I didn’t have the luxury of a car at 17. Money was tight, so I didn’t do spirited driving in our family cars. I bought my first car at age 20–a 1947 Pontiac for which I paid $75 when I graduated from college in 1962. I graduated in three years by going to school in the summer. I bought the Pontiac to make the 350 mile trip to graduate school. The interstate highway system barely existed back then. I ran about 55-60 on the state highways. The clutch was weak and the engine used oil. The cluster gear was worn in the transmission so it was noisy in first gear. However, I made several trips back and forth from home to graduate school and back by driving conservatively.
I think you should do what you can to make your BMW last.
the last (and the only) message from Jeffrey is 9 days and 20 messages away…
something tells me he did not like our replies
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… or maybe his car broke down and stranded him…
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The shifts between gears should not really bother the clutch at all since all you are doing is disengaging it and reengaging the clutch disc. Excessive wear occurs by slipping the clutch to much at startup or any other time you slip it. Also be aware not to push the clutch pedal to the floor while remaining in gear at red lights or other stops.
There are volumes of information on how to drive a manual properly so I wont try to write it here for you, so you can look this stuff up.
Take it easy on your nice first car, you will NOT like the repair bills that will come your way otherwise…this I can absolutely promise you. Besides if you blow the clutch your pops wont ever let you hear the end of it.
I suspect you’re right. If you’re 17, it’s a bit uncomfortable to have a bunch of older people correcting/criticizing you. We’ve all been there and I don’t think most of us intended to be critical or judgmental. How he (I assume the OP was a he) drives is ultimately his choice; hopefully he takes people’s advice, whether he posts back or not.
If you rev match your shifts, you will not wear out your clutch no mater the RPM’s you shift at. However you will use a lot more gas than if you shift early. BMW did some testing a few years ago and found they got the best gas mileage by using 50-75% throttle but upshifting between 1800-2200 RPM’s. That lugs the engine a little but it does not hurt it unless you lug it to the point of making it buck.
My last manual’s were a 2002 Saturn and a 97 Nissan PU. I would start off with a low rev start in first gear, just barely above idle, as soon as the clutch engaged, I’d shift into second and then shift at around 2200 in each gear after that. I got better than the EPA highway mileage while driving in the city in both vehicles. The Saturn was rated 29/36, I got 38/42 and I do drive just a tad faster than most. The truck was rated 20/25 and I got 25.5 in the city.
I sold the Saturn at 275k miles and the truckwas totaled at 220k miles, both on their original clutches. And yes, I did occasionally run them up to 4500 or higher, both saw the redline on many occasions, but I only did that when there was a good reason, at least a reason that was good enough for me.
That would give him plenty of time to read and reply while waiting for the tow truck.