How to Drive a Five Speed

I just recieved a 5 Speed Car for my birthday. The only problem is I dont know anything about 5 speeds or how to drive them. I was looking for some quick pointers to get me started.

Pretty easy to get started. Start the car up with left foot on clutch, right on brake. If the surface is flat, then just let your right foot off the brake, slightly press the accelerator (I mean slightly, move the engine say from 1000 rpms to 1200), and slowly let the clutch out. then when you have to shift, foot off the accelerator, clutch in, shift clutch out, foot back on accelerator

Umm. A good pointer. Drive with somebody beside you who KNOWS how to drive :)

Actually I KNOW how to drive but I just cant drive a five speed.

either learn on a beater car or be prepared to replace the clutch early. Even though many think they have learned how to drive a standard, its different on every car. Every car has its own nuances for shifting and how responsive it is.

The best way is to give the car some gas, rev slightly (no higher than 1800) and then let out the clutch slowly. Practice stops and starts on dead areas of straight roads, stay away from hills, intersections and turns etc. Once you master that, try doing the clutch and gas on the fly.

Also dont ride the clutch, people have a tendancy to hold in the clutch and brake as they stop , dont. Shift normally down and use first gear when going to an intersection.

also dont leave your foot "resting" on the clutch pedal, only use it when youre going to shift, youll wear out the clutch.

been drivin stick for about 8 years....its way more fun but you have to be worried about stalling and stop and starts, very bad in heavy traffic or stopped on a hill....give others more room in traffic and hope others give you more room. Nothing worse than a tailgating idiot who will rearend you because you have a standard and youre on a hill and might roll back a half foot

wrong forum moron.... this is for people who know what their taking about and how old are you like 14?

learned in one day how to drive...took me a couple years to get good at it...like having ur foot on the gas and clutch at the same time when on an incline so u won't roll back

my dad taught me and my bro in my moms car...oh the clutch cables we went thur :D ...but ince u get the basics itz gonna take u a lil bit to refine ur skills

so just pressing down on the clutch pedal will wear it out sirsmiley? i've been driving stick for awhile (not with my accord) with my other older accord, and the clutch never had a problem when doing that

also if your on a hill, and you dont know how to drive stick properly just pull the handbrake and gas n clutch, just as you feel your moving, release the handbrake, this way you don't plow into the car behind you

the easiest way to learn how to drive a manual is ride with someone that already knows how to drive a manual. ride around with them in your car and watch what they do(eg. at stop lights, on hills, stopping) then after about 30mins to an hour, go to a large parking so you can drive without stahling in traffic, do that for about an hour and im sure you will have it.

wrong forum moron.... this is for people who know what their taking about and how old are you like 14?

don't be such an ass

don't be such an ass

I couldn't agree more. Sure, it's the wrong forum, but so what? Simple mistake. I know people who are in their late 40's and don't know how to drive a stick. They're good drivers, just havn't ever driven a stick before.

I couldn't agree more. Sure, it's the wrong forum, but so what? Simple mistake. I know people who are in their late 40's and don't know how to drive a stick. They're good drivers, just havn't ever driven a stick before.

This is true. I even taught my own mom how to drive a stick... lol

don't be such an ass

my thoughts exactly were all car people in some way we would not be here if we wernt. so the question ended up in the wrong bord no need to be a di** just give the advice we are all capable of giveing and let him know how the forum works
and im sorry if i offended anyone but lets not be rude people put downs suck wheater it shows or not you know "do on to others" this is just my :2cents:

o also be nice to the noobs people they dont know any better

I learned on a dirt road, first learn how to accelerate in a straight line, once yo uget moving its easy. if the car starts bucking push the cluch in, if you are going at any speed, shift to the next gear, the higher the gear the less likely it is for the car to start bucking
learning to drive in a boat like my moms Nissan Frontier keeps you from bucking, higher perfomance cars that can pull your foot away from the accelerater in 1st or 2nd and then the compression slwoing the car down making your foot go on an off an so on is what causes the bucking.
after you get moving shifting is easy...but before you go out sit in the car with it off and the clutch in shifting through all gears to 5th and then back down to 4th several times untill you get a good feeling for that particualr tranny.
Some people it takes years, me i drive better than my mom and ive been doing it for a little over a year. i am a lot more smooth than she is and she first learned how to drive in a manual and had owned 5 manual vehicles since, including an Escourt GT.
As far as hills are concerned, dont do what is stated above (dragin the parking brake, this causes premature ware, a lot like handbrake drifitng). i use a heal toe method, but for you a small roll back is nothing to be discouraged about. if it comes down to it, put it in neutral, set hte parking brake FIRMLY and get out and KINDLY ask the person behind you to move back some, explain that you are learning to drive a manual and that you are learning not to roll back. in most cases they will understand, and if not then just sit there, they will give you the room eventually.

