[Serious Questions] Driving in cold, downshifting

[eddie]

I drive a 2012 Audi A4 facelift, 2.0 120bhp diesel manual. Had it since new, has about 20k miles now.

I was never taught how to drive properly and in the 4 years since I had it (and my license) I couldn’t figure out some things on my own, which is why I need some of your help and wisdom!

NOTE: I do yearly car maintenance at a service I trust and have it checked often. I had my car driven by over 10 people to make sure that *I* am the issue, and not the car. Everybody said it was flawless, and I believe them, because I have this issues in any car I drive (had them in a Fiat Grande Punto and Opel Corsa too for example).

1) Driving in cold weather: How do I help the manual transmission warm up so I can shift easily and not feel like I’m damaging it?

Where I live, we usually have very low temperatures during winter (most days are sub-zero). AFAIK it’s normal for manual transmissions to be hard to shift before they warm up, but how do I actually warm it up? Idling with the engine on doesn’t seem to help much even if I leave the car to idle for 15 minutes before driving. And just starting to drive (as many people seem to advise) makes me feel like I’m damaging the transmission because it has a hard time shifting.

What is the proper way to handle this? Should I leave it to idle for longer?

2) Downshifting: From 3rd to 2nd at 1200rpm I have trouble downshifting, is my technique flawed?

I press the clutch and try to shift immediately. It doesn’t want to go in. However, it does if I do rev matching. But even so I think it should still downshift 3rd to 2nd at 1200rpm without rev matching right? So I guess I’m doing something wrong (transmission is good, syncros are good). Nobody else has any issues downshifting this car, and (as I mentioned before) this problem follows me in any car I drive.

Could someone please explain their downshifting technique, motion by motion?

3) How do I learn to properly drive this thing?

I am a safe driver and my situational awareness is good. I was just never taught to properly use a car. I’ve read the car’s manual at least 3 times cover to cover, I watched tutorials on YouTube for driving stick shift, but I just don’t seem to be using the car properly. I even tried to pay for driving lessons once again, my first driving instructor was pretty bad and I hoped another one could help me, but not really.

Do you have any resources for me to learn to drive a car? An ebook, a series of blog posts, a YouTube channel, anything. I love my car and want to be able to drive it for a long time, without having to shell out for a new transmission in 3 more years just because I’m a moron and I abuse it.

Thank you!

Topic

[Grayfox]

1: just drive it easy, dont race the car, short shift
Look in the user manual for what oils you can use.
In some places the oil like 75W-90 might not work well in very cold places where as something like 85W-90 might but like i said look in the manual to see what is recommended for your car or go to the dealer and ask the service desk on what oil they use during winter

2: When down shifting it done foot off accelerator>press clutch in fully>change gear>blip throttle>release clutch>foot on accelerator or brake.

3: I would say a driving school, if the one you used was bad look for another

Have you had your clutch inspected?
IIRC if you are having issues getting it in and out of gear it is because the clutch is not fully disengaged

But take all this as advice, I am not 100% perfect at driving manual
At times I get slip the clutch a little due to not matching the RPM fully during my upshifts.

[Author]

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