How to Drive Stick Shift
Learning to drive a stick shift can be difficult unless you can find someone patient and knowledgeable who is willing to teach you. Then it can be a fun experience. The two operating features that make the difference between a stick and an automatic are the clutch and the stick shift. The clutch is located to the left of the brake pedal. The stick shift is located where the normal gear shift is in an automatic. Instead of having drive, park, and reverse as the main controls of the gear shift, you now have first through fifth gear (if you are in a five-speed), neutral, and reverse. There is no park in a stick shift, which is why the emergency break is essential. The first thing that you must keep in mind is that the clutch is the most important part of the car to you, as the driver. If anything goes wrong, then the first thing to do is push the clutch completely to the floor. This will keep the car from stalling and preserve the clutch.
When you start the engine, you must remember to first put your left foot fully on the clutch and your right foot on the break. Then, you can turn the key and release the emergency break. Before accelerating, you must be sure the engine is in first gear. At this point, you have to learn the balancing act of adjusting the gas with the clutch, which is also known as finding the tension point. You must take your right foot off the brake and press down on the gas pedal while simultaneously easing your foot up off the clutch. If you let go of the clutch too quickly, then you may stall the car. This simply involves restarting the car and trying again. On the other hand, if you give the car too much gas and do not ease up fast enough on the clutch, then your engine will make lots of unnecessary noise, but you will not really be getting anywhere. Keep in mind that stalling the car happens to everyone on occasion, even those who have been driving stick shifts for years. The important thing to remember, when you notice that you have made a mistake in balancing the gas and the clutch, is to put your left foot back on the clutch. This should keep the car from stalling and allow you to begin the procedure again.
Getting started in first gear can be difficult, but once you have mastered this operation, shifting into other gears is so much easier. When you are driving in first gear and you notice that the tachometer is registering somewhere around "3", then it is time to shift into second gear. Proceed by putting your left foot back on the clutch, taking your right foot off the gas, and pulling the stick shift straight back into second gear, again trying to balance the gas and the clutch in order to make the shift as smooth as possible. This process is the same when shifting into the higher gears as well, but the higher the gear, the easier it is to balance the gas and the clutch.
I am not going to say that learning to drive stick shift will be effortless in the beginning. Learning anything new takes time and energy. In the end, when you have mastered driving stick, it will be fun and exciting. You will also get to feel that wonderful sense of accomplishment that comes along with learning anything new, which makes your effort even more worthwhile.
Published by Kimberlee Hartshorn
Kim Hartshorn is currently attending Salem State College in Salem, MA to get her Masters in English. She then hopes to teach college writing while working towards a PhD in Rhetoric and Composition. View profile
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26 Comments
Post a CommentLove driving stick-shift. Doing it in barefoot is different though. It's also illegal in my state.
I love driving stick shift & I love driving in my heels. I have people (mostly guys) ask me how I drive in them? I have no problems wearing any kind of footwear when driving stick. I don't like driving barefoot for it does'nt feel right & like some people would say you never know when a bee might land on a pedal especialy the clutch pedal. You ever go to push in the clutch pedal when your barefoot & a bee stings you on the bottom of your foot when your in traffic going from one gear to the next & you have to push it in again to get to neutral & it stings you the second time & don't forget the traffic. Not pretty.
I love stick shifts. There alot more fun to drive than an automatic and they cost less in maintenance fees. I'm glad for sticks when working long hours and your tired going home and you have to work the clutch alot in traffic, it keeps me awake. You get better gas mileage to.
Women look sexier when there in heels especialy driving a stick & for the people that drive barefoot I don't recommend it. What are you going to do when your in traffic comming up on a stop sign & a car in front of you & you go to push the clutch pedal in on a hot summer day & you get stung on the bottom of your foot by a wasp (bee)?
Thank you for that last comment. I must admit that I was going crazy with so many of these comments concerning heels. Like you, I genuinely enjoy driving manual and often do it barefoot. And like you, my boyfriend could care less about me driving in spike heels. Honestly, he just thinks it is awesome that I enjoy driving manual as much as he does. So again, thank you for your much needed comment :-)
What is this, some fetish site for high heels and stick shifts?
I'm an actual female and I've been driving a manual transmission for 25 years. I generally drive barefoot...I'm much more interested in having control over the car and preserving my clutch and syncros than entertaining some guy. I'm not sure I'd want to be on the road near someone trying to drive in spike heels, ridiculous.
Fortunately, my husband is turned on by things like intelligence and common sense more than gimmicks ;).
I always drove manual and I love it and wish everyone would drive a stick,at least learn it before getting your drivers license. Make it mandatory for people to learn before getting there license would be even better. My girlfriend had me teach her when we met,she only drove automatics,no one she new drove stick now she drives stick all the time and drives in her classic 4" pump heels besides and surprisingly no grinding. She looks good in them to especialy if she wears a short skirt instead of slacks.
I just love shifting through the gears in my little manual car and listening to the sound of the engine. I'm still in the process of trying to change gears in my high heel pumps though. Sneakers not a problem I change into my heels at the office. I try to drive with my heels at least twice a week especialy when my boyfriend is with me. He gets excited when he sees me in my skirt and heels and driving manual. I try to please him when I can. I have trouble in heels sometimes by not getting clutch pedal all the way in. I have to center the pedal on the widest part of the bottom of the shoe, if not it grinds especialy trying to put it in reverse then sometimes I have to let it out and push the clutch pedal back in.
I enjoy driving my standard car. Having that control over when to shift to the next gear and listening to the sound of the engine. Automatics you just sit there and it's real borring. I need to be moving my feet,legs and hands when I drive, it's more fun. When I do drive in my heels I prefer my stiletto boots over my classic stiletto pumps. I have more control in my boots (working the clutch pedal). I will drive in my pumps sometimes though,but I have to be extra carefull that my foot don't slip off the clutch pedal. I have to be centered on the pedal when pushing it in. I know you should be anyway no matter what kind of footwear your wearring.
I love my stick shift. I usualy wear sneakers to drive though and then change into my heels when I get to work. I like to drive in my heels but it don't like me, so I usualy don't because everytime I wear my heels when I go to shift in my heels it feels like I'm getting a charlie horse (cramp) in the back of my left leg. I know that sounds weird, but it only does it when I try and drive my standard in heels.