# Driving a manual **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 23, 2006, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665 "2006-07-23T02:54:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665/21 "2006-07-23T19:31:54Z")
Oh yeah, and make sure he puts the parking brake ON when he leaves. There is no PARK gear. I hav pissed off everal folks over the years by putting their emergency brake on after I’m done borrowing their automatic cars. I’ve driven stick for about 25 years, and I always forget you don’t need the extra brake on automatics. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665/22 "2006-07-23T23:43:36Z")
Umm… does his license cover manual transmission cars? Here in the U.K., if you pass your driving test in an automatic, you’re only licensed for automatics. You have to take another test for manuals. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665/23 "2006-07-23T23:45:13Z")
[QUOTE=gfloyd] So I have a 5 speed, the only car my boyfriend and I have (we’re happily living in sin). We just moved and now he’s going to have to drive it. This wasn’t a problem in Davis as we only used it once or twice a week. He’s having problems learning how. I’m not sure if it’s me or him. Anyone have any tips on teaching him? Right now another car isn’t in the budget and he needs to get to work and shortly I won’t be able to take him. [/QUOTE] He has to know the why as well as how a stick shift works. If it is synchro-shift there should be a minimal learning curve. A plain gearbox is a gray horse of a different color. Do you double clutch when shifting? I learned to double clutch downshift on an old farm truck when I encountered a steep hill ending in the river/lake. Took some fast and fancy footwork to avoid the drink. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665/24 "2006-07-23T23:55:04Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Umm… does his license cover manual transmission cars? Here in the U.K., if you pass your driving test in an automatic, you’re only licensed for automatics. You have to take another test for manuals. [/QUOTE] It’s the same license for both in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665/25 "2006-07-23T23:55:51Z")
[QUOTE=spingears] A plain gearbox is a gray horse of a different color. Do you double clutch when shifting? [/QUOTE] I can’t speak for the OP, but I’d bet money that it’s a synchro box. I was reading a 1962 issue of _Car & Driver_ and basically the only bad thing they had to say about the new MGB is that it lacked synchro in first. MGBs didn’t get synchro until about five years later, but it seems from the context that all-synchro boxes were desired if not expected over 40 years ago. My MGB (_still_ in restoration, but I expect work to resume any day now) is a '66. My Triumph Herald is a '63. (It didn’t have synchro in first, and it’s not working between 3rd and 2nd.) I don’t personally know anyone who’d be able to drive them (except for me of course). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2006, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665/26 "2006-07-23T23:57:26Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Umm… does his license cover manual transmission cars? Here in the U.K., if you pass your driving test in an automatic, you’re only licensed for automatics. You have to take another test for manuals. [/QUOTE] No such issue in the States, at least where I’ve lived: Illinois, Maryland, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia. There is no shifting test, or license rating for it, for private cars. There are some additional requirements for commercial drivers, but I’m not qualified to speak to those. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665/27 "2006-07-24T01:53:48Z")
Double clutching- it was always called double declutching in this neck of the woods. (If we are talking of the same thing- no synchromesh). It was horrible. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665/28 "2006-07-24T02:46:49Z")
[QUOTE=Cicero] It was horrible. [/QUOTE] Nah, it’s fun! ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665/29 "2006-07-24T02:53:25Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] Nah, it’s fun! [/QUOTE] You must have had considerably more talent than me then. 🆒 And the drum, non power brakes. Give me a mdoern car any day. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665/30 "2006-07-24T03:08:21Z")
Three things… **1.** Third gear is your friend! In a modern manual car, the box is relatively forgiving of poor gear selection. If your b/f gets flustered and forgets what gear he’s in, have him simply knock it into neutral, let go, then jam it straight up. It’ll be in third, a truly wonderful gear. You can be in third at 15mph and you’ll keep moving. The car will protest, but you’ll get going (slowly), and you won’t be embarrassingly stalled in the middle of a bust street. Similarly, if you get it into third at 60, you won’t cook the engine or crash, so long as you don’t stay there. Apart from just taking off at the lights, or speeding along a desert highway, third will cover most driving - at a pinch. **2.** Practice ALONE! Any halfway smart person can drive a manual, but a really bad thing is to have somebody in the passenger seat when you’re trying to learn the friction point. Even worse is if that person is the owner of the car. Kangaroo the car in private! \*\*3.\*\*If in doubt, over-rev. Spinning the wheels a bit is less embarrassing than stalling. And a wheel-spin is something a newbie can recover from without getting flustered, unlike stalling. If you screwed up the take-off the first time, how are you going to manage now that you KNOW the people behind you are getting impatient. Stick it on 3000rpm if you have to, and slowly clutch out. ---
**Author:** ![gfloyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d2c977/32.png) [@gfloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gfloyd)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665/31 "2006-07-24T04:59:17Z")
Thanks for the advice. I didn’t have much trouble learning, as I knew about shift points and such before I started driving one. I did learn in an automatic, so I sort of understand. Oh, and in my car, it doesn’t move much at all, other than backwards, with just releasing the clutch, you need to gas it. And third gear only works from about 20 to 35. I find fourth to be my friend. Oh, and I don’t have a tac, which makes expain what’s too much gas. