How to drive a stick shift - part1 - basic starting

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 10:01 pm

The major thing to master to be able to drive a stick shift car is how to start it moving. Thing that does not take a bit of your effort on automatic car, here requires some skill. ALL people who start driving manual cars have difficulties learning how to start a car. It is doable, however, and I'm pretty much sure that everybody can learn how to drive a stick shift car with just an average level of determination.

It does not take the whole travel of your clutch pedal to engage/disengage your clutch. The engagement process itself usually occupies less than a third of its travel. All the rest is just a kind of a cushion zone. So, the first thing you do - you divide the whole travel of your clutch pedal into three zones. First being "still fully disengaged", last being "already fully engaged", and the middle one being just that - "engaging".

Why would you want this? Because what really matters for how smooth you are able to start your car is how you operate clutch and gas pedals when you are in "engaging" zone.

Your next task is to get a feel for where engaging zone begins. You can find it really easy - when you slowly release your clutch pedal, you reach the point were engine sound starts to change a bit and, if you have tachometer, you see a slight drop in engine rpms.

Well, telling where engaging zone ends is not that easy. You can't really do this when you are just starting to learn, but don't worry, this will definitely come just a bit later.

So, now we are ready to start. After all this preliminary explanation the actual process of starting sounds really simple:

- depress the clutch pedal
- shift into 1st
- quickly release clutch pedal to the beginning of engaging zone
- while in engaging zone, simultaneously release clutch pedal and depress gas pedal, trying to keep engine rpms slightly higher than idle
- as soon as you reach the end of engaging zone, drop release the clutch pedal - you don't need to smooth it anymore
- operate gas pedal to accelerate.

That's it! You are up and running! Very Happy

Driver Joined: Sep 25, 2006 Posts: 107

gotta toss my two bits here Very Happy

if you're first learning to drive a stick, find someone who has NOT been driving one their entire life. They will not give you useful information. find someone to drive you to a large empty parking lot and then shut up and let you drive Very Happy

Also, remember, while you're teaching your legs what to do, give it a bit of extra gas and let out slowly. This is where that person who's driven stick their entire life will start getting annoyed with you for not doing it perfectly. The point is though, you won't do it perfectly at first and its better to burn the clutch a bit than to keep bucking and stalling the car.

Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 12:35 am

Well, I WAS driving stick my whole life Rolling Eyes

New member Joined: Jun 19, 2009 Posts: 8

I have owned a 2009 EX Manual for 7 months. I have driving a manual transmission for that long as well. I took lessons for a month or so before buying the car and am a very satisfied manual owner (gas mileage, fun-factor).

I am still though learning the ropes in optimizing the shifting and am having trouble w/ the first to second shift (there's always this lurch). I suspect this is caused by letting off the clutch too soo, but also I think I may shifting too early.

If I shift around 3500-4000 rpms the lurch seems to go away. It seems unavoidable any earlier. But this approach (from the sounds) seems a bit robust. Any thoughts?

Driver Joined: Dec 25, 2009 Posts: 100

First check whether the gear is in neutral or else there are chances for a clash with the vehicle parked in front of you. then twist the key in anticlockwise direction and aplly full clutch and shift to 1st gear n then accelerate slowly releasing the clutch

New member Joined: Dec 31, 2009 Posts: 1

This reminded me of what happened yesterday when my husband told me to drive our stick-shift car inside our garage. It's actually part of my re-training to driving stick-shift cars. I was so afraid of running the car through the garage that I had my right foot on top of the brakes ready to stomp on it if I can't control the car. Needless to say, the car kept on 'shutting down'. Turned out I didn't need to step on the brakes at all but just to let go of the clutch just a little bit to get it moving. Very Happy

New member Joined: Jan 04, 2010 Posts: 7

I drive a stick everyday.

Member Joined: Feb 02, 2010 Posts: 26

After starting the car press the clutch and shift to 1st gear and dont release the clutch too fast. It results in bumping your car in the engine ceases if you do so then you have to start over again.

Member Joined: Jan 12, 2010 Posts: 41

if u leave the clutch suddenly then your engine will go off usually........

Member Joined: Feb 03, 2010 Posts: 19

The stick shift is the safest way to change gears. It helps us control the gear shift the easy in one hand and wheel in the other hand.

Seasoned Driver Joined: Jul 15, 2012 Posts: 120

I learned to drive at age 13. This was with a stick shift. I have driven stick shifts from old VW beetles to tractor trailers. In May 2010 I purchased a KIA Forte SX. I was only able to test drive a automatic. I insisted on the 6 speed manual and it took them about five days to have one delivered. As I drove out of the lot I stalled the engine. I thought I had tried to start in third gear intead of first. During the fifteen mile drive home I stalled about ten more times! I researched on line and discovered that all KIA Fortes with manual transmissions are equipped with something called a "clutch delay valve". The purpose of this worthless thing is to allow people who do not know how to drive a stick shift to be able to drive one. The way it works is if you are on level or downhill grade you can fully engage the clutch then depress the accelerator. Should people who don't know how to drive a stick shift be purchasing one??? It took me over two months to learn how to use this abomination and I still occasionaly stall the engine. I wrote a letter to KIA asking why they would think customers purchasing the Forte SX (sport model) with 6 speed manual would not know how to drive a stick shift? Their answer was that is the way they are engineered! In my opinion engineers should drive trains and not fix things that are not broken!

Site Admin Joined: Jan 06, 2010 Posts: 485

Welcome to Fun And Safe Driving sgtrock2. Thank you for joining the forums Smile