Changing gears - How - Part2 of how to drive a stick shift

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 3:30 am

Now, when you managed to start your car, you accelerate and a few seconds later you hear your engine is revving really high. Time to change gears! Relax, it’s much easier than starting a car, and since you managed to start the car, you can master changing gears, too. Interestingly enough the hardest part for novice is to change from first to second.

Why? Because it takes so long to change the gear at first, that your car comes to complete stop by the moment you start engaging clutch. How to remedy this? Practice, surprisingly. Smile

Before you start changing gears in real life, you want to spend some time playing in changing gears.

Your car is turned off, your parking brake is engaged, you sit in your seat wearing seatbelt – all like in real life, only engine is not working. And, like in real life, you proceed to do the following sequence: disengage clutch – shift into first – engage clutch and add gas – drop gas and disengage clutch – shift into second – engage clutch and add gas – repeat for the next gears in sequence. The idea is to make this process automatic. And you will make it automatic eventually, because this is what you will do all the time while driving.

So, you spent half an hour practicing shifts and you no longer have to remember when to press the clutch and when to release it. Good. I have one more exercise for you. You start the engine, you press the clutch and keep the pedal down there. Then you shift: first – second – neutral - release and depress clutch pedal – first – second – neutral… You don’t really have to do it for a long time, you just need to get a feel how shifting goes with the working engine, and a handful of times would be enough. Now you are good to go.

Next and last exercise: start the car – accelerate – change to second – accelerate – press clutch pedal – stop the car – change to neutral – release clutch pedal. This is not just exercise – now you are actually driving! When you feel more or less confident – include third in the loop, and start over from shifting while not moving, this time just a few tries before you go live. Then include forth gear. And when you are done with that, you built your basic skills for driving manual car. Congratulations! Wink

Driver Joined: Dec 25, 2009 Posts: 100

Starting the car is just a cake walk, shifting the gear to accelerate the car is the major part in driving a car. Shifting the gear in proper speed not only rescues the engine life but also noise free driving,

Active member Joined: Dec 24, 2009 Posts: 52

To change gear in a car: Release the accelerator pedal and at the same time press the clutch pedal down.

Remove your left hand from the steering wheel, cup it around the gear knob and move the lever gently but positively from one position to another.

Return your left hand to the steering wheel.

Release the clutch pedal and simultaneously apply power by pressing down on the accelerator pedal.

Remember: The low gears provide lots of acceleration but run out of steam before the vehicle is moving very quickly.

The high gears provide the speed but not the acceleration.

For a smooth ride you should avoid "snatching" (changing gear with too much force). To make the gear change smoother, let the gearshift pause for a second as it crosses the neutral zone.

You don't have to use the gears in exact sequence. Where appropriate, you can miss a gear. This is called block changing.

FIRST - The gear giving the greatest power but lowest speed. Used for moving off, manoeuvres and negotiating hazards.

SECOND - Used for slow speed situations such as roundabouts and junctions, for moving off downhill and for increasing speed after moving off.

THIRD - Used for driving uphill, through a hazard at speed and where a greater degree of power is needed than fourth will allow.

FOURTH - Low power but the greatest speed range. Used for most driving situations at and over 30 mph where there are no hazard to negotiate.

FIFTH - Lowest power, highest speed. Used for high speed cruising on dual carriageways, motorways and other such open roads.

REVERSE - A high powered gear used for driving the vehicle backwards.

NEUTRAL - Disengages the engine from the wheels.

Member Joined: Jan 14, 2010 Posts: 14

When changing the gear of car,the best first bet is to get a transmission fluid change, all the metal filings from your syncros will be floating around in there so get those out and see if it improves, if it does, then just try and be more careful about stepping on the clutch all the way, and firm positive shifts, if the fluid change does not improve the condition, you may need a rebuild. this is unlikely to be a clutch problem, especially if revving it up a little in neutral first helps. Smile

Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 8:39 am

Poon, you lost me, wth you are talking about? Surprised

Member Joined: Feb 02, 2010 Posts: 26

Each gear has its own speed limit. Apply full throttle only when you are in 4th gear and above . When you reach speed above 30 miles , you should have been shifted to 4th gear by that time.

Member Joined: Jan 12, 2010 Posts: 41

Driver will come to know about when to shift the gears. While increasing the car speed, the engine automatically gives some noise if the gear is not changed.

Member Joined: Feb 03, 2010 Posts: 19

Each gear has its own speed limit. You can notice the engine sound changes when you reach the particular gear's speed limit and now its time change to higher gear. and also never go to the top gear when you are in below 40mph

Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 8:58 am

Ritz, if I understand what you mean by engine sound change in this case, you want to change gears way before it happens, not after Smile

New member Joined: Feb 19, 2010 Posts: 5

First time driver will definitely feel difficult while changing gears.They should be careful while doing that.

LINK SNIPPED

New member Joined: Jun 23, 2012 Posts: 4 Location: uk

Everyone appears to be on the right track about changing gears and do we need to change anyway, but when we talk about difficuty in changing gears its mainly because when you clutch down, car speed start changing, especially on a gradient and its this change that student are find themselves not prepared for, and it leads them to rush and make mistakes. So start off changing gears on level road till you feel confident and then increase difficulty. is on up hill etc.

Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2015 9:42 am

newrose wrote:

Everyone appears to be on the right track about changing gears and do we need to change anyway, but when we talk about difficuty in changing gears its mainly because when you clutch down, car speed start changing, especially on a gradient and its this change that student are find themselves not prepared for, and it leads them to rush and make mistakes. So start off changing gears on level road till you feel confident and then increase difficulty. is on up hill etc.

Yep, it certainly makes sense. You want to start under the most favorable circumstances, and make the task more complex only after you make some progress.