The Right way to Change your Gears?

kluivert

Hi all,

Does anyone here know when you change the gears for your car. It says in the owners manual that, to change at the appropriate stage so that the engine is not overworked. When is that??

I change each around at 2500 revs whereas my gf (same car) changes the gears at 3000-3500 revs.

Whats the guidlelines. When it says 97 bhp @ 4500rpm does that mean revving the car above 4500 rpm will not release any more horses. Its a 1.4 astra, i know deisel is different but same question to deisel heads.

dudara

Tbh, I never look at the rev counter. I just listen to the engine. It tells you when it wants to change gear.

Stephen

When the engine is cold I keep the revs low and change around 2500rpm. After a while I usually change at about 3000 rpm - 1.25 Fiesta zetec.

kluivert

I know what you mean but how do you know know, if you get my point. Its probably a personal perference.

The thing is my mate has an 05 astra and i have a 99 astra, i would be quicker thru the gears than he would. Now he's complaining that it has got noisey, which it has, i know you should labour the car as well, but hey dont drive the crap out of it as well.

Am sure the way a person drives will decide the longevity of the engines life span, yeah?

kluivert

I agree with Stephen there, when its cold change around 2-2.5k and 2.5-3k when it warms up.

Alun

There is no one simple one-size-fits-all answer to a question like this. It depends on the car, or more accurately the engine, and also depends on what you're trying to achieve at the time. Try to learn a bit about how engines work, power and torque curves, gear ratios and how this affects speed and acceleration and you'll get a better feel for when to change gear than an over simplistic mantra like "change up at 2500 - 3000 RPM". My €0.02 worth.

dudara

kluivert wrote:

Am sure the way a person drives will decide the longevity of the engines life span, yeah?

A car is a pretty durable lump of metal, but how you drive it and treat it will definitely affect it's lifespan and how often it will need repairs.

Personally, I change gears very quickly (by this, I mean the actual physical motion of chaning gear, not moving through the gears), it comes from learning to drive on very steep hills. My dad taught me to drive and has no probs with it, on the other hand the bf gives me grief over it.

Esel

Search is your friend.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=249343

corblimey

That other thread seems to be all about the RPM. My car doesn't have one, and I didn't learn with one (last year) either. My instructor taught me the following:

First: off
Go into second pretty much straight away. First should only be used when caught in v.heavy traffic.
At 20mph, go into third.
At 30mph, go into fourth.
At 40mph, go into fifth. And you're done.

Coming back down, it's:
35: Go back to fourth
25: Go back to third
<20: Go back to second.

It does mean that I've constantly got my eye on my speedo, but I'm getting better at recognising the sound of the engine, and sorta matching that to the speed at which I learned to changed gear. Does that even make sense?

Alun

At 20mph, go into third.
At 30mph, go into fourth.
At 40mph, go into fifth. And you're done.

Like I said, it depends on what you're trying to achieve. If, for example, I'm stopped on a roundabout and I'm about to enter a slip road onto a motorway, where I have to merge with traffic that is potentially travelling at 120km/h, I sure as hell aint gonna change up into 5th gear at 60km/h. See what I mean?

commited

When I was driving my mothers car, I found there was little power below 1500 so I generally changed up 3-3500 rpm. Depends on how quick you want to go really.

DubTony

corblimey wrote:

My instructor taught me the following:

First: off
Go into second pretty much straight away. First should only be used when caught in v.heavy traffic.
At 20mph, go into third.
At 30mph, go into fourth.
At 40mph, go into fifth. And you're done.

It does mean that I've constantly got my eye on my speedo, but I'm getting better at recognising the sound of the engine, and sorta matching that to the speed at which I learned to changed gear. Does that even make sense?

Yup, that does make sense. At least the bit about recognising the sound of the engine. The rest of it ? :eek:
With all respect to corblimey, if this is the type of instruction people are getting is it any surprise we're a nation of crap drivers.

You really can't simply match the gear with the speed. As Alun says it all depends on the situation. Entering motorways and dual carraigeways can be so frustrating these days with idiots plodding along at 50 or 60 k.

