you can’t spend too much time practicing in a big empty parking lot.
Or if you know a farmer, a paddock is also a good option
If you release the clutch slow enough, in most cars you can get moving just with idle engine.
Practice in a parking lot if you can, and just do that over and over until you understand the friction point.
Getting moving from a dead stop in first or reverse is really the only hard part of driving a manual, shifting up through the gears from there is trivial.
Learn to shift based off the sound of the engine, dont stare at the tachometer.
If you already know how to drive, learning manual isnt so hard. You are going to stall it out, you arent hurting anything but your pride when you do.
Learn to shift based off the sound of the engine, dont stare at the tachometer.
Do not do this.
Every engine has a different redline. The redline is based mostly on piston mass, which doesn’t necessarily correlate directly to engine displacement, given that it’s common to have 4, 6, or 8 cylinders in a car. If you’re shifting primarily based on engine sound, you can be shifting too low in one car, and then too high in another. The tachometer is a much more reliable way of learning where you should shift in any given vehicle.
Also, constantly running your car in the maximum power band–which tends to be close to the redline–probably isn’t great for it.
I don’t think they were saying you shouldn’t ever look at the tacho, but that you should learn to be able to pick your shift points without having to look at the tacho.
As you say you do want to figure out what revs works best for a particular vehicle (having driven/ridden vehicles with redlines between 2500 and 19000rpm there I can say there is a little bit of variability to be found out there) but it shouldn’t take long to figure out what this sounds and feels like for regular use.
I learned on a 2000 Kia Sephia. Five speed, little four cylinder engine, that shit did not have a tachometer. I had to learn by the sound.
Even when I got into my Vr6 Jetta, or the Nissan spec-v (which had 6 gears) I was able to adjust my driving to the car easily because I first learned with sound. You learn the engine.
Probably try learning using both tbh
Many cars and trucks don’t even have a tach. Older Ford focus’s don’t, they just have a shift light. I used to drive a 70s Ford ranger that had neither. Don’t get me wrong I wish it did, but it’s only a nice-to-have for regular driving. Shifting off sound is fine, but it’s not just sound, it’s the vibrations in your seat, how the engine reacts to gas pedal inputs, etc. I only look at the tach when I need to downshift to pass.
Learn to shift based off the sound of the engine, don’t stare at the tachometer.
Unless you’re like my grandpa who had his engine replaced at 20k miles because he revved the engine until he could hear it running before putting it into gear. Between quieter modern engines, and his hearing not being as good as it once was, that meant he redlined it in the driveway every time he started the engine.
He only got a couple more years out of the new engine, but that was because he couldn’t turn his head very well either so he didn’t bother looking before changing lanes.
The advice is more meant for changing through gears, not starting from a stop. As mentioned, you don’t really need much gas to get going.
We made our kids go to a church parking lot and drive without the gas pedal. There was much bitching and screaming, but they both learned pretty quickly. Backing up through the circle drive without hitting the curb took much much longer.
In my experience, releasing the clutch without adding throttle will only get you moving in a diesel car.
Gasoline engines will stall much faster, which is part of the reason learning vehicles are all diesel.
I’m guess that you don’t live in the US? Almost all cars in the US–whether training vehicles or not–are gasoline, and it’s mostly larger pickup trucks that are diesel. VW is one of the few companies that sells consumer cars that are diesel, and I’m not sure that they do anymore, not after there was that huge scandal about intentionally cheating EPA emissions standards with their diesel cars a decade back.
Works I’m my 1L petrol car. You just need to be gentle.
I’ve never driven a car that couldn’t do this, and I’ve driven at least a dozen manual transmission cars and trucks, all gas. Hell my beater right now doesn’t have first gear, and I have no problems starting in second just idling. You just need to be really slow and attentive to your rpms. Not that you should always start rolling like this, but I agree with the comment above that it’s an excellent learning exercise. I always start with this one when I teach other people how to drive stick with great success, and I wish that I started with this exercise when I was learning.
Looking at the tach is so useful through. You can learn how your car can go into gear at different speeds depending on if you’re going uphill, downhill, or flat.
A point on stalling: don’t panic! You’re gonna stall first in line at the stop light and you’re gonna look in the mirror at that long line of cars behind you, but don’t panic! Take a breath, clutch in and start the engine back up.
Don’t stall.
Don’t money shift it, pay attention to the road.
Don’t step on the clutch with just your toes or the ball of your foot. Push down with the entire length of your foot. It’s easier to control it that way because you’ll be lifting/depressing the pedal with your knee movement instead of ankle.
Also, don’t ride the clutch, even if you think you’re just resting your foot over it lightly. That still puts pressure on the pedal. Rest your foot on the dead pedal when not shifting.
Don’t rest your hand on the shifter (applies to automatics too).
Use engine braking to your advantage.
To add on, if your left ankle is on the ground when working the clutch you’ll have trouble controlling it.
Like scytale says, use your whole foot so the action is at the knee. This means lifting your ankle up off the floor.
You’ve gotten a lot of solid practical advice, so I’ll take it to theory.
Learn how it works and what happens when you push that clutch in and let it out.
Here’s a video with a lot of detail and animation.
+1. When you know what is going on inside you can get a much better feel for what the car is doing.
