---
title: 'How to drive a manual car - Driving lesson with clutch advice'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIVaqt4VhKc'
video_id: 'VIVaqt4VhKc'
date: 2026-06-30
duration_sec: 757
---

# How to drive a manual car - Driving lesson with clutch advice

> Source: [How to drive a manual car - Driving lesson with clutch advice](https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIVaqt4VhKc)

## Summary

This video is a comprehensive guide for beginners on how to drive a manual car. It covers starting the engine, moving off, changing gears, and stopping safely, with a focus on mastering the clutch's bite point. The instructor also demonstrates common mistakes and provides tips to avoid them.

### Key Points

- **Starting the Engine** [0:10] — Turn the key to the first click for ignition, then press the clutch down and turn the key fully to start the engine. This prevents the car from moving if it's in gear.
- **Getting into First Gear** [1:20] — Press the clutch, move the gear stick left and forward for first gear, release the handbrake, and gently press the gas to 1,000-2,000 RPM.
- **Moving Off with the Bite Point** [3:12] — Slowly lift the clutch until the car starts to move (the bite point), hold it steady, then fully release once the revs rise.
- **Changing Up Gears** [4:27] — Release the gas, press the clutch, move the stick to the next gear, then gradually lift the clutch to the bite point again while adding gas.
- **Stopping Safely** [5:40] — Check mirrors, signal, cover brake and clutch, press brake to slow, press clutch down when revs reach 1,000 RPM, then stop. Apply handbrake and shift to neutral.
- **Common Mistakes** [8:14] — Not giving enough gas leads to stalling; not pausing at the bite point causes jerky movement; keeping the heel on the floor reduces clutch control.
- **Proper Clutch Foot Technique** [11:02] — Keep the ball of your foot on the pedal and your heel up to maintain control. Put your heel down only to stabilize at the bite point.

