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Learning to drive a vehicle with an automatic transmission is easy enough; after all, millions of people drive a vehicle every day. But, change the vehicle to a standard transmission, and you will have some additional learning to do. Fear not, though. By following the simple steps in this article, you can successfully learn how to drive and shift gears together, and with practice at it, you will be cruising along in no time!
The first step, before you even start the vehicle, is to sit in the driver's seat and get the feel of the clutch and the gear shifter. Push the clutch in, (the pedal farthest to the left), then move the shifter to each of the gear positions. Be sure to push the shifter as far as it will go-until you feel that the gear is engaged- don't stop in the middle of the gear or you will grind the gear. This is something that you don't want to do. The noise you will hear will let you know that you haven't shifted the transmission completely into gear.
When the vehicle is out of gear, or the shifter can be moved around easily in the middle of the gearshift pattern, the transmission is in neutral. This is where the parking brake comes into play. With an automatic transmission, you place the shifter in park when you want to stop the vehicle and keep it in place, or park it. With a standard transmission, though, there is no park gear. You will need to engage the parking brake when you want to park the vehicle.
There are a few different types of shifting patterns, but we will use the five-speed as our example. To shift into first gear, push in the clutch and move the shifter to the left as far as possible, and then straight up. Now, clutch and move the shifter back to neutral. To find second gear, move the shifter to the left, as far as possible, and then straight down. Clutch, go back to neutral, clutch again, and move the shifter as far to the right as you can, and then straight up. This is fifth gear. Now clutch, return to neutral and move the shifter to the right as far as possible, and then straight down. This is reverse. Now you might think we have left out a couple of gears, but we did this for a purpose. Let's find them by returning to neutral, then moving the shifter in between the first and fifth gears. This is third gear. Return to neutral and find the place in between second and reverse. This is fourth gear. So now you have it- from neutral, the top gears are first, third, and fifth, and the bottom gears are second, fourth, and reverse.
Your next step is to place your foot on the brake, place your left foot on the clutch, and start the vehicle. Disengage the parking brake. Shift into first gear, the gear that you will always start out in. Slowly release the clutch while you gently press the gas pedal down. The car will begin to move and will move faster as the clutch is released and the acceleration is increased. The general rule of thumb is to shift gears every 15 miles per hour the vehicle is going. That means that as soon as the speedometer hits 15, you should shift into second gear. Third gear would be needed at 30 miles per hour, and so on.
When the vehicle reaches 15 miles per hour, push in the clutch pedal and move the shifter from first gear straight down to second gear, then release the clutch. By the time you reach 45 miles per hour, you should be cruising along in about third gear.
Now, you will need to learn how to downshift in order to slow down or come to a complete stop. You will have to remember that you may shift down a gear or use the brakes to slow down, depending on how fast your vehicle is traveling. Knowing the range of each gear will help you decide what to do, and how many gears to shift down to.
When you are downshifting from 45 miles per hour, and you see a stoplight ahead, simply push in the clutch and shift down to second gear, using the brake pedal to help you slow down, then come to a complete stop. Push the clutch in again and shift the transmission into first gear to start out again.
Your first several starts and stops will probably be jerky and hard, but they will improve as you get more experience and learn how to smoothly move the clutch and the gearshift. A good place to practice would be in a large, empty parking lot.
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