How to Operate a Manual Transmission

Practice, practice, practice. The pressure of someone learning to drive a manual transmission can be overwhelming and intimidating, especially when you add in some traffic to the lesson. The easiest way to learn how to drive a manual transmission is to remove those elements. A large abandoned parking lot, a rural country road or something along those lines. Once the learner becomes comfortable with what to do with their hands and feet, then they can try to hit the streets, but even then, keep the lessons during off-peak traffic periods. Building up their confidence will be the key to success

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

How to Operate a Manual Transmission

1. On a flat, open surface, place your right foot on the brake pedal and release the parking brake if it's set.

2. Place the stick shift into first gear.

3. Depress the clutch with your left foot and turn the ignition key to on. Remove your right foot from the brake pedal. If you're on a flat area, the vehicle will not roll too much. If it's open enough, free of obstacles, it won't matter. The key to driving a stick shift is to learn how to stop and go in first gear. After that, all the other gears will come naturally. You may grind a few from time to time in the higher gears, but lesson No. 1 is moving and stopping the vehicle.

4. Apply your right foot to the accelerator and apply a slight pressure while gently releasing your left foot from the clutch at the same time. The key to this is finding the perfect balance. Apply too much accelerator and you'll skid the rear tires and jerk the vehicle. Let the clutch out too quickly without enough accelerator and you'll stall out. If you're in a open area, free of traffic and obstacles, take your time and it's OK to stall or skid tires. Try and try again until you get the feel of the balance you need. Until you get the hang of this step, there is absolutely no need to go out into traffic and place yourself or other drivers in potentially dangerous situations.

5. Start and stop the vehicle several times until you can take off in first gear smoothly. Start right from shutting the vehicle off, starting it up and then taking off. Another good first day lesson when you conquer this task would be to park the vehicle on a slight incline and try to take off from the incline. This will be more challenging, because the second you release the brake pedal to accelerate, the vehicle is going to start to roll backward down the incline until you release the clutch and engage the gear. Once you have starting and stopping in first gear down, then, and only then, would it be recommended to hit the streets (at low-traffic periods) or country roads to practice shifting through the other gears.

6. Perform the same procedure in reverse gear. Again this will help you with seeking the balance of this vehicle. Do this in the same area so you can take your time and not feel pressured with local traffic or obstacles.

7. Pay attention to the tachometer and listen to the sound of the motor. Both these devices will help you find that perfect balance of how much accelerator to apply and when to release the clutch. There are a lot of things to consider learning when driving a manual transmission for the first time, and placing yourself in the proper environment will help you out tremendously.

Tips & Warnings

• Once the vehicle is rolling in first gear or higher, shifting into the next-highest gear is much easier and there's less chance of stalling the engine. However, if for some reason it happens, remember to remain calm. Driving a manual transmission takes a lot of concentration in the beginning and can easily divert your attention away from important elements like traffic or pedestrians. You must have a positive attitude and a won't-give-up mentality. Everyone else who drives a standard transmission now had to learn how to and were in the same predicament. The key is not to rush yourself or pressure yourself, and if someone who is helping teach you is rushing or pressuring you or making fun of you, find someone else to teach you.