I'd suggest you turn the stereo off, roll down the window and listen to the engine. Don't worry too much about revving it from time to time, the car can take it. Listen to what's happening up front and change gear appropriately for the conditions you're driving in. Remember, you shouldn't be racing to get through the gears, as sometimes you need to be in a lower gear because of road conditions or volume of traffic. Trust your instinct. You'll feel the car labouring sometimes and sometimes revving too high, but you'll get it. After a while it'll be second nature.

Esel

Some speedos have a mark beside the *max* speed for each gear, sometimes in the format I, II, III etc. Most people would be amazed to think they can rev their engine that high safely (provided it is at operating temperature).

You can use this as a guide for 'normal' driving as follows: add 2 to each mark, and change into that gear at about that speed. For example first gear shows max speed of 50kph, you should be in third gear at that point.

corblimey

DubTony wrote:

You really can't simply match the gear with the speed. As Alun says it all depends on the situation. Entering motorways and dual carraigeways can be so frustrating these days with idiots plodding along at 50 or 60 k.

Fair point DubTony. I think the purpose of my being taught that way was to associate the speed I was doing with the noise the engine was making. So if I was trundling along at 40 in 2nd gear, the screaming would indicate something was wrong . In busy traffic, I'm still not so good at determining my engine noises against the scobe in the lane next to me, so I rely on the speed I'm going, but even then I'm relying more on the speed I believe I'm going than staring at the speedo and willing it over the 30 so I can gear up.

If you've never driven a car before, it's a little difficult to know that the noise the engine is making is good, bad or indifferent, so I figure most instructors try to come up with a physical way to tell when to change gear.

whippet

it is not all about just revs and engine noise, you should be able to guage the correct gear with the driving conditions, from the 'feel' of the car, if the car is chugging along you are in too high a gear, if it is hopping along you are in too low a gear. Plus if you are expecting to over take, merge on a motorway or cornering a lower gear than when you are cruising would be needed.

It all boils down to experience and becoming a better driver.

_Kaiser_

alternatively buy an automatic (like I did) and let it do all the work I don't see why more people don't have em given how heavy traffic is in Dublin these days and the fact that you (rarely) get to do any more than 80kph anyway...

[edit] ...which mine very comfortably does anyway - just to dispell the old myth about automatics being slow! [/edit]

css

It all depends on how you are driving at the time, you'll change gears generally a lot later if you are ragging it/overtaking... Or change a lot earlier than normal if you want to drive economically.
Most diesels can trundle along at 30mph in 4th gear easily enough, mine will do 35 in 5th without any bunnyhopping if you are careful with the accelerator. It'll also do 70 in 3rd, but that's what the rev range is for, you to decide how you want to use it.

Seth Brundle

as said there is no fixed rpm where to change. Changing up will be different for different cars and also the prevalling conditions (wind, road incline, traffic, etc.), the load within the car, the condition of the car, the drivers preferences, etc.

blastman

Jaysis lads, if I changed gear before 5.5K rpm, sure I'd never get to hear the VTEC at all!

Kell

kluivert wrote:

Its a 1.4 astra, i know deisel is different but same question to deisel heads.

In the petrol I changed at about 3-3.5krpm per gear up to fourth.

K-

jayok

Well if I am just knocking around, I aim to keep to rev's about 2,000 rpm the whole time, so going I switch up the gears to keep the engine ticking over it at 2,000 rpm.

If I really want to drive accelerate hard, I will change at 7,800rpm at this puts the car back to 6,000rpm on the upshift. Just back in the power band! :cool:

highdef

Automatic is the way to go Place gear selector in "D" and press accelerator - How easy can it be??

Seth Brundle

highdef wrote:

Automatic is the way to go Place gear selector in "D" and press accelerator - How easy can it be??

all you need now is an automatic accelerator. Come to think od it there is the technology there to override the driver, so it should be possible in the future to tell the car where you want to go and then you sit back and fall asleep/look at ladies nearby/pick your nose!

DubTony

kbannon wrote:

Come to think od it there is the technology there to override the driver, so it should be possible in the future to tell the car where you want to go.....

Nah, that's the Airbus A320 you're thinking of, not the BMW 320.

el tel

A friend of mine who races stock cars has a party piece where he drives his car with his left leg propped up on the dash - he can change gears without using the clutch. An uncle of mine who was a truck driver for years can also do clutchless gear changes. I takes a a lot of practice I believe.