letmein said:
1) While starting the car, i.e turning the key, should you press down on the clutch? The Santro would not start without pressing the clutch, but the Spark starts without pressing down on the clutch.
In some cars (like the Hyundai) pressing the clutch is required (even if the car is in neutral) and is touted as a safety feature. This ensures that the driver has no chance of starting the car with the clutch\gear engaged, hence reducing the company's and the owner's liability.
Many automakers recommend that you press the clutch when starting the vehicle even in neutral as it removes the load imposed by the clutch on the starter motor. Although, this point is likely moot, since car starter motors and electrical have become so resilient, they can take the slight load imposed by the clutch. It may be more applicable to higher BHP vehicles which have a more beefy clutch arrangement.
On a side note, in many automatic transmission vehicles you have to press the
brake before you can start the engine.
letmein said:
2) I'm having trouble in getting the car to pick up when I have stopped, like on a red light. I put the gear in 1st from neutral, slowly release the clutch and press on the accelerator. 4 out of 10 times, the car jerks forward a bit and shuts off. What am I doing wrong?
As Ragzdiablo said, when you're starting out,
first press the accelerator a little bit to get your revs up a bit (say to around the 1500 - 1800 rpm mark), then release the clutch until the vehicle starts moving. Its more important to release the clutch
smoothly rather than
slowly. In the case of a beginner, it is easier to release the clutch smoothly when its done slowly, hence the recommendation of doing it slowly, but smoothness is the key.
Don't let other people's insensitivity on the road rush you into getting the car moving. This is easier said than done, but will help you improve faster as you are paying attention to what you are doing as opposed to what others think of your skills. Once you get good behind the wheel, you will have plenty of time to think\rant about what A-holes most Indian drivers are :bleh:.
As you get more proficient with engaging the clutch from a stand still, you will start to notice a particular position where the clutch pedal actually causes the engine to engage with the gearbox. This is the 'biting point'. Getting more familiar with the biting point of your vehicle is key to being able to start the vehicle with less revs and spending less time releasing the clutch. But this only comes with practice\experience on
your vehicle, and shouldn't be rushed. As someone else mentioned, this biting point is different on every vehicle (even two cars of the same model) and this causes even experienced drivers to stall the engine when driving someone else's car if they don't take the time to go through the initial steps of finding out where the biting point is.
letmein said:
3) Again, while switching gears like from 1->2 or 2->3, the car sometimes 'jerks' a bit. Should I take my foot completely off the clutch before accelerating?
This is tricky. I'd recommend you concentrate on this only
after you sort out the basics like consistently being able to start the car without stalling, confidence in maneuvering the car through traffic, etc. But I will explain what is required for a smooth gear shift below, for future reference.
There is a correlation between the speed at which your wheels are turning and your engine RPM. This is determined by which gear you are in.
e.g. 30 kmph in 1st gear = 3000 rpm
30 kmph in 2nd gear = 2200 rpm.
Let us assume for simplicity's sake that when we shift gear our speed remains constant. When you press the clutch, the engine RPM falls until it reaches the idling RPM (say 800 rpm). After you shift gear and release the clutch the wheels are still rotating at 30 kmph, but your engine is rotating as if the car was not moving (i.e. idling). So now the engine has to 'catch up' to the wheels via the clutch until it reaches what 30kmph translates to in 2nd gear, i.e. 2200 rpm. This sudden change from 800 rpm to 2200 rpm is what is perceived as a jerk when shifting gears. This issue is even more pronounced when
downshifting. In the above example, when downshifting from 2nd to 1st at 30kmph, the engine is first rotating @ 2200 rpm, drops down to 800 rpm and then has to shoot up to 3000 rpm once the clutch is fully released.
There are multiple ways to deal with this but all revolve around the same idea: Matching the wheel speed with the engine speed in as smooth a manner as possible.
1. Completing the gear shift as quickly as possible: If you complete the gear shifting process quickly, the engine has less time to drop in revs. The rate at which the revs drop when pressing the clutch differs from car to car, but in most cases, when up-shifting, you can release the clutch by the time the engine RPM falls to the speed its meant to be at after the shift. In the above example, when @ 30 kmph in 1st @ 3000 RPM, if you press the clutch, shift into second and release the clutch by the time the engine rpm falls to 2200 RPM, the shift will be seamless.
This method mainly applies to up-shifting, but it will also reduce the RPM differential during downshifts, hence making shifts
relatively smoother.
2. Releasing the clutch slowly to smoothly translate wheel rotation to the engine: Supposing you're in a situation where you cannot shift the gear quickly enough for the RPM to match by the time you complete the shift. In this situation, if you slowly release the clutch, the engine will be given time to slowly speed up to match the rate at which the wheels are turning, hence resulting in a smoother shift.
Please note that this method if employed over extended periods of time will lead to premature clutch wear and shouldn't be used as the default method of attaining smooth shifts.
3. Rev-matching the engine using the accelerator before releasing the clutch: This method is the most fool-proof and applies to all shifting scenarios (up and down-shifting) but is also the most difficult to master.
First off, you need to know your vehicle well enough to know what RPM the engine will be at in the gear you are
going to select at your current speed. Before you release the clutch after shifting gears, use the accelerator pedal to get the engine to this RPM before releasing the clutch. To start off with, your accelerator input doesn't have to be precise, since
any amount acceleration will reduce the RPM differential between the wheels and engine hence resulting in a relatively smoother shift.
Little experience will teach you everything. Nothing to worry about it 
