How to Teach Someone to Drive a Stick-Shift Vehicle in Five Easy Lessons

It is one thing to know how to drive a stick shift yourself. It can be another thing entirely when someone asks you, "Can you show me how?" Most people have forgotten how they learned themselves, so here is a step-by-step guide to passing on your knowledge.

Lesson 1: Gear Demonstration

You are in the driver's seat. Begin by turning the car off. Demonstrate to your student the order of the gears. Show them how to stop in a standard (i.e., clutch and break at the same time). Repeat these two demonstrations until you are comfortable with their retention.

Lesson 2: Demonstrate the Clutch

You are in the driver's seat. Go to a large, empty, flat (level) parking lot during the day. Point the car in a safe direction (start in the middle of the lot and aim at a curb away from any roads). Go over the gears and how to stop again. Put the car in first gear, take your foot off the brake and slowly release the clutch until it starts to catch. Hold it there and demonstrate how your foot is not moving.

Stop, and go over the stopping procedure again. You can't explain this enough; everyone forgets to use both feet. Again, start in first and show her how to slowly release the clutch. Show her what happens when you release the clutch too quickly and how to handle it when she does.

Lesson 3: Engaging the Clutch

He is in the driver's seat (when you feel he is ready). The car should be off. He is not to touch the gas pedal at any point of this exercise. Have him go through the gears in order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, (6) and then backwards, (6), 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and reverse. Have him go through the stopping procedure. If you are comfortable with his retention, show him how to start the car.

The clutch, brake and E-brake should all be engaged. If his feet come off of the pedals, at least you have the e-brake. With the clutch in and his foot on the brake, disengage the e-brake. Put the car in first gear and release the brake. Tell him to release the clutch very slowly. Tell him that when he feels the car move at all, he should push the clutch back in and then stop. Repeat this process until he is comfortable with where the clutch grabs and can start the car without stalling.

Lesson 4: Shifting

She is driving. Have her start in first with no gas pedal. Have her shift to second releasing the clutch very slowly. Unless your car idles at 500 rpm, you should be able to do this with no trouble. Once she is in second gear, she can then use the gas pedal; first gear tends to be jerky and can cause many new drivers to panic and stall.

Next, start her in first gear and have her release the clutch until the car moves. Then have her give the car a little bit of gas and finally extend the clutch all the way out. Repeat this procedure until she can start normally without stalling. Now have her shift to second and make sure to explain that she still has to release the clutch slowly even when changing to other gears. Next, she needs to press in the clutch, apply some brake, and then downshift into first. Once in first have her slowly release the clutch and stop.

Lesson 5: Stopping at Higher Speeds

With the car off, practice pressing in the clutch and brake and putting the car in neutral all at the same time. Once she is good at this, have her get the car up to about 20 or 30 mph and have her stop. Once she is comfortable with that, have her go to third and then stop.

From here, it is really just a matter of how well you think she is doing. Everyone is different. Have her do some laps with down shifting and stopping fast and if she does well, take her on the road. Before you know it you will have taught someone how to drive a stick shift.