Bruh, I’ve driven a manual pretty much all my life. Always handbrake on, foot on brake, wiggle to make sure in neutral, fire it up.
Got a manual in the US -same make/model i had in Aus- and couldn’t start it.
Had to depress the clutch. Gear/neutral didn’t matter. No clutch in, no ignition.
Had to go get help. The bloke looked at me like I was an idiot and asked if I’d driven a stick before. Meanwhile I’m looking at him like he’s an idiot wondering why neutral means you need to hit the clutch.
Somehow I still ended up feeling embarrassed. But he must have been surprised about how I got out of the parking lot without stalling or -with the accent- without kangaroo hopping down the street.
Interesting 🤔… I actually have never started a car in neutral, as far as I am aware, but yeah I would had the same issue as I would have expected it to work without the clutch in. (not form the US).
Now not sure if my car would work as in the US or as I expected and just turn on anyway without the clutch in.
I could understand the clutch in requirement. So you don’t leap forward starting it in gear.
Was taught to start a car under minimal load; no A/C, no heat, no lights, no wipers etc. And clutch normally involves hydraulics, so neutral means minimising trans load too.
But also, I’ve been in situations where people drive cars after the clutch has failed. 2nd gear, fire it up, then it’s all about rev matching for changing gears 😆. AFAICT, you couldn’t do it with the US ECU setup…
