Learn How to Drive a Car with Manual Transmission

Even though less and less cars with manual transmission are produced, it is still wise to know how to properly drive them. Sure thing, everyone knows that automatics are much easier to handle and drive in general. However, there is something that most people have no clue about when it comes to sticking shift cars. Besides the fact that you are going to be offered the chance to save a lot of fuel, you will also manage to have a better driving experience.

In this post, I thought about sharing with you guys some of the best and most important tips regarding dealing with a car with manual transmission. If you are one of those individuals willing to learn how to do it, you are going to need a lot of practice. However, besides this, you can get more familiar with the most important moments by simply looking through this post. Get yourself a cup of coffee and enjoy the ride ladies and gentlemen.

The first thing that you need to do is actually begin with the engine turned off and the parking brake on. Now you should try to get as comfortable as possible in your seat. Make sure that you easily reach the clutch pedal without stretching your leg in order to do it. If you don’t feel fine in your seat you won’t be able to drive correctly. Got it?

Now it is necessary to attentively push the above-mentioned pedal all day down and hold it. This is necessary to do in order to avoid moving the car when starting the engine of your car. You should also press the brake pedal and hold it so that your car won’t start rolling when you set it free from the hand brake one. This is not hard to do.

It is important to make sure that your gearshift lever is in the first gear (find it by shifting it top-notch). If you don’t know how to do it you should try and practice a little before you start moving. A very tiny “click” sound is what you should hear exactly the moment when the lever locks into each particular gear that you choose it to. There is one very important tip that you should be aware of (for the safety of your car).

Don’t shift the gears until the clutch pedal is not fully pushed all the way down. This will grind the gears of your car’s transmission and I’m sure you don’t want something like this to happen. Because it costs a lot of money to actually change it. I’m sure that the first time you are going to do it will certainly serve you as a very harsh and unpleasant, but a useful reminder.

It is not time to attentively star the car and slowly disengage the parking hand brake. If you are driving American or European car models you should be dealing with your right hand and pressing it with the big finger. You need to push it all day down in order to stop the break from holding the wheels of your car. Now it’s time to move.

Now it is necessary to start moving extremely lightly, in order to avoid any abrupt and brutal movements. Slowly and attentively press the accelerator pedal with your right foot until it reaches approximately 1,800 RPM (engine rev) and also slightly release the clutch pedal until you feel the power and your car a little bit little moving. This is one of the most complicated processes of learning how to drive a car with a manual transmission. But as soon as you get more experience and skills you won’t have any problem handling it in the future.

If you don’t press the gas pedal enough, the rev of the engine is going to be too low to handle the movement and will likely block the whole engine. In order to avoid something like this, you are going to need to immediately press the brake and the clutch pedals all the way down. If it stopped, start the engine again, if it didn’t, you might want to slowly repeat all the process from the very beginning. But now several times more attentive in order to avoid what just happened.

Once the clutch pedal is totally released your car should start moving. Slightly press the accelerator pedal in order to increase the speed and prepare to shift the lever into the second gear. There is nothing complicated about doing this, but it requires a lot of practice. You need to fully release any pressure on the gas pedal and push the clutch all the way down; shift the gear and repeat the same process just like before starting to make your car move. Slowly release the clutch while applying pressure on the accelerator.

This will increase the speed of your car. Watch your tachometer until it reaches about 2,000 RPM and shifts into the next gear. When you’ve accumulated the speed that you want press the clutch and release the lever from the shift. Let the car move freely. These are the basics of driving a car with manual transmission. Sure thing you won’t become a professional by attentively reading this post. But it will give you at least a general idea about how does this looks, sounds, and appear to be like.