How do you operate a car with a manual transmission?


Answer: Through a combination of a shifter and three pedals: gas, brake, and clutch. Press down the clutch pedal with one foot, and the brake with your other foot first and then turn on the engine of the car. It is recommended to shift to neutral immediately after turning on your car and prior to departing. To shift between one of the engaged gears, typically marked 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 N (for neutral) and R (for reverse), press down on the clutch all the way to the floor and move the shifter to the desired location. Once the car is on and you're in neutral if you want to move forward, press and hold the clutch pedal to the floor and move the shifter to the "1" position. Slowly disengage the clutch pedal partially, and while disengaging slowly start to press down on the gas pedal. After gradually pressing more on the gas pedal, slowly remove your foot from the clutch entirely. This will start you in forward motion, and you will be restricted to the speed limit of 1st gear. You can track this limit through the RPM (revolutions per minute) gauge on the dashboard of your car. Typically you want to keep the RPMs between 1500-4000. If the RPMs start to decrease to 1500-2000 that is a sign you want to shift from a higher gear to a lower gear (i.e. 2nd gear to 1st gear), and as the RPMs increase to 4000, that is an indication you want to shift to a higher gear (i.e. 2nd gear to 3rd gear).