Drive around the parking lot in first a bit more, and as you come up to a curve, slowly take your foot off the gas while you push the clutch to the floor and coast around the curve. On the other side of the turn, start pressing the gas pedal to bring the RPM's back up and let out the clutch. The first few times the car will buck, because the engine will be going faster or slower than the transmission. Again, this is where letting the clutch out slowly comes in. As you let out the clutch, keep increasing power to the engine until the two "feel" the same speed. This takes a while to master. Your friend and owner of the car may turn a couple shades of pale here if you over-rev or let the clutch out too slowly so those two disks rub against each other too long. You want to get this down so that the clutch is completely engaged in about 1/2 a second or faster.
Getting up to speed
Fourth 30 to 65 MPH
A word about first gear. Never downshift from second gear to first while moving. Yes, you can do it and you won't really cause any damage, but it is generally not a good practice because of the potential for over-revving the engine. When you are going that slowly, and of course when you are coming to a full stop, push the clutch in and use the brake pedal. Once you stop, shift to first. And what about the downshifting in preparation for a traffic light - wouldn't it be advantageous to be in first gear when the light switches to green? Not really; first gear is just to get the car moving from a dead stop. If you are moving at all, second gear is where you want to be.
Before you get to the part about moving, you need to get just a bit of experience stopping, otherwise your friend in the passenger seat will start clawing at the dash and screaming like crazy as you try to negotiate a hard left to avoid the one other car still parked in the lot.
Quit stalling!Obviously, you will need a stick-shift car. Your best bet is a car that is not new, nor one that has had the clutch recently replaced. Clutches are much "stickier" when new, and this makes learning more difficult. It's also better to learn in a smaller car, with a smaller engine. They are much easier to get going and to stop. Finally, choose a car with a floor-mount stick shift. Don't try to learn on a car that has the shifter on the steering column. Floor mounted stick shifts are more intuitive and easier to use.
And double-clutching? It's like granny shifting except that you actually let the clutch out when you're in neutral, bring up the engine RPMs again, then push in the clutch and go into the next gear. And you do it all VERY fast. This was especially necessary on older cars before synchro gears smoothed the processes of changing gears in the gearbox. It is also a way to avoid grinding gears on transmissions that have been damaged by powershifting too much.
It's time to drive around a bit. You're not going to go out of first gear, so you can stay in the parking lot. First gear is good up to about 15 MPH on most cars - don't exceed this or you will over-rev the engine. Start out in first just start driving slowly around the parking lot. Once the clutch is completely released, wind it up to about 10 miles and hour, then pull your foot off the gas. Whew - it almost throws you through the windshield. This is because engine speed and car speed are directly related, unlike in an automatic transmission where there is more "coast" in the transmission. Once you are down around 5 MPH, give it gas pretty firmly, about 3/4 of the gas pedal. Even on a small car, you'll jerk you head back hard. Again, the wonderful thing about a manual transmission is that it is directly coupled to the engine. Practice smoothly slowing down and speeding up a bit.
So, with the car still turned off, put your right foot on the brake pedal, and with your left, push the clutch to the floor. On some cars it is hard to press in, but most modern cars have a "light" clutch. A light clutch is usually what you want, because you're going to be pressing it in and slowly letting it out a lot. Practice pressing it to the floor somewhat quickly, then letting it back up slowly. It's not that hard to get used to.
At least for now, we're going to go for the simple stop. It doesn't matter what gear you are in, you can always use the brake pedal the way you are used to by pushing in the clutch first. Practice. With the car turned off and the parking brake set, rest your right foot on the gas like you be in normal driving, and put your left foot wherever you normally feel comfortable. Practice the panic stop - left foot quickly pushes the clutch to the floor and the right foot moves to the brake and presses it. You don't have to slam the clutch, put do it quickly. Practice. Again. It has to become somewhat natural. Later we will talk about using the clutch as you slow down, but for starters, always push the clutch in before touching the brake.
Read through the WHOLE tutorial first. Some things are hard to explain before others, but you need to see the whole picture before you first turn the key...
Practice 1st to 2nd quite a bit. As you get better at judging the way the engine applies power, you can get to smooth shifts while letting the clutch pedal out quite quickly. This is the goal. If you have trouble getting smooth fast shifts between 1st and 2nd, don't fret - it gets even easier in the higher gears.
Watch your hands - the gearshiftKick it in high gear
In fact, since we just mentioned stalling, let's give it a try. Warn your passenger first. Try letting the clutch out WITHOUT giving it more gas. The car starts to move, then the engine dies, and the car jerks to a start. See how effective leaving the car in first with the engine off is? It just stops moving - hard. This is why you always leave the car in first gear when you park (and use the parking brake for safety's sake).