manual

Im only 15 an a half so i can't drive, Yet ^_^, but i want to drive a manual. I think i have the basic idea but i need you to tell me if it right and to try an answer some of the questions.
So when u put it in 1st and start driving then to shift to 2nd(so where do you shift? what rpm?), you let your foot off the gas...press the clutch...shift(is there a wrong way...fast.slow medium)..let go of clutch...press gas.(how do ppl do this so fast???is this wrong?). then another situation. lets say your in 5th gear an there is a red trafic light up ahead. what do you do? shift brake..an shift down when? an do u also press the clutch while ur braking? also you shift at different places on different cars right? how do you know when to do it.
help me if u can, it would help alot. if ur gonna make fun of it....jus dont say anything. and this is all just for normal driving not racing or anything....ill ask that later.hehe.

Everyone will tell you different things about driving a standard, we recently had a thread similar to this that had to be locked because everyone had such strongly differing opinions. Shift points for normal driving vary from car to car, and can't really be concretely defined since the only real wrong places to shift are at too low RPM or too high RPM (low being the point where the engine bogs when you shift, and high being the redline). Of course it would wear the motor faster if you always shift at extremely high RPM, so somewhere in the middle of the RPM range of your car is generally best for conservative driving. But ultimately you will find your shift points, not anyone else, as it has to do with your style of driving. You will be able to feel where to shift, it's pretty intuitive. As for stopping a standard, I downshift through all of the gears, using the engine as a brake, while I apply regular brakes. When you come to a stop you must either put the clutch in or pull the transmission into nuetral to keep the motor from stalling. If you are going to be stopped for an extended period of time with the motor running (traffic jam) then it is better to put the transmission in nuetral as simply clutching in for a long time can wear the throwout bearing more quickly. Most people will agree that downshifting while stopping is the proper way to do it, but some people just clutch in and only use the brakes. There is nothing wrong with this, but in the event that you need to quickly accellerate, it will be more time consuming, and in general makes crash avoidance in certain situations more difficult.

So, to sum up all that very quickly: don't worry about shift points they will come naturally with a little practice and a good teacher, and in my opinion it is best to downshift while braking as it gives you better control of your car.

I'm sure someone is going to come along and say that downshifting isn't the right way to do things, then someone else is going to tell them to shutup.

so to stop you press brakes... then press clutch also when u want to shift down...or do you brake... let go....clutch... shift ...then brake

You press the brakes, and downshift through all the gears until you're in first gear. To downshift you must clutch in, select the new gear, then release the clutch. You apply brakes the whole time you are slowing, you don't have to take your foot off the brake pedal. Before you reach a complete stop, you must clutch in or pull the transmission out of gear or else you will stall.

when you get your car, you'll know when to shift and how to shift from experience. there's no other way to learn, but to do it yourself.

Well if your comming up to an intersection and you need to stop it would be best to shift down through the gears incase an emergency arises...but if say your in 5th gear you can keep braking till the car is ideling but don't try to bring the car to a complete stop or it will stall, its a pain it the ass to continute shifting down while comming to a stop, i'm lazy.

Or, while slowing down you can keep the clutch in and shift down you don't have to clutch everytime you need to shift.

thanks for all the info...it helped alot. =)