father, but one way or another I expect certain behavior from other people out there and am disappointed when I don't see it.

tony4311

Don't take this as talking trash but if you had time to press the clutch for the downshift you had time to press the gas to revmatch.

TheDukeZip

In some states we don't have such a thing. I wouldn't even know what you are talking about if I hadn't driven around a lot in CT where they have a full lane for getting on and off. Around where I live it's typical to dump you right into the passing lane on the left side of the highway immediately after a sharp curve -- very dangerous if you're behind one of these slow pokes. Those are the times I wish I had bought the 6MT... if I'm behind a slowsky getting onto a highway it's become second nature to put the automatic in sport shift and work my way down to 3rd, so I can make a quick shift down to 2nd. Every time I do it my girlfriend says "Don't do anything crazy!"

This was my favoriate situation like that. It's difficult to see in the photo but there are all these bushes and trees preventing you from seeing the highway until the last second. Your choices were either to go really slow on the ramp to see the oncoming cars, or gun it and make a split second decision on how to merge. Luckily a few months ago, they've extended the amount of time you have to merge into the 3rd lane, so I no longer feel like I might die every time I make this merge. Coming up to it I used to have to weave around cars so I could be in front and not behind someone who was causing a death trap.



But in response to the original poster... I think your transmission and clutch will be ok

black label

148683 miles as I pulled in to work this AM. 1st clutch and I drive the car relatively hard. If it's not getting redlined, it's not coming out of the driveway.

IMO, there's always time to rev match. If you do it enough, it becomes part of your standard downshift procedure.

rb1

This is (at least somewhat) true as far as the clutch itself is concerned e.g. blipping the throttle before lifting off the clutch. However, from the perspective of the synchros, rev matching requires double-clutching. Almost no one does this.

Even rev matching the clutch on a downshift through a turn requires heel-toe application of the gas and brake pedal at the same time, something else I don't think is common (although a cool skill for those who have acquired it).