Bad driving habits with your Mustang

[OldPhart]

Hi - It's 15 degrees, the wind is blowing at 20 mph and I'm bored as hell, so here goes. You know the old saying "misery loves company". Well, post your worst driving habits with your Mustang. If you really want to embarrass yourself, you can list more than one. It can be something bad for your car, bad for your safety or both. We'll find out how much company we have and perhaps shame will set in and improve our ways. I guess we could call this "Mustang Driving Confessions. There's another saying "age before beauty", so being in my 8th decade and refusing to look in my bathroom mirror with my glasses on, I'll start off. Bad for my car - A gear head friend of mine keeps reminding me (actually annoying me) that with my manual transmission I should put it in neutral at stop lights and take my foot off the clutch. He says I am causing premature wear. Being mechanically inept, I don't have any recourse except to say I've never had to replace a clutch. Safety wise - I usually hook up my seat belt as I'm driving down the street away from my house, rather than when I get in the car... Bruce

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[subject617]

I dont rev the engine enough. Most of the time i barely hit 6k while driving. Which is almost a crime in a Coyote.
The standing on the clutch at stoplights is something im currently trying to get rid of.
It might not damage the clutch per se, but the throwout bearing and clutch fingers.

 

[Johnnybee]

I don’t really have any bad habits to report but would agree with the clutch thing. On the other hand, here in Ontario, I am told, that if you are brave enough to do your driver’s exam in a standard you will get bad points for that, because they say you couldn’t move your car in an emergency fast enough.

 

[Duece McCracken]

I also stand on the clutch at lights, in gear. Have done it in every manual car I've owned. Never had any pilot, or throughout issues, never wrecked a clutch, OEM or aftermarket from doing it either.

One of my best friends, and probably the only other person I'd let work on my car besides myself, had a decent point that stuck with me.

Reaction time. IF for some reason you needed to move your car to avoid getting hit by someone behind you, being in gear makes that a whole lot easier to pull off in that little bit of time. Like in stop and go traffic. It's not common scenario at all, but I have yet had any negative repercussions for doing it, so I'm just going to keep doing it.

I'm more focused on rev matching, taking off, wheelspin, and other drivers. Not going to try and change my in gear behavior anytime soon. Lol

 

[Vlad Soare]

One bad habit, if you want to call it that, is that I don't mind the speed limits. And although this applies regardless of which car I drive, I do feel that it's a bit more pronounced with the Mustang.
Another one is that I always tailgate morons who hog the fast lane. Not only do I tailgate them, but I also flash and honk at them until they move over. This one is a bit less pronounced in the Mustang, because it's easier and more fun to just overtake (or undertake) the son of a bitch. I find I'm less likely to tailgate someone when I'm in the Mustang, because it takes just a downshift and half throttle to fly past them in an instant.
Third one, which I've already mentioned, is undertaking. I do a lot of that. After all, what am I supposed to do? Just sit there and wait until the moron realizes he's in the wrong lane? That could take all day.

Technical bad habits... no, I have none of those.

 

[GR11M]

Ignoring the auditory safety of vert drivers in tunnels

 

[MIDLYFE]

I gotta stop crashing into the local liquor store.

 

[GR11M]

I gotta stop crashing into the local liquor store.

I wouldn't worry about it until the liquor store starts crashing into you

 

[LxMike]

I dont rev the engine enough. Most of the time i barely hit 6k while driving. Which is almost a crime in a Coyote.

This my biggest one! I don't use that coyote high rpm power much.

This next one is kind of embarrassing. I was always into fast type cars. I had a few fox bodies and was into drag racing, but when gas prices started going up I got out of performance cars and into MPG cars. From 2006 till 2019 I had lil 4 bangers that I could eek out 40 mpg with. Now with my mustang I am still watching my mileage when I am driving.

 

[Balr14]

My right foot abuses the gas pedal too much. Especially when it is cold and dry outside.

 

[NickR]

On my way home from work I will purposely try and catch a specific red light and be the first car so when it turns green I just go. Usually can get up to around 120 mph before I have to slow down for my turn.

 

[GTP]

On my way home from work I will purposely try and catch a specific red light and be the first car so when it turns green I just go. Usually can get up to around 120 mph before I have to slow down for my turn.

Yeah, what could possibly go wrong?
-

I delivered pizzas for a while (retired, to get out of the house and drive my car more). My driving habits kept improving as I witnessed SO many other drivers' bad habits.

Otherwise I hope to hone better skills at the track.

 

[Bluelightning]

This my biggest one! I don't use that coyote high rpm power much.

This next one is kind of embarrassing. I was always into fast type cars. I had a few fox bodies and was into drag racing, but when gas prices started going up I got out of performance cars and into MPG cars. From 2006 till 2019 I had lil 4 bangers that I could eek out 40 mpg with. Now with my mustang I am still watching my mileage when I am driving.

You should always have a little 4 banger beater around.

Not sure mine is a bad habit, but I tend to drive in the slow lane at the speed limit in my daily, but not so much in the Mustang.

 

[Mr whiskers5.0]

Hi - It's 15 degrees, the wind is blowing at 20 mph and I'm bored as hell, so here goes. You know the old saying "misery loves company". Well, post your worst driving habits with your Mustang. If you really want to embarrass yourself, you can list more than one. It can be something bad for your car, bad for your safety or both. We'll find out how much company we have and perhaps shame will set in and improve our ways. I guess we could call this "Mustang Driving Confessions. There's another saying "age before beauty", so being in my 8th decade and refusing to look in my bathroom mirror with my glasses on, I'll start off. Bad for my car - A gear head friend of mine keeps reminding me (actually annoying me) that with my manual transmission I should put it in neutral at stop lights and take my foot off the clutch. He says I am causing premature wear. Being mechanically inept, I don't have any recourse except to say I've never had to replace a clutch. Safety wise - I usually hook up my seat belt as I'm driving down the street away from my house, rather than when I get in the car... Bruce

yeah i do the same with the seat belt except somtimes i just straight up forget about the damn thing lol. and i really have a thing for giving less than a shit about the speed limits lol

 

[ice445]

I also stand on the clutch at lights, in gear. Have done it in every manual car I've owned. Never had any pilot, or throughout issues, never wrecked a clutch, OEM or aftermarket from doing it either.

One of my best friends, and probably the only other person I'd let work on my car besides myself, had a decent point that stuck with me.

Reaction time. IF for some reason you needed to move your car to avoid getting hit by someone behind you, being in gear makes that a whole lot easier to pull off in that little bit of time. Like in stop and go traffic. It's not common scenario at all, but I have yet had any negative repercussions for doing it, so I'm just going to keep doing it.

I'm more focused on rev matching, taking off, wheelspin, and other drivers. Not going to try and change my in gear behavior anytime soon. Lol

I sit in neutral at lights, and just watch the cross light to see when to put it back in gear. That's always worked for me. Sitting in gear isn't really that big of a deal, but in theory it puts more heat into the pilot bearing, especially at long lights.

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