..........foot braking in an automatic car?
I like to left foot brake - it takes a while to train one's left trotter to brake smoothly, but it seems fairly logical to have one foot for go and one for stop.
What is the consensus among fellow gearstickless drivers here?
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Drivers? .......proper drivers drive a manual!
Pat
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You're asking for debate and a half there Roger. Bit like mentioning helmets on a cycling site or politics in the Mess........
As an occasional auto driver I tuck my left foot right out of way. Only time I'd use it on the brake would in tight manoeuvring either covering pedal in case engine raced or where in a manual I'd dip/slip the clutch.
Oh and possibly instead of the handbrake on an upsloping junction.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Thu 13 Feb 14 at 17:13
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>> Drivers? .......proper drivers drive a manual!
I have a tiptronic gearbox, so have the best of both worlds.
As for left foot braking, I only do it when parking.
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>> Drivers? .......proper drivers drive a manual!
Someone tell Sebastian Vettel he needs a clutch pedal.
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>> >> Drivers? .......proper drivers drive a manual!
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>> Someone tell Sebastian Vettel he needs a clutch pedal.
Doesn't he have a steering wheel paddle controlled clutch for setting off? The one that Mark Webber never really got the hang of?
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Maybe, don't really pay that much attention to the parade. Even with that though he's obviously not a proper driver. I expect he keeps both hands on the wheel too, the plonker.
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Serious sense of humour failure!
Pat
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Right foot all the way.
>>it takes a while to train one's left
>> trotter to brake smoothly, but it seems fairly logical to have one foot for go
If it's 'unnatural' why even bother to 'train' your left foot?
Last edited by: ToMoCo on Thu 13 Feb 14 at 17:09
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Right foot only.
Stops "accelerating when braking" syndrome all us old codgers need to beware of..
Last edited by: madf on Thu 13 Feb 14 at 17:42
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>> Right foot only.
>> Stops "accelerating when braking" syndrome all us old codgers need to beware of..
>>
No it doesn't, their befuddled brain thinks their right foot is on the brake and when it doesn't work they press it harder and floor the accelerator.
Last edited by: Uncle Albert on Thu 13 Feb 14 at 18:05
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If you have been using a manual of 60 years and have been braking all that time with your right foot what foot is your brain automatically going to tell you to use in a moment of blind panic?
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Thu 13 Feb 14 at 18:19
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A bit like which way do you instinctively pull the wheel depending on which side of the road you have usually driven on.
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Unless you can drive like this:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMEqOGejlrw
or even like this:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HjXXUyQhPE
I'd stick to the right foot. :)
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Many think they can drive like that, I know I can't. :-)
Last edited by: Uncle Albert on Thu 13 Feb 14 at 19:07
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The spectators on the Walter Röhrl film...how times have changed.
That simply couldn't happen now, even if the rules hadn't changed.
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Both/either. Depending upon nothing more than my current whim/mood. Not sure it seems that difficult or unnatural to use either foot more or less randomly any more than it is to steer with either hand when convenient.
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"Not sure it seems that difficult or unnatural to use either foot more or less randomly any more than it is to steer with either hand when convenient."
Unnatural? Drive a Mazda with the indicator stalk on the right side. Ex-wife had one. If I ever had to drive it, I'd see those wipers scratching and scraping over the screen on a dusty, dry day, every time I was trying to indicate. I hated that 323. Detested it. Double-detested it - it was a manual. Triple-detested it - she was sitting next to me in it.
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>> Unnatural? Drive a Mazda with the indicator stalk on the right side.
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You mean a car with the indicators on the proper side rather than the awful euro set up we have to endure.
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I've had two Mazda's. the 626 had the indicators on the left where the MX3 had them on the right. Took a few days to readjust.
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>> >> Unnatural? Drive a Mazda with the indicator stalk on the right side.
>> >>
>> You mean a car with the indicators on the proper side rather than the awful
>> euro set up we have to endure.
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Hmm. I remember my MG Midget had them on the right. And my Mark 1 Escort I think.
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>> Hmm. I remember my MG Midget had them on the right. And my Mark 1 Escort I think.
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It was the normal set up on vehicles back in those days.
Change gear and indicate at the same time was easy!
For maximum confusion:-
Daughter has a Yaris which I sometimes drive.
Hired a Toyota in South Africa which comes with the proper set up ( standard set up in Japan ?) and the stalks are labelled in an identical way but of course swopped over from the UK set up. That is extra confusing but deep memory still exists and very quickly all is " normal" again.
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The Vitara has the indicator stalk on the proper side....on the right. The Note is the other way round.
When changing cars I often give a quick burst on the wipers to indicate a lane change or a flash on the indicator to clear the screen. Doesn't work too well !