## Transcript

this is a very brief guide on how to
drive a manual car it's going to include
how to move how to change up gears and
how to stop
the first thing you need to do is turn
the engine on now there's two stages to
turn the engine on the first is your
ignition so if you turn the key
normally the first click
little lamp little lights come up on the
dashboard these little symbols that
means your ignition's on and when your
ignition's on your electrics work so you
have electric windows your fans work
your stereo your lights etc but your
engine isn't running and you know your
engine's not running because it says
zero on the tachometer there the tack
to get the engine running what i
recommend you do is hold the clutch down
which is this left pedal here
clutch to the floor all the way to the
floor when you press it down
and then turn the key all the way
and then the engine fires into life as
you can see the engine is now spinning
the reason i recommend holding the
clutch down when you turn the engine on
is not only some cars require you to do
this but if your car was in gear and you
turn the engine on the car would shoot
forwards in a forward gear and backwards
in reverse gear
okay so once your engine's started your
gas is now going to work this is your
gas pedal here
but you're not going anywhere and that's
because you're not in gear
so to put it in gear make sure you press
the clutch down as my clutch is already
down i'll just leave it down or if it
wasn't down i'll just press the clutch
down then i'll move it into gear one by
pushing the gear stick all the way to
the left and forwards
most cars are like this when i say most
cars nearly all cars these days are like
this some have what's known as a dog leg
gearbox
but you really don't see them these days
only in older performance cars where
first would actually be where second is
but
left and forwards for first
and what you need to do next is take the
handbrake off now if this was a hill and
you took the handbrake off the car would
roll so i don't recommend practicing uh
driving a manual car on a hill until you
first of all practice on a flat the way
i'm going to teach you here is not going
to work on a hill very well so i'll take
the handbrake off to do that this is the
handbrake i'll lift it up that allows me
to press the button in
now hold the button in as i push it down
now the handbrake is off
now i need to set the gas and what i
mean by set the gas is give a little bit
of gas so there's a little bit of power
so this is the right pedal this is my
gas pedal
i'm going to press that gently until the
revs build up somewhere between one and
two thousand rpm
some underpowered cars
may need you to have as much as 2000 rpm
but most cars are okay somewhere between
one and two as i have now practice
keeping that steady before you try
setting off because it's quite a hard
pedal to keep steady as there is a delay
you move it a bit it then increases
later you you come off the gas a bit a
little bit later it goes down so you end
up sort of chasing your tail but going
up and down all the time so press it a
little bit wait and it will gradually
build up normally about the thickness of
a pound coin seems to do the job nicely
the next stage is to move
simply all i need to do is lift the
clutch this left pedal that i'm
currently on at the moment
up to the bike point now you know when
you're at the bike point because the car
starts to move
once i reach the bike point it's really
important that i stay at the bike point
if i continue to lift the clutch the car
will kanger up the road or it may stall
holding the clutch on the bike point
will give the clutch chance to do its
job
of course going to make sure no one's
coming before i do that until my
windscreen wipers on as well as it is
raining here in sunny england there's a
car behind so let's wait for that car to
go past
and another car behind i'm waiting for
that one as well
i check my right blind spot that makes
sure there's no one on my right and it
looks clear now so i'm going to
gradually lift the clutch until the car
starts to move so i'm slowly bringing
the clutch up with my heel in the air
and when it starts to move i'll hold it
steady and i'll put my heel down just so
i can support my leg now i'm going to
hold the clutch steady until
the engine starts to go up in pitch and
the revs start to rise like they are now
now i can come fully
off the clutch and i'm moving i'm not
moving very fast i'm not trying to move
fast i'm a learner doing their first
lesson don't forget
and now i want to change up a gear so to
change up a gear what i need to do is
when the revs reach around 2000 i'm just
above 2000 now so that means i'm overdue
a gear change i will come off the gas
pedal i'll press the clutch to the floor
i'll move the stick into gear two and
then i'll gradually come up to the bite
point again so i'll do that now i'll
come off the gas pedal gently
clutch to the floor
move the gear stick to two i bring the
clutch up gradually until i feel the
bite point and when i feel the bike
point i'll hold it there add a little
bit of gas and gradually come all the
way off the clutch after holding it for
about a second or so just to make sure
it's smooth
and now i'm in gear two
and i want to go to gear freeze the revs
have already gone up to about 2000 so
i'll do the same thing again i'll
gradually come off the gas pedal clutch
all the way to the floor
i'm going to move the gear stick to free
which is into the middle make sure it's
properly in the middle then forwards
that's gear free and then i'll bring the
clutch up until i feel the bite point i
know the bite points there because i can
feel there's a connection it starts to
slow a bit and then i'll add some gas as
i gradually bring the clutch all the way
up
i'm coming up to some temporary traffic
lights now so i'm not going to do the
demonstration on how to stop i'm going
to go past these traffic lights and find
somewhere else and i'll be back with you
in about one second
okay now that i've gone past the traffic
lights i can show you how to stop a
manual car it's actually really easy
just check your mirrors behind you
