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How to Drive a Manual Transmission — Cars.com

Feb 27, 2020
So you want to

drive

a car with a

manual

transmission

. Well, I have bad news and good news. The bad news is that there are fewer models on the market now than ever that have a proper three-pedal

manual

transmission

. The good news is those who have it. Offering the feature is easier to learn than old

cars

. Whether you are going to

drive

a new car or an old one, I congratulate you and will help you get started now. The first part of the lesson is what I'm going to explain. What happens when you're operating the manual transmission now isn't absolutely necessary, it could just be a lever and a pedal, but what I've found is that people tend to understand this a little bit quicker, they learn quicker if they understand what's really going on. happening.
how to drive a manual transmission cars com
Beneath the surface, a car with a gasoline or diesel engine has a transmission with multiple gears for the same reason that a bicycle is a good bicycle, not one of those retro hipster one-speed bicycles. The idea behind having these gears is that you can only pedal like this. fast and you reach a certain point and to go faster you need to change gears. The same goes for a car engine. Let's take a look at the tachometer. The tachometer is a gauge that shows the speed of the engine and essentially all

cars

have them even automatics. Don't pay attention to it, it will usually be marked as one, two, three, four or, in some cases, ten, twenty and thirty, but the idea is multiplied by a number that is the revolutions per minute of the engine and when you press the pedal a little accelerator, I will see the needle go up as the engine speed increases, generally although a gasoline engine will only run between six and eight thousand rpm, it depends on the car and there are some exceptions in this car, it is around 7400 rpm where you see a red line. starts and that red line is called the red line and the engine is not supposed to run on the red line because it can get damaged.
how to drive a manual transmission cars com

More Interesting Facts About,

how to drive a manual transmission cars com...

