I had my first driving lesson last Monday and I found the throttle and brake pedal to be a bit too sensitive for my liking. Is this just because of not being used to the car or my seating position being incorrect or simply because of my size 11 feet? The car that I was in was also a 2013 Ford Fiesta (1.0 ecoboost titanium)..

Due to the pedals being sensitive, I found it almost better if I pulled away by just releasing the clutch pedal slowly and not using any gas until I was actually moving. I did this because I found the throttle to be a bit too sensitive for my liking. Is this a good technique to use? If not then I'm just wondering how I can get round the 'pedals feel too sensitive' issue...maybe it's just like riding a bike, I'll get used to the feeling over time?

Thanks,
Edward.

Yes, it's just a case of getting used to it. Every car has a different feel in the pedals.
LFS or any other sim is no reference at all to pedals in real life. Just get used to it

I think Ford has had electric throttle pedals since 2000 or even earlier, so expect no response from it whatsoever. It is frustrating yes, but you'll get used to it after a few drives.


EDIT: yeah, i misunderstood

I had a fiesta and hated the feel of the gas pedal. Once you're used to it then there won't be any issue. The clutch on that car was useless as well, the car was only a year old and had like 15,000 miles but the clutch slipped like crazy! The old man who owned it would start off in like third gear and must of revved the crap out of the little engine.

But yeah don't worry bud, you will quickly get adjusted to it. Just be careful when you get into a different car as it will have a completely different feel

Quote from nikopdr :

11 feet? Damn, you must be the tallest man on earth living currently.

I think Eddy meant that his feet were Size 11.

And yes, as Kevin said, it's a case of getting used to the current car you're driving.

It would seem odd that in the driving school they would have not made you check your seating position before driving. As for clutch and throttle all cars have different feel. Some have really snappy clutch with really small amounts of travel to adjust the bite point while other cars have really good clutch. My ex-gf had toyota yaris and the clutch pedal on that one was very good with long travel for bite point. But one of my friends had hyundai coupe and on that car the clutch was very snappy and the bite point was very deep in the pedal. And while the yaris had very good clutch the throttle was pretty awful. Almost felt like a button on the floor (do you even need analogic throttle pedal for that 1 litre engine ).

One of the tricks for good and precise clutch usage is to learn to control the clutch pedal with your ankle movement. Your heel should be on the floor so you can get precise control. On most cars the way you do this is that you press the clutch fully and then release it until you start feeling it bite. At this point you should have your heel against the floor and you can then use your ankle to control the clutch. Learning to do the clutch properly will help you when you need to do hill starts (or use handbrake).

Just for information - even cars of same model can have different pedals feel. In company I work,there are 2 Nissan Primastars,each have totally different clutch feel - one feels pretty natural for me (could even compare to my Toyota MR2),while other one has travel of just about 5cm and seems like taken out of workout gym...

Other thing - it might be weird just for me,who never owned a car with smaller engine then 2.0l,but I can't imagine throttle pedal being too sensitive for such small engine...

i know how you feel - i had my first lesson last week in a new golf, after driving around in a zafira for a little while i was used to the brake pedal having a little bit of travel in it before i felt anything. With the golf, it takes the smallest touch and the brakes come on pretty sharply. 2nd lesson tomorrow, hopefully i get used to it some more

Almost all new cars have extremely light clutches and throttle pedals, I wouldn't just pull away with the clutch and then use the throttle (you're likely to stall on slight inclines and if you try to pull away fast you will too).

You may get away with it whilst learning but it's a bad habit and in a realistic first car (e.g. something old) you probably won't be able to do it. The clutch is way stiffer/heavier in a older car too.

Quote from Eclipsed :

In company I work,there are 2 Nissan Primastars,each have totally different clutch feel - one feels pretty natural for me (could even compare to my Toyota MR2),while other one has travel of just about 5cm and seems like taken out of workout gym...

Different engines come with different gearboxes+clutches

Quote from lukelfs :

The clutch is way stiffer/heavier in a older car too.

Agreed! Modern family cars usually have unresponsive gas/engine characteristics, very sensitive brakes, an overly damped clutch or a combination of these. And yes, you can adjust to that but I still find it more stressful than driving old cars. Also modern gear boxes feel doughy which annoys me aswell.

Try an 80s-90s manual to find out yourself, you'll love it.

I must say my E90 318D feels very solid. After I drove my friends E39 523i, wich's pedals felt very loose and sensless. I have an electronic gas pedal and it felt way more heavy and also my clutch, wich I prefered more. Also my shifter travels allot more less then the long throws in his car. Really depends on car/brand

Quote from 5tag :

Different engines come with different gearboxes+clutches

Same engine,same gearbox,most likely different clutch.

Quote from Eclipsed :

Same engine,same gearbox,most likely different clutch.

