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Embarrassing.. But need advice please - How to drive up hill

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  • viv0147
    viv0147 Posts: 1,713 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic I've been Money Tipped!
    I sold my car because it wouldn't pass 80 going up hill my mate said why did you sell it ? I replied I live in 134
    Low Carb High Fat is the way forward I lost 80 lbs

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  • IanatSeaton
    IanatSeaton Posts: 62 Forumite
    edited 24 September 2012 at 11:42PM
    Living in Cumbria (the Lake District). I get lots of practice on hills.
    Getting up the hill from a rolling start is easy, just build up a bit of speed as you approach the hill. The car is like a runner, it will naturally slow down as you get further up the hill, so don't be afraid to put your foot hard on the accelerator. When you feel the speed is starting to drop off a bit, drop it down a gear, from 5th to 4th (or 4th to 3rd if you only have 4 gears) and then put the go pedal hard down again. Third gear should get you over most hills if your car is fairly modern. If you can't get a run at the hill due to traffic in front of you, the get down a gear as soon as you start up the hill. Don't worry about having to go down as low as 2nd gear, that's what it is there for. I went over the top of the mountains in Western Cyprus a couple of years ago in a 1.0litre Fiat Panda hire care. The tarmac disappeared and I was on a gravel road. Near the top it was very steep in places but I never had to get down into bottom gear (1st).
    If you have a rev counter make sure you aren't up near the red line as that indicates you are going too hard in that gear and should change up a gear.
    When I was a teenager many years ago) I drove a 1947 Morris 8 Series E, very low powered side valve engine, over Kirkstone pass from Ambleside. That is a very steep climb and I paused for a look at the view part way up. More modern cars went past with boiling radiators, but my old jallopy made it with no problems.
    So stop worrying about it. Just get yourself to a hilly bit and get in some practice, then once you realise there is nothing to fear you will never give it another thought.
    Good luck in the new job. Don't let the hill be a problem.
  • spiro
    spiro Posts: 6,405 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    When I was young my driving instructor used to ensure we always practiced hill starts which helps improve clutch control etc. As part of this he would get you to go forward 5' just using clutch and accelerator, stop by balancing clutch and accelerator (no brakes) and then go back 5' just using clutch and accelerator. This simple activity taught me loads about clutch control.

    Another way to think about is as a cyclist with drailier gears, you change down early going up hill because if you leave it too late its a lots hard to change down.
    IT Consultant in the utilities industry specialising in the retail electricity market.

    4 Credit Card and 1 Loan PPI claims settled for £26k, 1 rejected (Opus).
  • reeac
    reeac Posts: 1,430 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary Combo Breaker
    spiro wrote: »
    When I was young my driving instructor used to ensure we always practiced hill starts which helps improve clutch control etc. As part of this he would get you to go forward 5' just using clutch and accelerator, stop by balancing clutch and accelerator (no brakes) and then go back 5' just using clutch and accelerator. This simple activity taught me loads about clutch control.

    Another way to think about is as a cyclist with drailier gears, you change down early going up hill because if you leave it too late its a lots hard to change down.

    I think that you mean "derailleur".
  • jaydeeuk1
    jaydeeuk1 Posts: 7,714 Forumite
    Debt-free and Proud!
    Tobster86 wrote: »
    65mph in 2nd in a 1.3? That's a tall old gearbox!


    Yup, 2nd gear is really good fun. Trouble is 6th is useless unless on a complete flat
  • Herzlos
    Herzlos Posts: 15,851 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    jaydeeuk1 wrote: »
    Yup, 2nd gear is really good fun. Trouble is 6th is useless unless on a complete flat

    RX-8 with rotary 1.3?
  • jaydeeuk1
    jaydeeuk1 Posts: 7,714 Forumite
    Debt-free and Proud!
    Herzlos wrote: »
    RX-8 with rotary 1.3?

    Funnily enough that is the car I'm looking to purchase in the next few weeks (hard to find a good'n though for £4k round here)

    Toyota IQ.
  • pollypenny
    pollypenny Posts: 29,432 Forumite
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    All hills around here - change down and give it some welly! :D

    You'll soon get used to hills.
    Member #14 of SKI-ers club

    Words, words, they're all we have to go by!.

    (Pity they are mangled by this autocorrect!)
  • TrickyWicky
    TrickyWicky Posts: 4,025 Forumite
    edited 25 September 2012 at 12:57PM
    I never really liked hill starts much to be honest and I've had a few hairy moments just driving up them too..

    The key is good clutch control and quick movements on the gearstick. Using the handbrake when stopping on a hill is a must (eg at traffic lights) otherwise you will simply roll backwards when trying to get into 1st. When pulling away, always ensure the front of the car is either pulling down or up so that you know the clutch is biting properly and you won't slip backwards.

    As a few others have said, either get yourself a refresher with an instructor or find a quiet hill somewhere and practice. I stayed in Bath a while back and know there are plenty of reasonably quiet hills around the Blaythwayt hotel area (I'd hate to use them in winter!).

    If you're still not comfortable with hill starts after that, get an automatic (thats the bigger engines with 'fancy techy bits inbuilt' that you were talking of). An automatic will sense the load on the gearbox and adjust the gears for you and do it very smoothly - even on hills. It also won't roll backwards on hill starts (ok on REALLY steep hills they can a bit but you just tap the accelerator a bit to hold it there). I've had 3 automatics and they've made hill driving and hill starts a breeze. When I had the first one I had to take a massive hill for the first time one day and I was absolutely terrified of it. £Millions worth of research and development by the worlds best engineers certainly works rather well :). Autoboxes are really very good at this type of thing (except renaults). You'll never find any manual vehicle is able to provide that unless its one of those triptronic gearboxes.

    Autos aren't expensive either if you do your research. Yes they can be a bit thirstier on fuel but maintenance wise you can get autoboxes that are more reliable than a manual gearbox if you find a good model. You can also get them at rock bottom prices too - I've done it twice :D
  • You might want to consider an automatic, my daughter lives in London and changed to an auto because of all the stop/start driving and hates it when the garage gives her a manual courtesy car when hers is in for a service.
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