Clutch: a means of transmitting power from the engine to the gearbox which you can engage and disengage.

A nasty bit of work when you think about it, and amazing that they last as long as they do.

At one end you have an engine that’s spinning merrily away, and at the other you have wheels that aren’t moving and you need to join the two somehow. That’s where the clutch comes in: essentially two plates that are held together by a spring and moved apart when you push the clutch pedal (that’s why some clutches are very heavy, especially on larger, more powerful cars – the spring is stronger). Engage gear, let the clutch pedal up and those plates move together, gradually joining the engine and the wheels.

Clutches take a lot of strain, get very hot and wear out. They’re also usually hard to get at, being buried away underneath the car inside some very large components, which is why they’re expensive to fix. The actual clutch plates are relatively cheap, but it might take two hours to get to them, and two hours to hide them away again.

Top tips for making your clutch last longer:

1) Buy an automatic (they don’t have a clutch)

2) Don’t “ride” the clutch. This happens when your foot is pressing down on the clutch pedal a little, letting the plates slip against each other. Often hard to avoid in stop-start traffic, but it’s always best to either have the clutch pedal all the way up, or all the way down. Anywhere in between will eventually cost you money, especially if the clutch catches fire (which they can do in extreme circumstances) and you arrive at work looking like a chimney-sweep steeping out of the charred remains of your treasured new car.