Yeah, used cars most probably have different clutches, or even if they are still original, the ammount of wear might differ, which makes for a totally different feel.

They differ wildly from car to car; your instructor's car and the gaming pedals you're used to are no exception.

My dad's old Vauxhall Astra TD had such a sensitive pedal it'd only take about 1cm of movement to go from idle to redline. My Focus has a really weak return spring/piston/whatever on the gas pedal so when you lift off it takes a moment longer than you expect for the pedal to come back up.

All these little idiosyncracies feel odd at first but you very quickly get used to them.

Quote from lukelfs :

Almost all new cars have extremely light clutches and throttle pedals, I wouldn't just pull away with the clutch and then use the throttle (you're likely to stall on slight inclines and if you try to pull away fast you will too).

Brakes on newer cars tend to be very "sharp" (rightly or wrongly).

The clutch is so heavy in my car that if I drive something else for more than half an hour and then get back in it my leg hurts trying to use it for the first few miles.

Do any lhd drivers notice many cars with not enough space to the left of the clutch to slide your foot, in an average trainer/sneaker, off it to the left. Way too many rhd cars have the pedal, or the heel of the pedal arm, squeezed against the footwell wall.

Quote from sinbad :

Do any lhd drivers notice many cars with not enough space to the left of the clutch to slide your foot, in an average trainer/sneaker, off it to the left. Way too many rhd cars have the pedal, or the heel of the pedal arm, squeezed against the footwell wall.

Lada 2108, Corolla E111 - plenty of space for left foot rest.

And thats with my feet size of 44 (9.5 UK).

The opposite, in fact - pretty much all cars have a "dead pedal" because of the wheel arch extending into the footwell... I guess not leaving enough space for RHD cars is an oversight due to their market share combined with globally identical, therefore cheaper panels...

Quote from Jakg :

Brakes on newer cars tend to be very "sharp" (rightly or wrongly).

The clutch is so heavy in my car that if I drive something else for more than half an hour and then get back in it my leg hurts trying to use it for the first few miles.

Yup! I drive a lot of hire cars for work and they are all new cars, after driving them for a week I get back into my own car and the pedals feel so strange, almost end up stalling because I forget how stiff/heavy the pedals are

Quote from bbman :

The opposite, in fact - pretty much all cars have a "dead pedal" because of the wheel arch extending into the footwell... I guess not leaving enough space for RHD cars is an oversight due to their market share combined with globally identical, therefore cheaper panels...

Yep, you definitely nailed the reason behind it. TBH most manufacturers attempt the dead pedal thing for RHD too (perhaps I exaggerated a little), but they obviously don't always have the same amount of space to play with.

Going from my mate's Focus ST to my clio is a bit of a workout. His clutch is like pressing a piece of paper!

The westie is another step again!

Quote from [RF]-art555 :

Lada 2108, Corolla E111 - plenty of space for left foot rest.

And thats with my feet size of 44 (9.5 UK).

Ladas with carbs have to be one of the most annoying cars I've ever driven, the ones with the pushrods for the throttle instead of plain wire. It is a lot better in extremely cold weather yes, but it has to be one of the most painful I've ever driven. The thing just goes on/off, and adjusting the throttle with your foot only gives a stroke or massive pain in your foot.

With that said, I do regret selling my estate Lada. With GM's 1-point injection I even liked it and it felt much more fun (that can be also because of the welded diff) and it ate almost half the amount a 1.5 carb would eat.

Quote from nikopdr :

Ladas with carbs have to be one of the most annoying cars I've ever driven, the ones with the pushrods for the throttle instead of plain wire. It is a lot better in extremely cold weather yes, but it has to be one of the most painful I've ever driven. The thing just goes on/off, and adjusting the throttle with your foot only gives a stroke or massive pain in your foot.

With that said, I do regret selling my estate Lada. With GM's 1-point injection I even liked it and it felt much more fun (that can be also because of the welded diff) and it ate almost half the amount a 1.5 carb would eat.

The only trouble my lada's carb was giving me, is that it was hard to start at -20*C. My throttle response was spiky until I changed trottle cable, was perfectly smooth after that. I also have 2104 as a work car, it has a pretty smooth throttle too.

Thanks for the help guys, had another lesson today and managed to get used to the feeling of the pedals so I guess it was just down to getting used to the car. I am now able to feel less heavy footed .

My brother's VW Jetta has the most annoying clutch pedal I've ever experienced. The first few cm have almost no resistance, but then there's a sort of 'crest' right around the bite point where it gets really heavy. You have to press harder to get over the 'crest' and then you end up tumbling down the other side as it seemingly loses resistance again.

So you've either got all clutch or no clutch unless you have fantastic coordination and are really focusing on the clutch.