Survey - Do you left foot brake your street vehicle?

Do you left foot brake your street vehicle?
  • Never
  • Sometimes
  • Always
0 voters

Never and occasionally I have a moment of foot panic when I forget I’m in a car. I have tried though and I could learn to left foot brake in car also. It just feels weird.

Left foot is for the clutch. I am 56 and my daily drivers has always been a manual

That’s a good point. I haven’t driven stick in a while but that pretty much guarantees right foot braking, I would imagine.

Yeah, me too. It feels weird to drive an automatic.

Not to derail the thread but the car I miss is my fully basic Saab 93 2 door in manual. Now that was a fun car to actually drive. I spent 500 bucks and put a good amp and 2 speakers in it too (probably doubling value of car).

I sometimes do but I found that it took some
time to develop the sensitivity to control servoed brake.

Manual or auto I’ll still left brake and or heel toe for fun. Breaks up the monotony of driving and holding the nose using the brake with your left foot is good for long drifts :laughing:

I don’t dislike automatics. I just never learned how to drive one. :laughing: Ok, maybe I dislike them

I used to be very anti auto until I bought the 6.4 Challenger Scatpack, 8 speed auto with paddles. A real gem of a transmission, I’ll take it now over a stick shift all day long. Autos have come a long way since I passed my test :sweat_smile::sweat_smile:

Never do left foot braking, any time I’ve tried I’ve done an impromptu emergency stop :sweat_smile:

The Porsche pdk is pretty awesome. I love that car you have there. Nice choice!

I agree they have come a long way. A couple of years back I test drove a Golf R with a DSG. It was nice. Still when I bought one I went manual.

I can’t left foot brake in mine, it set’s off all kinds of alarms - the car freaks out. I mean, I can use my left foot to brake, just not do the whole rally driver ‘left foot braking’ thing

1 Like

Only time I left foot brake is when I forget I’m not in a stick, go to stomp the not actually there clutch, and catch the edge of the brake pedal. It’s an abrupt realization.

2 Likes

Depends, on older Porsche models expecially 930s I left foot brake massively. I dont in anything newer because very few modern cars will allow throttle input and brake input at the same time without clutch input.

I had a Golf R with DSG and I actually found it very enjoyable. Not quite as fun as an auto but felt very F1-esque with how quick those shifts clicked off. And of course it’s much faster than the manual.

My Fiat X1/9 is a 4-speed manual with a big long gear shift and it’s fun because it feels so mechanical and connected. Throwing the gears around feels like you’re really doing something, to the point where I didn’t even want to put a short shifter on it for fear it would dull the physical feeling of making those big old shifts.

Almost always in an automatic, only on special occasions when driving a manual. A good way to balance a front wheel drive car when it is trying to understeer.

I agree the DSG is a better transmission. In fact once autos started getting better fuel economy the last real reason for manuals ended. The DSG was cool to drive as you say. Really the reason for selecting manual was I was concerned I would miss it. I am sure someday I will get a car with a good manual control auto and like it. For now I will continue to drive my 65 Mustang, 77 MGB, and 18 Fiesta ST. All with manuals.

1 Like

If you want a LONG gear shift, try this:


from an early 70s safari yellow Volvo 145s station wagon, which was my first car, purchased from my parents.

The brake and accelerator pedals were so far apart, and so awkwardly placed that heal & toe downshifting had to be done with the heal on the brakes.

My Volvo had the springs torched so they sagged almost to the bump stops (because I was too lazy/stupid/cheap to lower it properly), a side panel from my formula ford (that mostly survived me crashing it) bolted on the front as an air dam (in raw aluminum complete with the SCCA and other required decals). It was slow, but unique at the time, and if you ran 5-10 psi too little air in the rear tires, it would really drift around and leave many rice rockets in the twisty bits. And in the wet OMG, so fun! Also, it served as the tow vehicle for my FF. Good times!

My daily is an STI, only available in 6MT, so no left foot braking there and the other is a big red truck where your left foot pushes on a switch pedal that spins up a big mechanical siren.

My wife drives an Ascent with paddles and I’ve tried left foot braking but the ABS keeps telling me to stop trying.

Occasionally in a manual car, mostly for balance on corner entry when not downshifting.

Frequently in an automatic combustion car.

I drive an electric car now, and primarily just lift off and regenerate. When necessary, i usually use the right foot because it is closer to the pedal.