Newer cars are now less likely to be damaged than older ones, but it's still not where you want to be, so if you want to go faster and faster in a car you need to be able to shift into the next simple gear, like a bicycle, well there is one area where it's not like a bike on a bike when you start you just pedal 1 2 3 4 you can start from a standstill, on the other hand the engine has an idle speed of 750 rpm so it starts little from 750rpm; in this case, 7400 but below 750 nothing, so what happens is that when you are sitting, your engine is stopped. going at 750 rpm and your transmission and the gears are not moving at all and you have to make them go together at the same speed and that will be your job by using the clutch pedal and you're going to suck.
how to drive a manual transmission cars com
It's going to be hilarious for me, you're going to hate it. , but I laugh and just think about it, but here you should probably laugh at it too because you're going to be bad, but if you keep at it and Practice, you're going to get better, so let's start with the pedals. You'll see the extra here, the third one which is the clutch pedal, but it looks like there are four pedals in this car and that's what this one is technically called. dead pedal, but a better word for it is footrest, it doesn't really do anything and footrest is a good name because that's what you're supposed to do and that's rest your foot there, not leave your foot on the clutch pedal.
how to drive a manual transmission cars com
The goal behind the clutch is to use it and then get out of it, put your foot on the dead pedal or the footrest. Here's an important tip, before you even start, when you're operating the clutch pedal, you need your whole leg. You're not putting your heel down, anchoring it like you would with the accelerator pedal and just tilting your ankle, you need your whole leg, it's a little more like a brake pedal in that sense, plus when you apply the pedal you always go all the way to the final. to the floor and fully release, always fully enter, fully release and when you are not using the clutch, rest on the dead pedal now even before exiting if you are just learning to drive. a manual transmission think ahead and wear comfortable shoes you don't need fancy shoes to drive or anything but you are the point don't wear a big clunky shoe and don't wear anything with a big heel and don't judge me.
I'm trying to help you and it's free once you learn to drive you can use whatever you want but for training purposes be sensible. Now let's get to know the shift lever or lever, which is how you put the transmission into the different gears. The pattern for the forward gears is pretty much the same throughout and you'll see it at the top of the knob or somewhere nearby. Usually the difference between vehicles is actually how many forward gears this car has six older cars that can stop. With four forward gears, some cars today have seven, it all just affects how many shifts you'll shift now.
One of the most important things to know is when it's not in gear and that's the neutral position, the neutral position is right in the middle of all of this and you'll know it's in neutral when the lever wobbles to the left and back. the right. Now I'm going to press the clutch pedal even though the engine is off and you'll see that now I'm in first gear up and to the left now notice that it doesn't slide left and right in neutral, there's my wobble, so the first second is bottom right and top is the third and so on it's a pretty simple thing now all cars will have a reverse gear which may be in a different location used to be on the right for many cars now and today Nowadays they are starting to see them on the left.
The best cars will have a little lock like this lift collar that prevents you from reversing unless you really mean it. and when you're practicing getting into first gear, once you get a little good at it, you can start doing the same thing with reverse. Well, you want to find a parking lot or an empty or almost empty road and it is important that it be flat because we are going to practice taking off in first gear and reverse and the effects of gravity can complicate things. If you need to start the car, when you turn on a manual transmission, it is always important to make sure that it is a neutral movement that is maintained and in Especially for newer cars, it is necessary not only to have good practice of depressing the clutch pedal because that will allow for the engine to start without pressing that pedal.
You can turn the key all you want, it wouldn't have started with a new car, so when you pull out of a stop in a car with a manual transmission, you're basically trying to coordinate the application of the accelerator and the release of the clutch pedal or the clutch engagement, but what I'm going to do is have you practice first without stepping. the accelerator just uses the clutch pedal to get a feel for the clutch now when you lift the pedal you are engaging the clutch when you step on you are disengaging I'm just going to call it clutch in and clutch out because that's the easiest thing to remember when the time comes to do it, so what you're going to do is watch my feet, watch everything I do, you're pressing the clutch pedal, okay, the lever goes in first. you have the brake on, so I'm going to release the parking brake and then you're going to slowly release the clutch pedal to see what I'm doing right now.
If you have a newer car, this is actually a little bit easier because the engine control unit, the computer senses the load and will compensate for it and give you a little bit more gas, so here you can see my feet off the pedal. . I'm in first gear and moving through pretty simple things. Every car is different and I'll do it again for you, that's how we stop. I am right. I put my foot on the brake clutch and pulled the shift lever from first to neutral and stopped. All cars are different from what you are in.
