How to Drive a Five Speed Car: A Guide for Beginners

Learning how to drive a five speed car can be extremely frustrating. If you feel bad because you have no idea how to drive a five speed car, let me be the first to tell you that it's perfectly okay. Maybe you have perfected the technique of driving an automatic car. If you have done that already, that's great because you have experience in making a car go from point A to point B...even if that just means that you can drive from your mailbox all the way to 'down the street'. When you get in a five speed car, make sure that the car is on a flat surface, not on a hill facing upward or downward. (This can prove to be pretty traumatizing for a beginner.) Now keep this in mind. This five speed car you're going to be driving has three pedals, instead of just the gas and the brake you will find in an automatic car. The pedal all the way to the left is the clutch. The middle pedal is the brake, and the pedal all the way to the right is the gas. As soon as you get into the five speed car, put your key in the ignition, while pushing down on the clutch all the way. When you push down on the clutch, make sure that the clutch is depressed all the way. The car should start. Don't panic! Now, let go of the clutch and turn the car off by turning the key in the ignition. This is how you use the clutch. While the car is off, you want to practice how to maneuver the stick shift using the clutch. The stick shift won't budge unless you depress the cutch al the way. The stick shift will have numbers on it. You always begin driving a car at the number 1, which is the first gear. When you depress the clutch, and always with the left foot, grab the head of the stick shift at the same time and move the stick shift up and to the left. That's first gear. Now, while still keeping your foot firmly on the clutch, bring the head of the stick shift down toward you and to the left. This is second gear. Third gear is up and slightly right. Fourth gear is straight downward from the previous position of third gear. Fifth gear is up and all the way to the right, and the use for this shifting gear that is all the way to the right and downward is actually reverse. Practice switching gears while the car is off, always remembering to depress the clutch completely before performing any maneuvers. Practice this until you can seamlessly switching from gear to gear. This will make the next steps easier. Keep in mind that driving on the highway, reaching fifth gear will always require a little bit of a harder push from fourth gear to make it reach to the right and up. This is why practicing prior to actually driving is extremely important. Now you're ready to begin driving your car.

To begin driving, put your key in the ignition again. Depress the clutch, and then lightly (very lightly) begin depressing the gas pedal which is located on the right side. Push the gas with your right foot. Your left foot is always going to be used solely for the purpose of pushing the brake, but your right foot will alternate between the gas and brake, which I will go into later. Now, when you lightly press the gas, slowly let go of the clutch when you feel the car is moving forward. Again, don't panic. But before you even press the gas, remember to set your stick shift to first gear.

This is what will be happening at this time, to help you visualize the scenario: You put your key in the ignition. Press the clutch. Turn the key, and begin the car. While your foot is still on the clutch, grab the stick shift with your right hand and push upward to the left. Then you're lightly going to use your right foot to press the gas at the same time. You're slowly going to let go of the clutch. (This is probably the trickiest part of learning how to drive a five speed - balancing exactly when to let go of the clutch and when to press the gas.) While you're practicing this step, you might stall out a few times. Your car might even buck like a horse. If you've been practicing a little with driving a five speed, you'll probably know exactly what I mean.

If you do happen to buck or stall out, just turn the car off, and being the whole process over again. When you finally let go of the clutch and you're moving forward, keep accelerating forward. When you see that your speedometer reaches 15, depress the clutch and go to second gear. When the speedometer reaches 25, push the stick shift straight up the middle, and go to third gear. Four gear happens at forty miles per hour, and fifth gear is used almost exclusively on the highway when you're traveling over forty miles per hour. Remember to always push the clutch all the way down when switching gears, and after the gear is switched, release the clutch. To brake, press the clutch firmly and then, using your right foot, press the middle pedal slowly. If you have to drive in traffic, driving a five speed car could be a pain in the rear. When you are in this situation, put your stick shift in neutral when you're not moving but your engine is still running in traffic, while keeping your foot on the break. Neutral is when your stick shift is straight down the middle, not up to the left, not down to the right. It's the position when you're in the middle of switching gears. When you're in neutral, you can bob the stick shift back and fourth, and it will stay in neutral. While in traffic, you have to do something known as 'creeping'. Creeping is slowly, and very lightly, pressing the gas and releasing the clutch, and putting your brakes as the cars move forward and stop. This is pretty hard to do for a beginner. So again, the best way to practice this is by practicing in an empty parking lot. Just pretend that someone is in front of you, and you don't want to hit their bumper. Creep. While the car is on, and your foot is on the brake, slowly let go of the brake, slowly let go of the clutch as you lightly press the gas.

Going up hills is a completely different story. Well, not completely different, but pretty difficult. On hills, your five speed car will have a tendency to roll backwards, and I'm always paranoid of rolling backwards and hitting the car behind me. My advice on this matter is to always stay away from hills! But if you do happen to encounter a hill, you have to learn how to let go of the clutch and hit the gas pretty fast. Practice around a hill near you to avoid any embarrassing, and potentially negatively financial, situations. If you practice, practice, practice, you'll be driving a five speed car like a pro soon. But just always be careful with those hills! Even I don't feel completely comfortable around them yet!