signal to anyone that you're going to
pull over by singling left say i'm going
to pull over left side of the road
there's no one behind me so i don't need
to do that all i need to do is cover the
brake and clutch the car starts slowing
down start adding brake to stop where i
want to stop and the clutch must come
down and stay down once the revs reach a
thousand like i've just done just there
line up with the curb
modulate the brake so that you don't
stop too early or too late so i'm just
giving myself enough time to line up
nicely then i'll finish the braking and
stop completely
and now you cannot come off the pedals
if you look off the pedals the car would
stall or shoot forwards
what i first must do is pull the
handbrake up so hold the button in
pull it up when it's firm let go of the
button then it should stay up
and that means i can come off the foot
brakes the handbrake has taken over the
work of the foot brake for me and i must
put it into neutral
before i come off the clutch and to now
i'm in neutral is i'll put the gear
stick in the middle and to double check
i'll go from side to side and if i can
go from side to side like this it's in
neutral if it's in gear it will go from
side to side but not very much so that's
a good way to know you're in neutral
definitely in neutral there so i'll come
off the clutch
and i'm secure and stopped
i'm going to go quiet now and let you
watch me drive i'm going to move away go
up the second gear then third gear and
then stop again that way you can pause
and rewind and watch it as many times as
you like
now i'd like to demonstrate some of the
things that people get wrong when
they're trying to learn this the first
thing is they don't give enough gas
they don't give enough gas because
they're afraid of the noise and they
think if they give gas the car is going
to go shooting forwards out of control
but actually
giving more gas will help you keep the
car slower because you'll be able to
hear the bike point a lot earlier
this is a demonstration of trying to
move away without enough gas so clutch
down
first gear hand brake off
i'm going to
cover the gas for good luck
and i'm going to bring the clutch up to
the bike point without any gas
and i've stalled
now if i had gas i would have heard the
clutch bite point a lot easier and been
able to pause on the bike point and that
brings me on to the next problem the
next problem is they don't pause on the
bike point they come off the clutch
slowly but continuously and that's not
how the clutch works i'm just going to
restart the engine now it's still by
holding the clutch down
and turning the key so now it's started
again the hand brake still off is still
in gear so i'm still ready to go
this time i'm going to use gas but when
i bring the clutch up instead of holding
it on the bike point when i feel the
bike point i'm going to keep lifting it
higher and higher and higher and then
see what happens
so it moved away but it was a very big
kick and there certainly wasn't any
control there just going to stop now so
clutch down
and break
hand brake up so and come off the foot
brake and neutral
so i can lift the clutch up
now that would be a big problem moving
away like that especially if you had a
car in front of you or if you were
parking
you need to be able to control your car
and control it slowly for the tighter
more tricky situations
don't hold the clutch indefinitely at
the by point though beginners should aim
to hold the clutch for about four
seconds when moving away and about one
second when changing gear here is an
example of kangarooing this happened
because i lifted the clutch up too high
without giving any gas
another common reason people struggle
with the clutch is because they keep
their heel on the floor as they lift the
clutch what i mean by that is when the
clutch is down the heel stays on the
floor and as they lift the clutch this
pedal now gets a lot lower under the
foot
and when you're in traffic you have to
lift and lower the clutch many times
without fully coming off it so you come
up to the bike point and now you've got
to push the clutch back down again so
the pedal's lower under your foot you've
got to lift it again as you want to move
and you get to the bite point start
moving and the pedal is even lower and
now you're going to press the clutch
down and you struggle to get it down and
the next time you do it you've really
got no control over the clutch at all so
it's really important not to keep your
heel down like you would for the gas and
the break but to keep your heel up
how you want to do it is keep the ball
of your foot near the bottom of your
pedal and the toe of your foot near the
top of your pedal keep your heel up and
that way you can lift the clutch up and
down
without the pedal moving under your foot
which is really important and when you
get to the bite point if you want to
stabilize your foot instead of using all
your leg muscles then put your heel down
just to support yourself and then you
can do small adjustments because the
pedal doesn't really move much for the
small adjustments and if you need to
press it back down again you lift the
heel up down and then when it wants to
come back up to the bite point again
with the heel up bring it up to the bite
point
support your foot with your heel and
when you want to come off the clutch
fully just lift your heel again and
gradually come off
this video is by no means a replacement
for a driving instructor you really need
to practice and you need to practice
where there's no traffic also make sure
you're in a road legal car
if you're practicing without an
instructor make sure you have insurance
get 20 pound off by the link in the
description to collingwood who provides
specialist learning insurance that
allows you to practice in a friend or
family member's car without risking
their no claims bonus if you want to
insure your own car click on the link to
confused.com i have found that they have
the widest selection of cheap insurers
for young drivers well that's all for
this one like it if you think it was
good and subscribe if you want to get my
future videos i'll see you on the next
one