When I went camping last summer and my friend told me we could take his dad's truck I didn't think twice about it be a stick shift. That is until we swerved off a rural dirt road and got a flat tire. We were just about finished changing the tire when the jack slipped and fell onto my friend's leg. He ended up just being able to ice it for a few hours but that was after we got to the campsite. He wasn't able to drive because of his leg injury, so naturally I had to jump behind the wheel. I had seen a stick shift been done many of times but never drove one. .
Manual transmissions are a lot of times a good way to go when buying a car or truck. Stick shifts are better on gas mileage then an automatic. They are also a less expensive option when purchasing a new vehicle. It is not very hard to drive a stick shift, and when you get used to it you don't even realize your driving with both feet. The difference in automatic and manual transmissions is that you have three foot pedals and a lever at your right to shift the gears.
When sitting in the driver's seat of a manual transmission vehicle you will see three pedals in this order from left to right: clutch, brake, and accelerator. To start the car you have to push the clutch all the way in and turn the key if the vehicle is in gear. The car can also be started with out the clutch if you put the stick into the neutral position. The clutch is a very important part of the transmission. When shifting into any gear the clutch has to be completely pushed in. Now to explain the gear changing mechanism, or the stick, there are a few different set ups but the most common is the five speed. The stick has to move in a pattern, all the way to the left and up is first gear. The top row of gears goes first, third, and then fifth. Straight down from first gear is second. Then you would go up to the middle slightly to the right and up again for third.