When you are cruising along, if you back off the accellerator a bit you can feel the whole drivetrain go ‘loose’ (If you back off a bit more you will start engine braking). This the backlash in the gearbox & you will find you can pop it out of gear without the clutch quite easily. Putting it back in without the clutch is best practiced on an enemies car.When my truck’s clutch cylinder blew, I managed to limp it to the shop just by rev-matching and slipping it into each gear. I couldn’t stop without stalling, so I definitely blew a couple stop signs, but I made it.
practice letting off the clutch by going to an empty parking lot and try to release the clutch in 1st gear without stalling and without gas
then remember that your clutch foot and the gas foot are a 50 / 50 team
so for all the force you put on one, you need to take from the other
dont be afraid to use the parking brake on hills to help you get into 1st when your at a stop
Don’t money shift it. That’s when you feel like racing and you slam it into second from first, then from second into what you think is third but is actually first again.
To bypass that I always just let shifter go back to the middle and then I change the speed.
Yes it takes avay 0.3 seconds to do but allowed me to never money shift and be able to overtake cars without doing it either.
Starting out in second gear can sometimes help prevent your tires from slipping on slick pavement. Also useful if you ever drive a pickup truck with a “granny” [first] gear, which is only intended for getting you moving from a dead stop under heavy load.
Vehicles with manual transmissions have a backup starter if you find yourself with a dead battery. If you can get it rolling, you just put it in at least 3rd or higher and let the clutch out . Should normally start right up.
Learn how to stop and start going up a steep hill. Depending on where you live, it may not happen for a long time. But when it does, you’ll want to be prepared. It’s done with a quick but smooth motion. You “feather” the clutch, allowing it to drag enough to hold the vehicle in place but not so much that it stalls the engine. Then you let off the brake and simultaneously accelerate and let the clutch out until you’re moving up hill. Takes a little practice but not too hard to get down.
I disagree, I think it’s better to use the e-brake to hold the car on the slope while you’re engaging first gear. And when you’re in gear you lower the e-brake.
Whether this is possible depends on your parking/e-brake configuration. Pretty much have to have a hand lever controlled brake (hand brake) to do it effectively. The only manual vehicles I’ve ever owned have been light trucks, none of which had a hand operated brake. Trying to operate four pedals at once is just not practical.
That makes sense. I didn’t imagine a manual vehicle not having a hand brake.
What’s an e-brake?
It’s the fast way of saying emergency brake, aka hand brake.
It’s NOT an emergency brake though. It’s a parking brake
Here it’s know as a e brake, and for me at some point forn a few days was my main brake after my brake pedal broke but I still needed to get to work.
Was fun learning how to use it on how to stop on a highway.
Yeah you use it when you park, but it’s still called an e-brake or emergency brake around here.
Oh I know that’s what we call it, we all call it that it seems, but it’s a parking brake. For parking.
Very bad to use in an emergency situation.
Just seemed to be a good technicality to point out in a thread about someone getting a manual transmission car and asking newbie advice.
just buy a new clutch. you’ll use it.
When you start the car on uphill roads, press release the clutch slowly and press the accelerator at the same time. Balance it.
Pffft thats not the fun way, the fun way is to redline the engine then slam off the handbrake.
Driving is complex. Knowing what to pay attention to when takes time to learn.
I recommend not trying to drive a manual until you’ve already learned the basics in an automatic. In my opinion, learning to drive AND learning how to handle a manual transmission is too much at once.
Lol, where I love we still lern to drive on manuals since 99% of cars owned here are manuals and I literally don’t see how learning to drive and a manual at the same time is such a problem.
It’s virtually the opposite here. Most cars are automatics. Lots of drivers never learn how to operate a manual transmission, because they simply don’t have to.
I’m just biased by my own experience, I guess. I was relieved to already be familiar with the basics of operating a car. It made easier to concentrate on shifting when I already knew the “feel” of driving.
Keep the radio/music off. It’s much easier to hear the engine and how the clutch engaged while you are getting used to your new clutch
I find it interesting how those of us having learned with manuals just know when to shift after a while, even if the music is blaring.
You sort of just feel it.You’ll get there soon, OP, just keep practicing!
You literally feel it in the seat of your pants, after a while.
I have 2 cvt scooters (no real defensible reason), and it makes me uncomfortable having RPMs go up or down without direct relationship to speed
Hehe yeah I feel you mate.
I ride motorcycles and struggle getting used to scooters. The almost digital feeling throttle control (on/off, speed will come eventually) is not for me.Enjoy your scooters this summer!
When approaching a light or stop sign, smoothly press down the clutch and break pedal together. If it’s a red light where you might be for a while, pop the gear into neutral and let go of the clutch.
I was taught (rightfully or not) that holding down the clutch too long can damage it.
Really all you would wear out is the throw out bearing doing that and the clutch plate will go before that does. They are like $10 so they always get replaced with a clutch job. The pressure plate can be reused generally for 3 clutches
You’re going to drive it without lessons? Is that legal where you live? I’m confused about the question
I was just asking for general tips tbh, I have experience driving and rode a motorcycle for several years, I just never had a manual car before. If that makes more sense?
If you’re used to a motorcycle clutch, you’ll take to a manual car very quickly.