What you do is you get an idea of ​​where the clutch engages in some cars, the pedal travel is lower, like close to the floor and in others it's higher up. All cars release a little differently, so again, the clutch in first gear releases slowly. and there you have it, you put it around, you can put it in first gear a little bit if you want, we will discuss whether or not to drive in first gear in a moment, so we engage the stick in neutral and stop now, it's actually the same situation . To go in reverse, other than the gear being different on the clutch, I am lifting the collar as needed for this, putting it in reverse and slowly releasing the pedal.
I'm looking behind me and I have a backup camera so I don't want to. to make it look like I'm backing up blindly, there we go and we're moving now, you might find out I'm going to stop now, ready, remember to engage the clutch on break and move the stick to neutral. The skier tends to be a little faster. than the first one because he's the only one you have, so it'll feel a little different. You'll want to practice with that, too. Now that I have an idea of ​​clutch application, I'll show you how we apply the throttle and release it. the clutch at the same time and it allows you to do the same thing you just did but faster here we go clutch in first gear now look at my feet I'm going to add some gas and release the clutch and we move in first gear you I can hear this Once we're moving faster, okay, same as last time, the clutch on the brake puts it back in neutral now you probably want me to tell you what RPM to go when you release the clutch for takeoff.
I can not tell you. The reason is that, first of all, all cars are different. I mean it'll be around 2000 rpm just to get you going, but first, all cars are different and second, I don't want you to focus on the tachometer. You're much better off getting a I'm sorry about this just by doing it and I feel the same when we get to the point where we shift into the higher gears as well, so we did it once, let's do it again, that's it, put the clutch in first gear and add a little gasoline. release the clutch, okay, now let me give you a piece of advice that I think is one of the most useful things I've found in instructing people on how to drive manual transmissions and that is that there's this notion that this has to be the perfect synchronized ballet. . perfectly uniform application and release and that's actually not true.
What I have found is that many people find the process much easier while they are learning, if they are in the middle of releasing the clutch, just if it starts to grab, just hold it for a second. and then release the clutch the rest of the way. I'm going to try to do it again so you can see what I'm doing instead of just trying to robotically get in with the throttle and get out with the clutch, that's you. you're applying you come out a little bit with the clutch foot look at my hand here wait a second when it starts to grab just give it half a second and then let go the rest of the way this is what I'm doing ready a little hard for Look I know but maybe you understand from what I'm describing and the problem is that you have to be a little careful not to overdo it, you can't take forever to take your foot off the clutch pedal, what you're trying to do.
What you need to do is go from clutch to clutch and get out reasonably quickly and you don't want to do what's called clutch riding where you control the speed of the car based on how much you let the clutch slip, that's bad news and it wears out. The clutch is very fast, but on the other hand, this tip seems to help people a lot. Now you will notice, if you do things very slowly, clutch in first gear, if you think slowly, you can give it less gas, here we go, done. I'm barely giving it any gas, it's not much different than when I didn't use the accelerator at all.
If you want to take off faster, you will have to give it more gas, for example, clutch in first gear. faster, the same is true if you are on a hill and I will also address hills in a moment. If you are on an uphill hill I should say you will have to give it more gas to keep you going, what can you do? go wrong, well, things certainly can go wrong in this process. One is you can engage the clutch, maybe not give it enough gas and kill it, and that looks a little like this, okay, so the car moves a little, it probably won't hurt it, so what else could go wrong? while you take off?
Well, you give it too much gas. You can spin the tires. Now something like this will go. It's definitely better than killing it, but don't get addicted because the neighbors don't like it. The police don't like it and it puts some pressure on your car, it will wear out your tires, so there's something else you need to keep in mind that could go wrong and that is that you may smell a terrible smell, most likely that's the case. the smell from your clutch and that means you're slipping the clutch too much and if you see smoke that's definitely a sign then it's time to pull over and cool down let the car cool down you need to cool down all it means is that you have to go a little lighter on the gas and a little faster on the clutch pedal if you're just accelerating, accelerating, and slowing down by releasing the clutch and controlling your speed with the clutch, you'll get smelly, you'll get high, and you'll you will remove hundreds or thousands ofclutch miles unnecessarily and once you've managed to accelerate enough from a standstill, whether in first or reverse, you're probably ready to move up to the higher gears and I do.
