How to Drive a Manual Car: Our Step-By-Step Process

Learning how to drive a manual car—particularly, learning to drive manual after automatic—may sound intimidating at first. While there are a few more considerations when on the road, mastering manual driving is relatively straightforward once you break it down. 

We step you through the process—including the dos and don’ts—of how to drive a manual car, and break down the pros and cons to help steer you in the right direction.  

How To Drive A Manual Car: Step By Step 

When it comes down to it, driving manual, also known as stick, is relatively easy. This is especially true when you have professional driving instructors, like the experts at EzLicence, guiding you through every step during your manual driving lessons.  

While we’d recommend driving lessons for everyone starting to ensure safe driving habits, adherence to road rules and good driving techniques, grasping the basics is still essential. 

Driving a manual transmission car is as simple as: 

Step 1: Stay (N)eutral 

Before starting the car, put your seatbelt on, then make sure your gear stick is in neutral position (in the middle of the gear selector positions) with your clutch pedal to the floor. 

Step 2: Start Your Engine 

Next, start your car by keeping the clutch fully to the floor and then turning the key or pushing the start button.  

Step 3: Brake 

Now that your clutch is in neutral and your car is on, you’re ready to start moving forward! To do this, you’ll need to disengage the parking brake. 

To check it’s off, look for a lit-up “P” icon on your dash. 

Make sure you keep your foot near the brake pedal to prevent your car from rolling backwards or forwards (if you’re on a hill). 

Step 4: Gear Up To Move 

At this stage, you’ll need to push the clutch all the way in again and move your gear stick into first gear–this is usually in the top left corner of the gearstick. 

Step 5: Start Driving!

Now, take a deep breath and start slowly backing off the clutch and brake. If you’re successful, your car will start rolling forward, and you can start putting some pressure on the accelerator pedal with your right foot.

This balancing of pedals might not kick in straight away, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t get it on the first attempt!

It’s common to stall in this phase if you take your foot off the clutch too quickly. If this happens, don’t stress! Just push in the clutch unit, start the car and repeat step 5. 

Step 6: Shift Into Higher Gear 

Once you’re comfortable and ready to speed things up, you’ll shift into a higher gear by pushing in the clutch once again and moving the gear shift down into second gear. 

From here, you can shift into third and fourth gear once needed by repeating the clutch depression–while maintaining the safe speed limit of your designated road or area.

Fifth and sixth gears are generally saved for driving on highways or interstates. So, unless you are looking to drive at high speeds, you likely won’t need these gears on most roads.

To shift back into a lower gear, simply apply light pressure on the brakes and make your gear changes. 

Step 7: Reverse 

In newer cars, you’ll need to push the gear stick down or up to access the additional reverse gear. Remember to do so while pressing the clutch to prevent the car from stalling. 

In older models, you probably won’t need to push down the stick before shifting gears. Rather, the reverse gear may be in place of a sixth gear and thus easily accessible in the usual gear track.

What Are The Pros & Cons Of Driving Manual? 

Choosing which type of car you want to learn in will be influenced by various factors. This includes personal preferences, where you drive and how often you travel. 

Whether you’ve never driven in any vehicle before, or are researching whether learning to drive manual after driving automatic is for you, it’s important to take into account: 

• Travel plans
• What your own vehicle’s transmission is (if you have a car) and
• Whether or not you want to drive on a restricted license 

The table below summarises some of these ideas to help you weigh up your options thoughtfully: 

Pros

• Cost-efficient to run 
• Fuel-efficient: Manual transmissions involve owners driving in a higher gear at lower RPMs, which can conserve energy and consume less fuel
• Control: Having a manual gearbox means drivers have more control in response to changing road conditions 

Cons

• Because they are less common on Australian roads, finding manual parts can be more time-consuming and troublesome, making the repair process more expensive
• More difficult to learn: Learning to drive manual requires mastery over changing gears, and learning how to use the clutch pedal,  accelerator and gear stick simultaneously. It can take more time and patience to learn 
• Harder to resell: Manual vehicles can depreciate quickly over time, and the smaller pool of potential buyers may make it more difficult to sell on 

Staying In Your Lane: The Legal Restrictions For Manual Driving 

Beyond just your personal circumstances, another consideration for manual drivers is the legal restrictions of your license, which tend to vary by state. 

It’s important to familiarise yourself with these before you embark on your journey, as you could be impacted by something as simple as the car you took your driving test in. 

State: New South Wales

• Restriction: If you have an automatic licence and got your P1 licence (red P’s) in an automatic car, you’re legally bound to drive automatic until you pass your P2 (green P’s) licence. To remove the restriction, drivers need to pass a manual driving test and update their licence. Drivers can read through our guide to NSW road regulations for P-Platers for more details. 

State: Victoria

• Restriction: Drivers who obtained their provisional licence in an automatic car can only drive manual car on their unrestricted licence.  

State: Western Australia, Queensland & The ACT

• Restriction: Automatic drivers must sit a practical driving test in a manual vehicle to obtain a manual license. Additionally, learner drivers must be supervised by someone with an unrestricted license 

State: Tasmania

• Restriction: Drivers who learnt to drive an automatic are restricted to automatic driving indefinitely, but can request to remove this restriction after three years.

State: South Australia

• Restriction: Drivers can drive automatic or manual, regardless of which type of vehicle they completed their test in.

What’s The Difference Between Manual And Automatic? 

When looking into driving a manual car, it’s not uncommon for many Australians to wonder about the differences between manual and automatic transmissions. Additionally, you may be curious about differences in other factors such as price and performance, which can impact your choice in what kind of vehicle to drive.

That’s why we’ve highlighted the main differences below:

1. Shifting Gears 

The biggest difference between a manual and an automatic car is how the gears shift.

A manual car has three pedals: the accelerator, brake and clutch. In manual driving, drivers will use the gear stick and clutch pedal to manually change gears.

 On the other hand, the gears of an automatic car will shift automatically according to engine speed, vehicle speed and torque conversion. 

While automatic transmissions don’t require a gear stick to be moved, they do allow for gear selection: this is why you’ll find a park, reverse, neutral and drive gear. 

2. Price, Performance & Repairs 

Aside from gear structures, the main differences between a manual and automatic car are its price, performance and repair needs. 

Where a manual car is generally cheaper to purchase and repair, an automatic may have more easily accessible parts–meaning that repairing them can be much more efficient. 

Performance-wise, manual vehicles are ideal for heavy vehicle operation and 4WD. Plus, many manual cars are prevalent in other countries, so learning to drive them on home turf can open up roads overseas. 

Let The Experts At EzLicence Take The Wheel 

Learning how to drive a manual car may seem complicated, especially in comparison with learning how to drive automatic vehicles. However, manual driving lessons and instructors can go a long way in giving you the best tips for how to drive a manual car.

So, book your first manual driving lesson and let the experts guide you to a successful future of driving.