You don't hear the biting point. My girlfriend was also told to listen for it, and it's rubbish. You feel it in the seat of your pants - the car wants to pull away and is restrained by the brakes or its own weight.

I've tried listening for biting points and it just doesn't work.

Quote from sam93 :

He doesn't really want to just learn the biting point on the Wira though whilst doing his lessons/test would he? because he will go for the biting point of the Wira in the Fiesta and he could over rev or stall it, or would he be fine?

I've driven one of those diesel Fiestas and I don't think it's possible to stall them in first gear. Maybe if you left the handbrake on, or you were on a very, very steep hill.

Quote from sam93 :

True, you should be able to feel it, when I went for my drifting experience in a RST...

RST? As in RS Turbo? Escort RS Turbo?

If so....ROFLLOLCAKES.

Anyway, who did you do the drifting experience with? Name of company etc.

You can sort of hear the biting point, simply because the plates are engaged therefor they make a different sound to when they're spinning freely (as my laughable mechanical knowledge extends). But it's not something I'd want to rely on too much. The feeling of it wanting to go is far better.

In the new Focus you can hear the engine tone change a little, but only really if you're giving it the beans, for a normal start it is easier to go by the clutch becoming firmer and the car starts to creep on the handbrake a little (you can also hear it tighten up). Or for those who use the rev gauge, when the engine free revs to 1,500RPM I start to release the clutch until it drops to 1,000-1,100RPM at which point the hand brake comes off and I am away.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

I've driven one of those diesel Fiestas and I don't think it's possible to stall them in first gear. Maybe if you left the handbrake on, or you were on a very, very steep hill.

Trust me you can stall them, as I found out at a set of uphill lights today

I had a car parked up my arse (tbh what sort of idiot parks that close to a learner on a hill - if he rolls back your screwed!) and so tried to let the clutch off a little quicker than usual (I haven't been taught hill-starts yet) - and it just stalled. Second time I tried (after the lights went red again!) i was too slow and the lights changed before I was going fast enough (:shy. Third times a charm, though!

You could always floor it and take off in a cloud of ricer smoke

Quote from Nathan_French_14 :

RST? As in RS Turbo? Escort RS Turbo?

If so....ROFLLOLCAKES.

Anyway, who did you do the drifting experience with? Name of company etc.

RST, as in Rally school Trainer, I can't remember the name of the company we booked it through Virgin Experience Days, and we was not happy with it at all, it isn't worth the money.

RST = rally school trainer! so simple everyone knows that! whats a rs turbo?

/sarcasm

Quote from sam93 :

Virgin Experience Days

I possibly have a filthy mind, but I had some 18+ mental images when I read that.

Quote from P5YcHoM4N :

I possibly have a filthy mind, but I had some 18+ mental images when I read that.

LoL! So did i but didn't want to post incase it was just me

Quote from Jakg :

Slowly release the clutch in that and it will pull up to 10, do that in my car and stall

any properly setup car wont stall if you do that
at least in germany youre required to do just that on certain sections of road... we may have the fastest roads but we certainly also have the slowest anyhwere in the world

Quote from Dajmin :

You can sort of hear the biting point, simply because the plates are engaged therefor they make a different sound to when they're spinning freely (as my laughable mechanical knowledge extends). But it's not something I'd want to rely on too much. The feeling of it wanting to go is far better.

if you can hear that youre either a bat or the mechanics might have forgotten to put the engine in
the only time ive ever head a clutch was on a friends car with a broken clutch release bearing

Service said the car was in good condition, but that it will fail the MOT's due to little things - so all is good. It's really REALLY slow though (even compared to the Instructors Fiesta Diesel) - It needs 5th to go over 40, and it doesn't really pull even in full throttle - car used to be much faster, but my Mum is one of those people who either uses FULL throttle or none, and so I think she's broken it

My Dad reckons it's the spark plugs so "one day" we'll check them.

Also did my first proper mega hill start today and I'm getting the hang of it.

@ Shotglass - If you slowly release the clutch with no throttle the car stalls - Malaysian engineering ftw...

try driving in first and take your foot of the gas pedal... if it doesnt stall youre just releasing the clutch too quickly

Oh I haven't tried that...

Quote from Shotglass :

try driving in first and take your foot of the gas pedal... if it doesnt stall youre just releasing the clutch too quickly

That test won't really help, as it's harder to go from stop -> moving than to maintain speed..

Quote from samforey12345 :

That test won't really help, as it's harder to go from stop -> moving than to maintain speed..

So long as you slip the clutch enough you will never need more power at idle than driving along fully clutched. If there was insufficient power at idle you would have to slip the clutch to prevent the car from stalling.

Quote from Jakg :

@ Shotglass - If you slowly release the clutch with no throttle the car stalls - Malaysian engineering ftw...

Actually your car has a Mitsubishi drivetrain

who happen to be most famous for making fighter planes that are so useless in a dogfight that crashing into things is a much better alternative than using the guns

Quote from Jakg :

Also did my first proper mega hill start today and I'm getting the hang of it.

You can drive when you can hill start without using the handbrake.

I have the opposite - I always let go of the button early and so ALL of my hill-starts in my car so far have always had the handbrake on (a bit).

I actually find it a lot easier to do a hill start with out using the handbrake at all.

Harder on the clutch, and much more likely to roll backwards as you transfer from footbrake to throttle. It also means that you have to have your brake lights on, dazzling those behind you.

Only morons leave their foot on the footbrake after they've come to a stop. No need. Ever.

Funnily enough, Mercedes (amonst others) have an automatic brake thingy - press the pedal hard at a standstill and it puts the brakes on until you start to move. But it also puts the brake lights on. The driver might not be a moron (but probably is, as most BMW/Audi/Merc drivers are), but he'll look like one because of his moronic car.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Funnily enough, Mercedes (amonst others) have an automatic brake thingy - press the pedal hard at a standstill and it puts the brakes on until you start to move.

I hate things like that. Is there really a need for them? Even the Focus S-Max thingy comes with an automatic handbrake as standard. How frikkin hard is it to operate a handbrake? Same goes for lights and wipers. If you can't remember to turn your lights on, you shouldn't be on the road in the first place.

Hey, I can't even decide whether I want the AC on or not. It automatically runs when the air is blowing on the windshield. Thus, the AC runs all winter because I hate the heater blowing directly on my, so I like to use the floor/defrost setting to keep the interior warm, but the AC compressor runs at that setting and I can't turn it off . Also means that I am forced to run AC just to heat the windshield to scrape the ice off.