I recommend you continue doing this on an abandoned street or in a parking lot or lot or similar, it's much easier, the hard part is over, all you have to do is take care of my feet. I'm going to have to drive during this, so excuse me. If I don't say everything perfectly here we go clutch in first gear okay, we are in the first revolutions clutch in second gear clutch out clutch in third gear clutch out excuse my turn clutch in fourth gear clutch out clutch in fifth gear clutch out touch in sixth gear clutch out, it's pretty simple now what could go wrong in these circumstances, well you may soon end up accidentally in a higher gear than you want and you'll step on the accelerator pedal and nothing will happen.
I'll show you that's how it is right now, I'm in fourth gear and I'm barely moving. it moves and the car vibrates there is a sound and a vibration that means the engine is dragging and it's not good for it, it won't hurt it too much, it's not like cars from the old days were much better protected and they used to be, but in those circumstances, all that means is that you need to be in a lower gear, so let's say I'm moving forward. I'm in low third gear. What do I do with the clutch? Lower a second clutch.
Everything's fine. It's not so difficult now. I'm sure you have an Uncle Tony or something who always tells you to never be in top gear below X miles per hour. Well, I'm sorry, Uncle Tony, but I've driven hundreds of manual transmission cars and they're all different. The important thing is that you are not dragging the engine if your car is perfectly happy in its top gear going 40 miles per hour if you are just driving you are fine there is nothing to worry about something else that could go wrong is that you can also speed up. high and I hit the rev line and it might look like this, well what just happened was my modern car hit what's called a rev limiter and that was a pretty hard rev limiter.
What it does is it actually prevents you from getting into what I would do. be a dangerous condition for the engine, old cars didn't have rev limiters, either hard like this or soft, you would find that the car might slowly lose speed or might bounce off the rev limiter to get your attention, so again , a newer car You're not likely to do any harm once you've experienced all these successful changes, you'll probably need to know how to stop properly and it's actually not that hard, I think people tend to make it harder than they do. I need to do it with some misconceptions about how to slow down and stop in a manual transmission car in general, this is what you need to do.
I'm in fourth gear right now, let's say I'm in fifth. I'm in fifth. you use the brake like you normally would go slower, slower, slower, slower, so when you get close to the stop, you put it in gear, put the transmission in neutral and you're fine, you don't have to downshift when you stop . all geared differently. I've been in a couple where I noticed the engine starts to misfire a little at relatively high speeds and you might want to get it out of gear a little earlier, but generally with all the cars I've driven even let's say sixth gear while we're here you'll find you're getting closer to your stop you're getting closer and closer clutch put it in neutral everything's fine I've alluded to the complicated effects of gravity, especially when you're learning I'm going to give you some advice that I think will help you, but first here's what we're talking about speaking: clutch.
I'm on the brake pedal. I'm going to release the brake. Now you can see we're moving, obviously. It may make things a little more difficult when you're just learning to get going, but I'll show you how it's supposed to go in first gear. I don't see any problem because I am a professional. Actually, it's not like I'm a professional. I'm just experienced and eventually you'll be experienced and driving around San Francisco like it's no big deal and to be honest on a steep hill I might have some problems too but here's a great tip that may come in handy even once you You have experience and that is using the handbrake, especially the handbrake and usually manual transmission cars still have a handbrake.
Look what I do with my feet. Now I shift into first gear. Now what I'm doing is applying the handbrake. I still have my finger on the button here, so it's mobile. Now I'm releasing the brake pedal and then what I do is I give it gas and I left the clutch a little bit until I feel it grab and then I release the handbrake and I'm going now. This can be very useful even if you are experienced like I said, because let's say you park on the street uphill and someone parks behind you and leaves no room, so you have no room to maneuver. mistake when backing up even a little, that is the situation where you would again press the gear on the handbrake, release the normal brake pedal and that's it, it's good advice now for what it's worth today, the most new ones have added a feature called Hill Hold and that's if they have automatic or manual transmissions where you take your foot off the brake or put the clutch in and put it in first gear, release the brake and it will hold the car for you and luckily that It has arrived just in time.
Since cars have stopped having an easy to use handbrake like this, it would be quite difficult to do what I just demonstrated with a pedal because you only have two feet or with an electronic parking brake switch here is a question where Maybe it doesn't occur to you. Do you need to change in order? The answer is No. I am now in third gear. Let's say I gave it a lot of gas. I can go directly into fifth gear because the engine speed was high. This is the kind of thing that could This happens if you're taking off from a stoplight or something or on a hill, let's say in first gear and you rev ​​it a lot and you accelerate quite a bit, you can go from first to third, there's no reason not to do it. .
