So I am curious if this is normal for all manual transmission vehicles, or if i have a problem with my car.

When i am in a gear, usuallly 1st or 2nd, and going fairly slow, and you let off the gas but stay in gear, is the car supposed to surge and do odd things with itself? Feels like it cant adjust to letting off the gas or something. If this is normal im sure you guys know what i am talking about. Its like, if you dont push in the clutch when letting off the gas, the car doesnt like it and it doesnt slow down smoothly but jerks.

 

It happens to me pretty regularly and is pretty annoying. At first i thought i just sucked at driving a manual, but now that i've gotten better it still happens regularly.. Glad i'm not the only one, i was gonna post on this soon.

 

yeah I know exactly what you're talking about...same thing happened on my previous car which was a 5-speed. If you completely let off the gas in first, your car will continue to jerk forward. You can actually get a car going without hitting the gas at all, you have to let off the clutch real slow but it works. (i've never done that with my CL)

 

No your talking about just letting the clutch up without gas, which is called shitty driving (or forgetting that your in gear), im talking about something totally diffrent.

 

Actually that is not shitting driving. Learning to drive stick without gas is a technique that is learned on during basic race track instructions.

All cars with manual transmissions surge when you let off the gas at low speed in gear. It's the nature of the beast...

 

I knew what you meant, I was just going off on a tangent.

Like NiteQwill said, I did that when I was first learning to drive.

 

So what causes manuals to do that? Is there something that can be changed/upgraded to minimize it?

 

You could trade in for an auto. JK.

 

you would think with the technology they have in cars today they could give you a smooth ride ....

 

An automatic smooth ride without driver involvement is why they created automatics. You are manually adjusting gears. If the car was smoothing out gear transitions for you, it would be called an automatic.
You might check out a Buick LaCrosse, they make smooth automatic transmissions.

 

I dont recall saying anything about gear transitions. I know how to use a clutch and shift gears smoothly in a manual car, if you read carefully you will see thats not what i am talking about.

 

It’s called compression braking and ALL manual tranny cars will do this.
When you let off the gas in any gear the engine rev’s will begin to slow and the tranny will “jerk” along with it as it matches the decreasing rev’s.
It’s much less noticeable in higher gears because of the ratio and makes for a great brake effect when slowing down without the brake pedal.
Saves a bit of gas too, so I’m told.

Shawn S

 

Thats the informative answer i was looking for, thanks shawn.

 

I’m surprised some of you guys are complaining about this.
When I first learned stick way back in the 80’s I thought it was the coolest thing, especially if you have a nice sounding exhaust.
Cruise through a parking lot and take it up near redline then take your foot off the gas.
You get a nice “burble” from the exhaust pipes as the car slows.

Sounds like SHIT on a 4 cylinder with a fart pipe though, but some people must think otherwise.

 

Heh, I drive a manual like once every three weeks and I've gotten that jerking feeling in a low gear...I already knew that the car was trying to match the revs up. Quite annoying though.

 

That "jerk" is normal as stated, however in the CLS6 it's a bit harder then other sticks I've driven.

 

Nah, my mustang has much harsher driveline lash than my CL-S6.

If you want a smooth drivetrain get the automatic, a tq converter does a great job of making the transition from acceleration to coasting, but it also kills about 8% more hp too.

 

Also when you let off the gas in a standard or automatic the IDLE AIR MOTOR takes over and has to maintain an idle setting; causing surges ect. Once you press the gas the IDLE AIR MOTOR no longer controls idle, you do. In an automatic this is true also, but is coupled with timing adjustments for smoother in gear idling and to overcome the drag of the torque convertor ect.

my

 

Its a normal thing in the manual tranny cars.