> > My lord, I didn't think ANYONE knew how to do that anymore. I thought I was the only one!
>
> I do it.
> I may understand American people that are used to automatic don't know what double clutching is, but people that drives manual transmission should learn these techniques. They are really useful in emergency situations.
>
> Example: I'm going down a hill, with a manual transmission car. For whatever reason, the brakes stop working. If I know how to double-clutch, I have no problems in shifting downwards and use the braking effect of the engine. When finally I have 1st gear in, the speed will be no more than 30km/h, so I can safely pull over and use the hand brake to stop.
> By the way, by double clutching, this summer I went down from a mountain pass using only 2nd and 3rd gear, touching the brakes only when needed (and *you* don't know how other cars, on that road, smelled of burnt brakes, because ignorant people was coming down braking all time...).
>


Driving down hill in the mountains is the best arguement for manual transmissions. My Toyota truck with a five speed still has the same brake pads that came from the factory. It has 93,000 miles and I live in a mountainous area.
Howard