I am new to driving a stick, and new to driving a Cobalt, I just purchased mine this Monday. I was wondering, when parking, what gear am I to leave the car in?

 

manual says reverse.

 

depends if i'm parked uphill or downhill. uphill i park in first. downhill in reverse.

 

i leave it in neutral. unless im on a slant

 

and if you are parked on flat ground?

 

I always do 1st gear, but if the manual says reverse, put it in reverse.

Whether the hill is slanted or not, always leave it in gear when parked.

 

i usually keep mine in Neutral, flat ground. i hardly park anywhere where it the ground is slanted enough for it to roll back.

 

Over on the mazda forums they had a guy who liked to do that, one day he came out and found his car shoved up underneath a post office truck. Apparently someone bumped into him when parking and his car rolled right into it.

:P

 

I set the parkingt brake and just pull the shifter back into 4th. Doesn't make a huge difference what gear your in unless your on a good size hill. If I am on a hill I use 1st or reverse

 

most of the time i put it in first.

 

No faith in the e-brake huh fellas?

 

First if on an incline, reverse if on a decline. Reverse on an incline isnt too smart, your car will just roll anyways. And its not that I don't trust the e-brake...its a habit.

 

Ileave it in Neutral with the ebrake on

 

ebrake is non existent in this car.

 

The hell it isn't, but its not like I killed it first gear because I forgot to put the e-brake down that one time in the walmart parking lot....

If you pull it up enough, your car wont move an inch. Hell our clutch slips more then our ebrake....

 

Must be mine then cause if I even just click one below the highest one, my car drifts back in my driveway (slight grade). So that last click miust barely be holding it, I had the car nudge a bit will all the way up. I won't trust just the ebrake unless Im in a flat lot.

Doesnt matter anyway, I am in a habbit of putting it in gear all the time, not even a second thought for me.

 

i love my e-brake....works GREAT! put it in Neutral and set the e-brake and my car doesnt move an inch!

 

He isn't lying, compared to ANY other stick I have ever driven, this ebrake is terrible ^ ^

 

I leave it in 5th, with the ebrake on, and block all 4 tires.

 

I can push my car with the e-brake on. It's tough but I can still push it

 

Really!?!?!? My ebake is like an ancor! If I forget to take my ebrake off when I leave, my car drags the back tires!!!

 

Generally is should be your LOWEST gear, which in most cars is usually Reverse gear (hence the owners manual) BUT on the F35 used in the SS/SC (and Redline) is actually 1st gear (1st-3.38:1 R- 3.17:1)
HTH
Wop

 

SEE that shows how stupidly low our first gear is!!! What were they thinking!?!?

 

Mine's non-existant. Completely useless. I wouldn't trust that thing with my life. I have never gotten it to hold in my driveway. EVER. And my driveway isn't even steep. I have to chock my wheels if I leave it there, otherwise the tranny is the only thing holding it. That's pulling it till you can't pull any more. I hate to ask what would happen if I just did a quick jerk on it and called it a day.

 

i've done this a couple of times also....my back tires didnt roll at all! actually i gave it a bit of gas and my car didnt move at all...