How to drive a manual transmission vehicle: Downshifting and reversing
Learning how to drive a manual transmission model can be tough, but that’s why we are creating a helpful how-to guide to help walk you through the steps to drive stick! If you are catching up, check out part one of how to drive stick! Let’s dive right in and learn the next steps to driving a manual transmission: downshifting and reversing.
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Steps to drive a stick shift vehicle: Downshifting
Once you’ve got the hang of accelerating and shifting gears (upshifting), you need to learn how to decelerate to slow down and stop safely. Downshifting is especially helpful on hills or in bad weather where it can be dangerous to brake too harshly. To downshift, you should be using the clutch and the brake while you shift gears, rather than the clutch and the gas pedal.
- Push in the clutch and shift down one gear while pressing on the brake.
- Let off the clutch slowing to avoid high revs.
- Repeat this process until you can reach a stop.
- Note: there is no real need to downshift into first gear, as at speeds that low you can generally just reach a complete stop and put the vehicle into neutral once you hit the bottom of second gear. But always make sure to get back into first gear as you start accelerating again!
Important notes to remember about downshifting and stopping while in a stick shift vehicle are that you should only move one gear at a time. When at a stoplight, try not to press the clutch for more than a few seconds. You should put your car in neutral whenever you are stopped for any period of time.
Steps to drive a stick shift vehicle: Reversing
Once you’ve gotten the hang of moving forward in your stick shift vehicle, it’s time to learn how to reverse! There is only one gear for reversing, but often it moves quickly, so it is especially important to let off the clutch slowly and push it back in while stepping on the brake if you need to slow it down.
Learning to drive stick shift is a process that takes practice and time. Popping the clutch, or releasing it too quickly, will cause your car to lurch and stall out. This happens often as you are learning to drive stick, so try to get the hang of gear shifts before you drive in heavy traffic. Practice in open (read: empty!) parking lots, on long straightaways of deserted roads, and always have someone that knows how to drive stick shift along with you in case you run into trouble.
We hope these blogs were helpful to teach you the beginning steps to learning how to drive a manual transmission vehicle! For all of your automotive needs, come on down to Palmen Dodge Chrysler Jeep RAM of Racine!