When you get good ad accelerating and decelerating/downshifting in a striahgt line try a few turns, know where your car stands as to what gear to put it in, we arent racing, you dont have to have it in gear going around the corner, its ok to coast in neutral around corners. once you know how to drive it and have gotten comfertable with cars coming out of corners will go smoother as you will know what gear to select before entering and there wont be any jerk form the suncro or improperly mached revs.
to give you an idea, 1st is mostly just a gear to get you started in daily driving, 2nd can handle all the way down to 5mph or less in most cases with out stalling or going to insanely low RPM's, when coming out of a corner 2nd is good up to 20mph in most cases (20 you will rpobably need to give it some gass if you coasted/idled around the corner) 3rd 15-30 (agian, the higher your speed the more likely hood some reving iwll be needed, it saves your syncro's and makes thing smoother) and if yo uare taking croners that require downshifting any higher than that you are a crazy driver...
when stoping/slowing, dont even try engine braking untill you get good at just driving, shif into neutral and take you fott off the clutch and just stop like you would an auto. as you learn more you can start to engine brake, double clutch to down shift (say from 5th to 3rd, syncro's dont like that unless you slow down significantly)
double cluting isnt needed if your car is equipted with syncro mesh gears... but as you get good at it you can use it to make thing smoother and to save wear on the tranny as the syncro's have to do less work.
if you are learning do drive a manual with a car that doesnt have syncro mesh gears... ever head the saying "grind'em till you find'em" ? because you will be doing a lot of grinding.

Holding down the clutch while coasting to a stop won't wear out the clutch, it'll wear out the throw-out bearing (which is a lot easier to replace than the whole clutch). Usually, just go into neutral and brake to a stop normally, but if you think traffic might start moving again suddenly, keep the clutch in and just downshift through the gears so that you'll be in the right gear if you have to accelerate.

well being that he has had the car since Oct. '04, I'm guessing he has figured it out by now. Please check the dates before posting.

ptshhh, i never check on the first post, only the last post... its still good info :)

the way i learned how to drive 5 speed; filled the tank with gas and drove around town all day, mostly my own neiborhood. practiced on flat and slanted surfaces. while braking, its a good idea to down shift while braking. that way u use the momentum of the car to slow u down instead of solely relying on ur brakes. do that especially in bad weather.

wrong forum moron.... this is for people who know what their taking about and how old are you like 14?
Lets try not to be such a jackass, mmkay?

I'm new here...I just bought a 5- speed. I do fairly well with it, but any suggestions about hills? my husband and I went out to a remote hill yesterday. He siad I did okay, but I am still unsure...any suggestions on how to perfect staying on a hill with clutch and gas (no brake being used) without gong ove 4 rpms? My husband said practice, but I'm impatient. I would like to master this soon.

thuggie think of your clutch like brake pads. it works with friction. you ride the brakes you burn up that material and cause glazeing (especially if the clutch is new) and kman is right holding the clutch all the way in wears on the throw out bearing, but it is much better then riding the clutch. ( but the point is this material needs time to break down like brakes they last a long while, 100,000 isnt out of the ordinary for a clutch if you drive it well)

in practical driving i have learned it is not highway driving, or city driving, or long trips, or hills that bothers the hell out of me. its going those blasted 2 and 4 inches at the drive through in mickey dee's. when i was learning i cant tell you how many times i killied it.

hills... personnally there are 2 options one is ride the clutch just perfect so you are not going backward nore forward (i dont suggest it though see above) the other is more of a rocking motion where you roll back, catch yourself with the clutch and roll forward. actually neither are good for the clutch but if you are just looking for a way you can try those.

I am trying to teach my mother how to drive a five speed properly. She has a bad habit, in my opinion, of shifting all the way up to fifth and leaving it in this gear, even though she is only travelling at 30-35 MPH on residential streets. I say that she should use 3rd, or possibly 4th gear, at this speed and situation, and that using 5th gear will lug the motor and is actually inefficient at this speed. I was taught that 5th gear is an overdrive gear and should be used only at highway speeds. Could you give us an opinion in this matter?

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