Here's something you should do. I don't, and that's dead center inertia. I know Uncle Tony told you that you save gas by going in neutral if you do it right. Okay, maybe at some point in history that was true, it's probably not very true, it's probably not worth it, but look what's happening. Right now I'm slowing down in gear, you know what's happening, my fuel injectors are off, they're not pumping fuel, that's how modern cars work, so what happens is if I'm accelerating and then I I slide, you are going down a hill. like this foot off the gas, I'm not using gas, what happens if I put it in neutral, like Uncle Tony says?
So I'm using gasoline because it takes gasoline to keep the engine running, so there you go, Uncle Tony, you made fun of yourself, so I'll try to give you some other tips while I'm at it. Here's one: don't drive in first gear, it's not a 100% guide, but generally first gear is to get to second and you drive in second. gear up once again after having driven dozens and dozens of manual transmission cars. I've been in a couple where second gear was a little too high as we call it for driving and there was a lot of traffic and slow traffic and I had to drive in first gear. but unless you have a car like that, there's really no need to be in first unless you're on your way to second here's a reminder when you stop, don't do what I'm doing now, get out of gear or first gear with your foot on the clutch pedal, it is bad practice, but it also produces something somewhere in a bearing called a release bearing that activates every time you are standing on the clutch pedal and that is designed to activate momentarily and then turn it off, if it sits for long periods you are just putting tremendous extra wear on that bearing so don't do it now.
Here's a note on downshifts. I'm going pretty fast in sixth gear and I want to downshift to fifth. I want you to see how easy this is: clutch in fifth gear, not much movement, okay, the same could be true if I were going in sixth gear, now I'm in sixth. I want you to see while I flip the switch I'm pulling out of this bumpy lane as I shift, it's not bad now if you're getting a little better at this, you're more advanced, that's when you learn to twist the throttle to match the revs, it's You call Look how I just gave the accelerator pedal a little shake.
Now I'm going back to the sixth to do it again. What you're doing is aligning the revs of the essentially to simplify the engine and transmission. For what it's worth, ninety-eight percent of your clutch wear occurs when coming from a stop in first gear or reverse, so don't It's critical that you rev ​​match, but once you have a little more practice you may find that you're able to do it and keep your shifts, your downshifts smoother, so look again nice and smooth, eventually you'll have to park your car with a manual transmission and it may be a little different from an automatic because there is no park setting for the transmission, so I'll show you what I'm doing.
I'm at a standstill. I took my foot off the clutch. Right, you're going to rely on the parking brake, whether it's a handle, a pedal or an electric switch, which is the new thing, but people also tend to want to leave the transmission in gear, especially if you live in a mountainous place because let's face it, parking brakes are not perfect, they are not foolproof and especially as the car ages, what do you do? do it right, there are a couple of ways to do it: you can put the clutch in, put the car in gear, let's say first and then turn off the engine, release the clutch and that's it, presumably we could also do it just for the sake of argument, you're in neutral, turn the car off, then press the clutch pedal, put it in gear, release the clutch pedal and then you have the added security of the engine transmission preventing the car from moving just to be very careful what you do.
I'll do if I'm parking, let's say with my nose in a space, I'll put it in reverse when I park, so if I come back and let's say I start the car absentmindedly, I push the clutch and I don't realize that it's at least in drive. I'm going backwards or not towards the wall in front of me and likewise if I back into a space or back into my garage I'll park it in first gear for the opposite reason, well I guess that's all the help I can get. For beginners, this car wasn't black when we started, okay, we should use two cars for this session, one was a black Subaru BRZ, this is a Toyota 86, they are essentially twins, so everything worked out well.
I'm impressed. If by the way you realize what I was saying, yes, I think I have done what I can for you. I hope you have absorbed what I have shown you and now have the confidence to try driving a stick shift car. There's no doubt you won't be good at it at first. You'll probably turn off the engine a few times. You probably won't damage the car unless it is very old and fragile. You might hurt your ego a little. but give it time, one thing you have to recognize is that driving a manual transmission car competently is like typing without looking at the keys, you're not very good at it until you think about it that much for just one day.
You will realize that you are doing it unconsciously and that is when you will be good at it. Whoever lends you a car so you can try learning how to drive a stick, you might want to take them out to dinner because chances are they're going to knock some miles off the clutch, but it's all part of the learning process. Good luck.

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