I can get the car to start is when the clutch is down?

Hello,

A manual transmission vehicle requires to depress the clutch pedal to start. And if you are in a gear then it will stall if you simply let off the clutch. Unless of course you slowly add throttle as you slowly release the clutch pedal. If the vehicle is in neutral then it will not stall when you let off the clutch after startup.

This is standard operations of a manual transmission vehicle.

Here is a helpful guide of how to operate a manual transmission vehicle:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-a-standard-transmission-works

Please let me know of any questions.
Thank you.