How to Teach Yourself to Drive a Stick Shift

Most manual transmission cars have between three and six forward gears.

A manual transmission may seem tricky to operate if you've never tried it. However, mastering a stick shift will ultimately give you better control over how your car accelerates and decelerates. Manual transmission cars offer a number of other advantages over cars equipped with manual transmissions. Automotive dealerships charge extra for an automatic transmission car, and stick shift cars generally deliver better fuel economy and their transmissions require less maintenance. You don't need to take a driver's course to learn how to drive a stick shift car -- you can pick up this skill in an afternoon and master it over a few weeks of driving.

Instructions

Before You Begin

1. Take your stick shift car to an empty parking lot. Ask a friend, co-worker, neighbor or family member who knows how to derive a stick shift vehicle to drive the car to the lot for you. If you cannot get the car to a parking lot, use your street during daylight hours, when there is little traffic or pedestrian activity.

2. Engage your car's parking brake. Put the gear shifter in neutral and buckle your seat belt. Adjust the driver's chair, if necessary, so that you can depress the clutch all the way to the floor with your left foot.

3. Test the sensitivity and depth of the clutch pedal, which sits directly to the left of the brake pedal. Put your right foot on the brake pedal and then depress the clutch until it hits the floor. Pay attention to the amount of pressure required; let the clutch out and depress it a few more times.

4. Memorize the position of the gears in your car. Depending on the year, make and model, stick shift cars can have a minimum of three forward gears and one reverse gear, or as many as seven forward gears and one reverse gear. Depress the clutch and move the shifter through each of the forward gears until you have memorized the position of each gear in the shifting pattern.

5. Put the key in the ignition, push in the clutch and start the car. Make sure the gear shifter is in neutral and then let out the clutch. The engine will rev to an idle rpm speed.

Getting Started

1. Determine the friction point of the clutch, at which the engine begins to transfer power while in gear. Put the shifter into first gear, slowly let out the clutch and keep your foot away from the accelerator pedal. The friction point of the clutch occurs when you let the clutch out enough so that the car starts to move forward.

2. Learn how to reach the friction point every time you want to move forward. Push the clutch back in and press on the brake pedal with your right foot to stop the car. Repeat Step 1 of this section until you get a real feel for when the car starts to move forward while in gear.

3. Place the car in gear, let your foot off the clutch until you reach the friction point and gently apply pressure to the gas pedal. Drive the car around the parking lot in first gear and repeat this step until you become comfortable going from a stop to driving in first gear without the car jerking about when you move forward.

4. Brake to a stop by pushing in the clutch, moving the shifter into neutral and applying pressure to the brake pedals at the same time. After you have placed the shifter into neutral, release the clutch while you continue to apply the brakes.

5. Park the car. Bring the car to a complete stop, make sure the shifter is in neutral and put on the parking brake. Remember that you must always engage the parking brake when parking a manual transmission car.

Mastering the Gears

1. Repeat the fourth step of the previous section. When the car hits 15 mph, depress the clutch down to the floor and shift into second gear. Release the clutch once you are in second gear and gently apply pressure to the gas pedal.

2. Drive around the parking lot in second gear until you can control the car during turns at speeds up to 25 mph.

3. Practice going from second gear to third gear at speeds around 25 mph. Put the car in gear, let your foot off the clutch until you reach the friction point and gently apply pressure to the gas pedal. Drive from first gear into second gear, and when the car hits 25 mph, depress the clutch to the floor and shift into third gear.

4. Practice bringing the car to a stop from third gear by pushing in the clutch, moving the shifter into neutral and applying pressure to the brake pedals at the same time. After you have put the shifter into neutral, release the clutch while you continue to apply the brakes.

5. Practice driving in low traffic residential or abandoned commercial districts. Ask your friend to drive your car to an area that sees little traffic. Master your driving and shifting skills on these roads until you can comfortably shift into and out of the gears while controlling the car.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure that you and anyone who drives your car both have a valid driver's license and auto insurance.

References

• Standardshift.com: Learn to Drive a Car with a Manual Transmission
• Hints n Tips: Learning to Drive a Manual Transmission Made Easy - 'The Left Foot Way'; Kyle Busch
• DMV.org: How To Drive A Stick Shift
• Edmunds.com: The Advantages of Buying a Manual-Transmission Vehicle

Resources

• Car Talk: How to Drive Stick Shift: How a Manual Transmission Works