What Gear

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
View Threaded
Sun 20 Apr 2014 00:44
What Gear - julie page

Like many towns the town I live in is soon to get a 20mph speed limit, which has been the subject of debate in our local on line forum, some roads already have them. Many people who post say they are in forth or fith gear while at 30mph, at 30mph I am in third with the engine reving at just over 2000RPM and second at 20mph.

So curious, what gear are you in at 30 or is my driving technique bad.

Also, looking for, a replacment car and took outt a 3.0 Audi auto A5 for a test drive a couple days ago, but when I tried to stick to the 20mph speed limit on one of the side roads the auto box kept changing up a couple of seconds later down again, then 30 seconds up again, is it faulty, the car or me?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 20 Apr 2014 01:15
What Gear - alan1302

Surely it depends on the car and how the gearing is set?

At 30 MPH my Hyundai i10 is fine in 4th but not so keen on 5th. Mu old Corsa (B) 1.0 was happy at 30MPH in 5th

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 20 Apr 2014 01:45
What Gear - julie page

Guess your right, just wondered

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 20 Apr 2014 08:32
What Gear - xtrailman

The Audi may well have adapted to your driving style after driving the same route, depending on the set up, but say 30 miles to reprograme to your style.

Or 20mph may just be the cutoff before changing gear.

You need to understand the revs your car is comfortable at driving, mine for example is happy at 1500rpm, but will pull easily at 1250 rpm.

What gear i would be in doesnt matter, its finding the sweet spot for your car, that is a gear thats economical, (which can often be seen with a dash indicator on newer cars), but without straining the engine, its suprising how low down the rev range you can drive at with a light throttle, 1000 rpm is possible with my car.

Edited by xtrailman on 20/04/2014 at 08:33

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 20 Apr 2014 10:38
What Gear - Bromptonaut

Agree with OP's proposition of second in 20zones. Probably third in a thirty but if hazards etc push speed much lower then second.

My IDI Berlingo pulls strongly from 1800 rpm but much lower than that and it's labouring. Generally use gears to keep revs between 2 and 3k.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 20 Apr 2014 11:50
What Gear - mss1tw

My IDI Berlingo pulls strongly from 1800 rpm but much lower than that and it's labouring. Generally use gears to keep revs between 2 and 3k.

Is your EGR system still connected?

Someone who isn't me...stuffed a block of round aluminium up the exhaust recirc. pipe, siliconed that, then took a hammer and pliers to the flap, ripped it out, and put the whole lot back together.

That person gets 40 more miles to a tank and much improved driveability.

Edited by mss1tw on 20/04/2014 at 11:51

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 20 Apr 2014 12:13
What Gear - Wackyracer

It's better to use a lower gear than to labour the engine but, The road speed to gear is dependant on the car and how suitable the ratio's are for the speed.

I find my car is just about OK at 30mph in 4th provided there is only me and 1 passenger and it is only on the flat. Otherwise it is 3rd and for 20mph it has to be second.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 20 Apr 2014 15:49
What Gear - Collos25

Your friends an idiot.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 20 Apr 2014 16:25
What Gear - oldroverboy.

Your friends an idiot.

Now now andy, stay polite!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 20 Apr 2014 18:12
What Gear - mss1tw

Your friends an idiot.

An idiot with increased MPG and an inlet manifold that won't get any more clogged up.

So he's happy.

Of course if you want to pay for his fuel and mechanics costs when the system inevitably causes trouble, he'll re-instate the EGR.

He asked me to pass on a little light reading for you.

www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/apr/09/shippi...n

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 20 Apr 2014 16:23
What Gear - daveyjp
Which gear depends very much on the car. The new gear indicators are best ignored, they only account for mpg and not vehicle control, or upcoming terrain and living in hilly Yorkshire this matters!

At 30mph both our cars are flashing a 5, there is no way 5 is suitable as the engine labours. If you do select 5, drop to 28 and it is flashing 4!

Put your foot down in 5th and nothing happens. 4th works in 30s, 3rd in 20s. Our Aygo was perfect in third for 30s and better in 2nd for 20s.

With autos don't be afraid to use whatever is available to lock in a gear, with tiptronic systems this is easy enough.

Autos shouldn't be "select D and forget" as as you found they can hunt, they can also select too high a gear and the car can end up driving you.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 22 Apr 2014 17:18
What Gear - SteveLee

If you have to ask what gear you should be in and you are NOT a novice driver, I suggest you're not cut out to be a driver at all. Sell the car and buy a bus-pass or at the very least, buy an automatic and leave the "diffcult stuff" to a computer.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 22 Apr 2014 17:35
What Gear - mss1tw

If you have to ask what gear you should be in and you are NOT a novice driver, I suggest you're not cut out to be a driver at all. Sell the car and buy a bus-pass or at the very least, buy an automatic and leave the "diffcult stuff" to a computer.

