Help Me Drive *into* my garage, not *through*
 

So, I bought a '13 mustang a couple weeks ago (GT Premium, Deep Impact Blue, amazing) and I'm still having troubles with my driveway/clutching.

I'm not a clutch newb, I learned on a standard and drove one for at least 10 years. However, I've never driven a sports car with a standard -- only trucks and low HP cars.

My driveway isn't too steep, but it has a curb at the bottom I have to come to a stop to avoid rubbing on.

Perhaps i just don't have enough practice (quite likely), but the RPMs required to keep the car from stalling on a hill are a *lot* more than the trucks I've driven, and I don't like "lugging" it up the hill as I'm told that's really bad for the transmission. I also avoid "riding" the clutch up the hill as I would prefer not having to replace it every 10k miles, ha! This all equates to me having to go up the driveway a *lot* faster than I'm particularly comfortable with.


The first day I brought it home I killed it 3 times trying to get up the driveway at a "safe" pace and into the garage.

Any hints, tips, tricks for me? What's the best way to enter into a garage from a driveway in a controlled manner without burning through clutches?

hills are, and always will be the most difficult part of driving a stick. Practice is all I can say.

Thanks for the reply, but it's actually not rolling back that's the problem -- the '13 has a hill assist feature. It's a matter of getting a good "crawl" speed up a hill without lugging or riding/burning the clutch. I actually have the same problem just trying to "crawl" around on flat surfaces, like in a parking lot (typically I slip the clutch a bit to get some momentum and just coast around in that scenario).

Perhaps I'm just spoiled by automatics and low geared trucks but I can't seem to get that controlled "crawl".

Put some 4.30 gears in it, you'll be able to creep at 2 mph without lugging. :grin:

Just floor it. That's what those big brakes are for.

Well, I guess the real question is: is sipping/riding the clutch up a driveway once a day on average going to cause me a lot of trouble? I can do that just fine, just don't like it.

Go in backwards?

Not a manual guy, so I don't know if it would make a difference.

LMAO that was my thought the first time I rocketed into the garage trying not to ride/lug: "thank god for big breaks"

:grin:

Most of you have probably seen this but it still makes me cringe every time I see it.