Idle time is a must (question of the month)
04/21/2025
We have noticed that there are many different theories on how to start a cold engine in a manual car (with three pedals) in the best and most material-friendly way, or how to handle the gearbox and clutch during a cold start. That's why we wanted to know from Zwischengas readers how they do it.
The " question of the month" for manual classic car users was therefore: How do you start your classic car when the engine is cold?
At 89.9%, idle shift users were clearly in the majority, although there are two similarly divided camps between them, as with Pepsi and Coke or Opel and Ford. The slightly larger proportion (48.1%) depresses the clutch pedal despite the gearshift being in neutral. 41.8 % do not press the left pedal.
They are followed at a considerable distance by those who avoid reaching for the gearshift: Just 7.3% of the more than 500 readers who cast a vote leave the gear engaged and only depress the clutch pedal.
On top of that, there were also 2.9% who do not use any of these three methods. Which is why we would be interested to know how they do it. It's not likely to be gear engaged and the clutch not depressed, but perhaps letting it roll?
As usual, we immediately asked the next " question of the month" . "Ask" is also the right keyword. Over the next four weeks, we would like to know how long Zwischengas readers think it takes for a car to sustain damage.
And of course you can still look up all previous "Questions of the week and month" and their results in the corresponding topic channel.