Well done genius

took outt a 3.0 Audi auto A5 for a test drive a couple days ago, but when I tried to stick to the 20mph speed limit on one of the side roads the auto box kept changing up a couple of seconds later down again, then 30 seconds up again, is it faulty, the car or me?

Edited by mss1tw on 22/04/2014 at 17:35

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 22 Apr 2014 17:52
What Gear - skidpan

If you have to ask what gear you should be in and you are NOT a novice driver, I suggest you're not cut out to be a driver at all.

Actually I agree with that. Pretty much every car I have drive has needed different gears for a given road speed. If you cannot tell if the car is in the correct gear you obviously have a very limited skill level and no mechanical sympathy. Diesels are very different to petrols for starters.

But my instructor hammered it in from the first lesson that being in the correct gear for a given speed is essential. By the time I took my test being in the correct gear was second nature.

What do they teach people today.

As for those idiot displays on the dash I managed 35 years without one, why do I need one now.

Edited by skidpan on 22/04/2014 at 17:53

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 22 Apr 2014 20:54
What Gear - alan1302

As for those idiot displays on the dash I managed 35 years without one, why do I need one now.

You don't need one.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 22 Apr 2014 20:58
What Gear - Bobbin Threadbare

Might sound a bit naive, but don't people listen to their engines and watch the revs? That's how I was taught (7 years driving and counting!). If it's screaming, you've got the radio too loud!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 23 Apr 2014 01:48
What Gear - julie page

If you have to ask what gear you should be in and you are NOT a novice driver, I suggest you're not cut out to be a driver at all. Sell the car and buy a bus-pass or at the very least, buy an automatic and leave the "diffcult stuff" to a computer.

I see no one asking what gear they should be in!

I was just suprised people were writing that they were in as high as 5 th gear at 30.

My car will drive happily in 4th too but the revs are very low.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 23 Apr 2014 23:40
What Gear - drd63

If you have to ask what gear you should be in and you are NOT a novice driver, I suggest you're not cut out to be a driver at all. Sell the car and buy a bus-pass or at the very least, buy an automatic and leave the "diffcult stuff" to a computer.

I see no one asking what gear they should be in!

I was just suprised people were writing that they were in as high as 5 th gear at 30.

My car will drive happily in 4th too but the revs are very low.

Or go with the old bikers adage of 'if in doubt, rev it out'. Great advice with 2 strokes which were prone to fouling plugs at low revs.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 23 Apr 2014 23:51
What Gear - galileo

I was just suprised people were writing that they were in as high as 5 th gear at 30. My car will drive happily in 4th too but the revs are very low.

Many cars will run perfectly well at low revs, on a level road at a steady speed.

I have a 1.4 litre petrol which is quite happy at 30 mph in 5th at 1500 revs. However, to increase speed or when there is even a slight uphill gradient, I change down.

Mechanical sympathy is the key, don't make the poor thing struggle in too high a gear or rev the nuts off it unnnecessarily.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 24 Apr 2014 11:29
What Gear - mss1tw

30 at 5th is fine in my Berlingo - the main problem is speed creeps up far too easily as there's no engine breaking and any slight increase in revs correspondingly results in a much higher speed increase than would happen in 4th gear.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 24 Apr 2014 15:26
What Gear - Bromptonaut

30 at 5th is fine in my Berlingo - the main problem is speed creeps up far too easily as there's no engine breaking and any slight increase in revs correspondingly results in a much higher speed increase than would happen in 4th gear.

I thought you had same 1.9IDI as me?

IMHO 30 in fifth is not fine for the reasons you recite plus engine will be doing 12-1500 rpm at most which feels like labouring to me. Revs won't pick up quickly either as that sort of rpm is below the torque band which starts around 1800.

Our other Berlingo, an 1.6/115PS Hdi, will pull at lower revs but there will be a lot of ECU activity on fuel dose and injection timing.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 24 Apr 2014 17:28
What Gear - mss1tw
I thought you had same 1.9IDI as me?

IMHO 30 in fifth is not fine for the reasons you recite plus engine will be doing 12-1500 rpm at most which feels like labouring to me. Revs won't pick up quickly either as that sort of rpm is below the torque band which starts around 1800.

Our other Berlingo, an 1.6/115PS Hdi, will pull at lower revs but there will be a lot of ECU activity on fuel dose and injection timing.

I have, minus the EGR system. Maybe it's that. I get 40 more mile per tank now, too.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 24 Apr 2014 11:44
What Gear - P3t3r

You also need to look at the type of road. Many cars will do 20mph in 3rd, but will struggle with the slightest incline or drop in speed. At 20mph I would use 2nd gear if it's up hill, there are speed bumps or there are a lot of hazards eg. lots of pedestrians or parked cars etc.

You also don't want to use 3rd if you find yourself needing to brake a lot as that'll just use more fuel and wear the brakes.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Looking for a garage you can trust? Honest John's Good Garage Guide has thousands of reader recommended garages, plus how-to guides and tips on servicing.

The Good Garage Guide