How to Drive a Car With a Manual Transmission

learning how to Drive a manual car can be a frustrating and tedious task; however, it is one of the most rewarding skills to learn. Having the ability to drive a stick shift means that you can drive anything. It is smart to learn this skill because if you are in an emergency situation, you need to be able to use any means of transportation.

To get started, engage the handbrake by pulling it all the way up. Now make sure your car is in neutral / out of gear. To do this, move the shift knob to the middle of the shifter boot. Try wiggling the shift knob side to side, if it is loose and moves a few inches side to side, you are done with step one.

While in neutral, look for the the pedal to the left of the brake. Press this pedal down fully before starting the car. This is just a safety feature. Again, ensure that you are in neutral, the handbrake is up, and the clutch pedal is pressed to the floor.

With all previous steps properly carried out, locate your ignition, insert the key and turn, or push to start depending on the car.

Locate the cars handbrake, push the release button with your thumb, then push down the lever to release the brake

Ensure that the clutch is pressed fully. It is best to not drive a manual transmission when you are up-tight and nervous, so loosen up, take a deep breath, and get ready to drive.

Using the gear map on the top of the shifter knob, identify where first gear is. It is traditionally located on the top left of the shifter. Push the Shift knob to the first gear, and keep your foot pressed down on the clutch.

With the car in first gear and the clutch fully depressed, you may begin.

You must start releasing the clutch pedal slowly, and at the same time, slowly engage the accelerator. This is the most difficult step and you will probably fail the first 25-50 times. No worries, this takes around 200 tries to start consistently seeing results. But for now, just get a feel of the rhythm of your feet pushing the pedals, you will eventually find the correct ratio of gas and clutch. Once you get moving decently fast, the cars engine will need a different gear, do this by letting off of the gas, pushing in the clutch, and then shifting to the next gear. When to shift gears is based on your cars RPMs. When the tachometer (The gauge that shows the RPMs) reaches about 3500 RPMs, its time to shift gears.

Congratulations, you can now drive manual! It seems difficult at first, but after some practice, you will start to love it. When you get skilled at driving a car with a manual transmission, it will be one of the most fun/rewarding skills you will ever learn.