The Jowett, as befits a gentleman's carriage, has the trafficator switch on top of the dash under the mirror...self-cancel as well...by a clockwork mechanism. With a bakelite pull switch for the one speed wipers.
HO
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>> It was the normal set up on vehicles back in those days.
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Proper cars had a central indicator switch at 12 o'clock at the top of the horn button assembly, in the centre of the steering wheel.
Often matching a dip-switch in the corresponding position at 6 o'clock.
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A dip switch should be foot operated as on my first Mini.
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And a rubber pumpy thing for the washers - cutting edge stuff.
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Change gear and indicate at the same time was easy!
But when was it ever necessary? According to some here (not me) modern diesels have an impractically narrow power band, but I can't imagine how narrow Henry's must be if it can't tolerate delaying a gearchange for the half-second it takes to flick the indicator lever.
My (late 1980s) instructor told me my priorities were, in this order, (1) steering, (2) signalling and (3) changing gear, and that I shouldn't be attempting more than one at a time. All of which means there's no 'right' side for the indicator switch; after the initial period of adjustment, any problems are with the driver's technique, not with the car.
That said, indicators on the right would be a deal-breaker as long as we have two cars, because the other would still have them on the left, like every other car we've had over 25 years, even the Toyota.
And no, I don't use my left foot for braking. Ever.
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Best to signal before you do stuff. Mirror, signal, manoeuvre and all that.
Still preferred the stalk on the right, but no big deal.
Now dipswitches...quite a few have been blinded for an extra second or two as a result of me driving two cars regularly, one with a toggle action and the other with different positions for main and dip. Unfortunately the one I most often mess up is the toggle one, which also has HIDs.
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Last car I owned with a left mounted indicator was probably a Mini.
Family fleet since 1990 has been all PSA. Even moving between BX/205 Xantia/Berlingo and now two different marks of Berlingo is pretty straightforward. Electric mirror adjusters on opposite sides of wheel are biggest difference along with reach to the dash gearstick in newer one.
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>> Change gear and indicate at the same time was easy!
>>
>> But when was it ever necessary? According to some here (not me) modern diesels have
>> an impractically narrow power band, but I can't imagine how narrow Henry's must be if
>> it can't tolerate delaying a gearchange for the half-second it takes to flick the indicator
>> lever.
Only one small point. I have NEVER ever driven a diesel car :-)
I have though driven a 3.5 ton truck for a couple of miles but that was 30 years ago.
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>> My (late 1980s) instructor told me my priorities were, in this order, (1) steering, (2)
>> signalling and (3) changing gear, and that I shouldn't be attempting more than one at
>> a time. All of which means there's no 'right' side for the indicator switch; after
>> the initial period of adjustment, any problems are with the driver's technique, not with the
>> car.
Perhaps for many many years I was unusual In being able to hold on the steering wheel with my right hand, flick the indicators with my finger tips and change gear all at the same time.
Who today would ever think of changing gear and operating the wipers all at the same time ?:-)
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No indicators or wipers on my vintage car. I'm convinced most motorists don't know what a right arm circling even means (hand signal for a left turn).
Did a vintage motorbike run (the three wheeler is usually eligible) and I never saw anyone indicate anything.
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>> Drive a Mazda with the indicator stalk on the right side.
Exactly that.. they are on the right side.
My Toyota has them on the right side, my 406 has them on the wrong side.
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The only time I'll use my left foot to brake is if say I'm working on the car and I want to back it up a short distance, then I'll sit sort of side saddle on the seat with my right leg on the ground letting the car reverse under it's own steam 'til I stop it with my leftie.
(Please don't try this at home)
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Right only. Done the Royal Highness position once and once only. Had to back my nearly new 2.9 Granada up no more than fifteen feet using the leftie for both operations. Result:- New exhaust right through.
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I used my left foot to brake for the first time last week, in my auto Mazda.
I was driving through a flood and wanted to keep revs up to help prevent water getting in the exhaust. Only for a few seconds. Felt awful.
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I drive several different vehicles most days at work. Our manual lorries have the clutch pedal to the left of the rather sizeable steering column shaft and the brake and accelerator pedals to the right; the automatic lorries have the same layout minus the clutch pedal, so it would be impossible (with my size 13 plates anyway) to LFB even if I wanted to. I carry the same thought across to the cars I drive - I simply don't left-foot brake at all.
The multitude of column stalk layouts doesn't often faze me either, from the Fiat-style three stalks in the Iveco lorry to the all-in-one of the Mercedes car. The only time I fluff an indicate is in Bentleys where the column stalks are set lower than seems natural.
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Left or right............. - Pat