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665/32 "2006-07-24T16:05:31Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] So you isolate the movements. Mot cars should be able to start rolling with the engine at idle speed, but if not just tell your friend ro give it enough gas to run at a fast idle, and then forget the right foot. Just leave it frozen in place while he concentrates on getting a feel for the clutch. [/QUOTE] I prefer the idea of using a high idle rather than a low idle. Bring the RPM up over 1000, and hold the gas steady from that point forward. It’s more forgiving than a low idle, and just as easy to keep concentration on the clutch. Remember, when the clutch starts to catch, you’re NOT releasing it, you’re keeping it partially engaged untill the car gets up to speed. Novices expect to release the clutch right when the car starts moving, but the car needs to get up a head of steam first. I think they need to focus on stopping their clutch foot when the car starts moving because natural inclination is to release. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665/33 "2006-07-25T12:45:30Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] He WILL stall it repeatedly while driving, and he WILL hold up traffic… [/QUOTE] A couple of months ago I saw a girl at a stop sign who just couldn’t… erm, ‘get it in gear’, so to speak. I had to drive around her. I went to the corner gas station and refuelled, and she was _still_ trying to get the car moving. I was going to offer to get her out of her way, but she finally got moving. And this was on a flat street. Good thing she was in Birch Bay, and not a city! About hills. That takes a bit of technique. In an automatic you just put on the brake. When the light changes you give it gas until it moves. On steep hills your friend will have to learn to jockey the clutch, accellerator, _and_ the hand brake. Best to save that for a later lesson. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665/34 "2006-07-25T16:24:00Z")
The analogy that helped me was to drive like a cat kneads: one paw goes forward as the other comes back, and then vice versa. I had tended to think of operating the clutch and gas as two separate processes, when it should be more like one synchronized operation. Then it was just a matter of experience to work out the interaction. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665/35 "2006-07-25T17:02:02Z")
I learned to drive on an automatic, but later bought a manual (to save money – I was in college). I had the dealer show me what to do, then I bought the car and learned to drive it on the way home. Necessity will teach you quickly; I only stalled once on the way home. So I’d recommend: tell him what to do, then drive him out somewhere in the middle of nowhere and leave him with a car, preferrably someone else’s, and tell him if he loves you he’d better be home before dark. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665/36 "2006-07-25T17:26:42Z")
Teaching/learning anything to/from anyone emotionally attached to yourself is a minefield. The more difficult the subject matter, the bigger it is apt to blow up in your face. Find someone else to teach him. Seriously. You have been warned. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665/37 "2006-07-25T18:25:42Z")
Take to heart what **Kevbo** said above. And what **featherlou** said earlier. I tried to teach my new wife to drive a clutch and it nearly ended our marriage before it had really begun. We were truly newlyweds and were about to go on our honeymoon: a multi-country trip across southern Europe in a leased manual-transmission car. I knew how to drive a stick, and was therefore planning to drive the entire trip, but I thought it wise that she at least have some skills on a manual transmission in case something happened to me. (Like too much _vino tinto_, for example 🙂 ). Anyway, what I thought was wise … wasn’t! ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665/38 "2006-07-25T20:42:56Z")
This thread evoked a memory that made me laugh. I once tried to get my wife to push start my pickup. I must have said something like “get me up to around 10 mph. and then back off”. I was looking in the mirror to see her coming at me at about 10 mph. She banged into me and I must have cursed rather loudly. She left the car in tears and headed for the bedroom. Took me several minutes to coax her out and make her believe it was my fault. Then there’s the time that I tried to teach her how to ride a mo-ped… ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665/39 "2006-07-25T21:30:30Z")
[QUOTE=ShibbOleth] I learned to drive on an automatic, but later bought a manual (to save money – I was in college). I had the dealer show me what to do, then I bought the car and learned to drive it on the way home. Necessity will teach you quickly; I only stalled once on the way home. [/QUOTE] My ex did that. She couldn’t drive a manual, and answered an ad in the paper for a second hand automatic. When she arrived at the guy’s house, it turns out he’d lied (or the paper had made an error) and it was a manual. She told the guy, “Look, I have to pick up my kid in half an hour. If you want me to buy your car, you’d better teach me to drive it, and you’d better be a fast teacher.” So he did. Although, when I started going out with her a year or two later, she was always labouring the motor by changing too soon and not revving high enough. Every time we took off from the lights, the car sounded like it was going to stop. She wouldn’t listen to me when I suggested she wasn’t doing it right, but after riding as passenger in that car with me a few times, I noticed she just quietly altered her driving style. 😃 One thing I don’t agree on is the _always learn in a manual_ idea. I maintain that when you’re at that very early stage of crawling around the parking lot looking at the pedals, it’s better to have one less thing to worry about. Once the learner is okay with driving an automatic in general traffic, _then_ introduce the gears and clutch, and that should only be a morning’s lesson. Similarly, the best vehicle to learn a manual in is a large, powerful one, preferably a honking, great diesel SUV. Those things have mondo torque and are very forgiving of mistakes compared to, say, a micro-car with a biting clutch that you have to work the gears precisely just to keep up with traffic flow. Learners are always initially scared of driving a big thing, but they don’t speed as a rule, so it should be fine. Of course, in the real world, the choice of vehicle to learn in might be limited, but ideally, I like to teach people in a variety of vehicles, if possible. ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665/40 "2006-07-25T21:34:22Z")
I dunno, this summer my husband taught me how to drive stick and it wasn’t too horrible. I don’t know what the roads are like where you are **gfloys** , but what finally did the trick for me was driving the car at the beach. Long straight roads at right angles, not the windy mountain roads up here. > [@](#): > > Originally posted by **Lissa** > _Grandpa looked at me and solemnly said, “Lissa, what if you ever find yourself in need of a getaway car and the only one available is a stick?”_ This is the only reason why I learned. I don’t like driving stick; I don’t need to drive stick, but, by God, I can do it if I _must_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-a-manual/365665.md?page=3)