Edited my post.

Point stands though – it’s always in gear and I always start cars with the clutch in, so I know to always take it out of gear if I need to, no chance of any surprises. If it’s never in gear and then suddenly it is, and for some bizarre reason I was in the habit of starting a manual car without the clutch in, that’s where mistakes can creep in.

On my last MOT the garage discovered that my handbrake was only holding one wheel.

Could have been potentially nasty, but I generally leave the car in gear if I’m on any sort of a hill any way, so it wasn’t.

it’s always in gear and I always start cars with the clutch in, so I know to always take it out of gear if I need to, no chance of any surprises

I also have no chance of surprises as I check its not in gear by wiggling the gearstick. That way I’m 100% sure its not in any gear. It’s not a better method just a different method of achieving the same thing. Although with my method I don’t have the added task of taking it out of gear if I’m not immediately moving off 🙂

Has anybody mentioned wiggling the gearstick (not a yoofermism for planking).

Apparently there’s a large portion of society that leave autos in D and put the handbrake on when they’re only stopping for a minute. That’s apparently what happened to your boy from Star Trek

Also, wheel towards the curb if you’re pointing downhill, away from the curb pointing uphill (assuming you’re on the normal side of the road)

I once had the pleasure of being knocked off my feet by my own van. Had parked up infront of a car, nose to nose. Whilst getting stuff out of the back of the van I feel a sudden pain in my legs, and next thing I know I’m lying on my back on the road. Woman had got into the car infront, and turned the key whilst her car was in gear. Her car then lurched forward into my van, which rocked back and the rear bumper sent me flying.

Its quite amusing watching a car slowly rolling downhill on engine compressions 😀

Apparently there’s a large portion of society that leave autos in D and put the handbrake on when they’re only stopping for a minute.

In the land of the automatic, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an American use a handbrake ever.

Also, wheel towards the curb if you’re pointing downhill, away from the curb pointing uphill

I’m torn on this but pointing uphill I think I’d still be pointing the front of the wheel towards the kerb. If for some reason it’s not sufficient to chock the wheel (low kerb / steep hill) your car’s going to turn into traffic as it rolls off. Turning into the kerb chocks the back wheel instead.

(assuming you’re on the normal side of the road)

The same logic applies whichever side of the road you’re on. It’s still “towards the kerb” irrespective of when side of your car the kerb is.

I’m sure my 08 Mondeo doesn’t.

I’ve had ibizas as hire cars in spain recently and don’t think the clutch needed to be pressed to start.

You don’t need to on any of the small VAG cars i.e. Polo, Ibiza or Fabia (and I assume the A1 also). Well at least not the petrols, the diesels may be different.

Shows how often some of the posters above drive small cars!

Cougar – Moderator
Apparently there’s a large portion of society that leave autos in D and put the handbrake on when they’re only stopping for a minute.
In the land of the automatic, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an American use a handbrake ever.

I think I mean foot operated parking brake. Or EPB maybe more these days.

Do you not depress the clutch
I often wear new shoes to impress the clutch

Well, I laughed anyway! 😀

My Octavia (51), will start without the clutch in, although I nearly always start with it in.
I have, on a couple of occasions forgotten and started it in gear, with no recollection as to why it was in gear in the first place…
Some newer cars actually tell you to depress the clutch before starting, you have to press it right to the floor, rather than enough to change gear, which has caught me out a couple of times.
When you drive two, three, sometimes four different cars/vans during the course of a day, with roughly fifteen-twenty minutes to inspect them before driving them away it doesn’t give much time to discover their various idiosyncrasies, which can lead to some embarrassing conversations with sales people, having to admit you can’t find how to open the fuel filler cover, for example. 😳
That was a Touran, IIRC; why, for the love of Christ, would you hide the catch inside the offside door pocket?

Shows how often some of the posters above drive small cars!

Fairly often. Not sure how you think otherwise.

Pretty often. At least weekly!

I park our van on a hill and leave it gear with the handbrake off because it may sometimes sit for a couple of weeks and I found the rear brakes kept needing attention because they’d bind on. I noticed recently that the van would ‘settle’ once the engine was off and move downhill a little. I thought this might be a combination of engine decompressing and slack in the transmission (in reverse) but it occurred to me it could be the clutch slipping…..

I was in work one day by the back door and a car starting slowly rolling down the road about to go straight? into a busy t junction. I managed to get in front of it and stop it (was only going slowly not much of a slope) whilst my mates watched from a distance…

They then came over and gave me a block of wood to chock it. It was about 20 feet forward from where it was parked so I waited for the owner to tell them what happened… They just got straight in drove over the chock and left without even looking at me.

you have to press it right to the floor, rather than enough to change gear, which has caught me out a couple of times.

Um, you should be pressing it to the floor when changing gear. How many clutches do you get through?

Live on a steep hill, my old Volvo was heavy enough to turn the engine over when the hand brake cable was knackered and needed sorting, and would start rolling, albeit in a bumpy fashion. so it’s both in gear and handbrake! Just in case.

Checking the cars in neutral before starting the engine is just muscle memory for me, i do it subconsciously.

RE: the handbrake working on the discs and releasing as they cool.

My mum had a Citroen Xantia as a company pool car and that used to release itself after a long journey or heavy braking, was flagged up on Watchdog. That got recalled and a new handbrake device fitted.
My Fabia (which starts without pressing the clutch…) has drum brakes which contract after a long drive, clamping the handbrake a lot harder than you left it. Regularly leave it in my parking space in gear with the handbrake only 3 clicks on. It will creak and roll slightly if you push it but it won’t go anywhere (level ground) due to engine compression. Yes, I did try!!

I also usually press the button on the top when pulling it on to ‘save the ratchet’. Just the way I was taught, does feel much nicer though. Mechanical sympathy.

The only time I ever leave my vehicles out of gear is if I’m dropping them at a garage for MOT/service (in case some numpty doesn’t check, my first car nearly got stuffed into a wall by a mechanic) or I’m jacking them up, as leaving it in gear binds up the suspension when raising/lowering, and once one driven wheel is off the ground the diff allows the wheels to rotate and the car could shift unexpectedly.

On the starting with clutch held down, some manufacturers advise against this, apparently it can increase wear on dual mass flywheels. My employer who has a huge fleet of vans also advised drivers to start in neutral without pressing the clutch.

Re: the Citroen Xantia handbrake mod mentioned above. I was told that this was essentially the ratchet quadrant with two fewer teeth-so you had to pull it further up for the ratchet to engage…. A simple and cheap solution.

I am another who always leaves the car in gear and with wheels pointing to allow car to drop onto kerb if it moves. Have done for 30 years and It hasn’t been a problem for me. All of the cars I have had since about 2005 require the cluch to be depressed to start. Most of the autos I have driven require a foot on the brake to start fo similar reasons I guess

haha. This thread brought back memories from many years ago when I parked my Renault 5 car outside the office at work and when I returned later on it had gone.

I thought to myself “some b!stards nicked me car”, but then I spotted it in the hedge down the road. I was rather embarrassed when doing the walk of shame to fetch it!

I agree it could have been much more serious, but thankfully the incline was very shallow, so I suspect it rolled away rather slowly.