03c1v1c

First post!

So first of all, this is my first Civic and my first time driving a manual as my daily driver. It's an 03 LX with the 5 speed. My experience before hand was limited to two other cars, both very brief. Anyhow, one thing I noticed is when I'm cruising, mostly in lower gears at low speeds (below 40mph), then I let off the gas (no brake or clutch) the car does this stumbling (for lack of better terms) until I depress any of the pedals. It especially does this when I'm in 1st gear in parking lot speeds. It doesn't do this when crusing at highway speeds. Is this normal for manual cars? Should I just depress the clutch immediately after releasing the gas? Could there be something wrong with the car? The clutch doesn't slip and accleration is smooth, when I'm on point the shifts are crisp.

Thanks in advance for any input!

rockyrock

That's normal in lower gears on manual trans cars. I'm sure someone here can explain the why...

GusBuz

Totally normal for a manual trans car. You will get the hang of it after driving for a while.

Try keeping the clutch depressed when you aren't pushing on the gas like at the parking lot when you are driving slow. Also 1st gear is only for when you stop completely or slow down to a crawl, other wise use 2nd gear so you don't bounce around when driving slow

03c1v1c

I have noticed that 2nd gear is better when taking slow turns or when approaching a signal that just turned green even though I'm not completely stopped. Never thought about trying it in parking lots.

ezone

Sounds normal