Hi all
Is it usual to drive in 3rd at 30mph?
I always drive in 4th at this speed but revs aren't even 2000rpm in 3rd at 30mph in my Yaris.
Suggestion I had was to change gear at about 2500rpm.
Any ideas?
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No hard and fast rules. I sometimes drive in 5th at 30 (diesel)
Just don't "labour" the engine, if it pulls happily in 4th OK, if not change gear.
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In built up areas I use 3rd almost all the time in our Aygo.
It is often difficult to maintain a steady 30 and at just below this it labours in 4th gear. 3rd is very flexible as you can slow from 30 to about 15 mph in 3rd and it doesn't labour when you need to accelerate back to 30.
If you are in 4th in the 30 and come to a 60 if you want to make progress you need to change to third as flooring it in 4th result in nothing. In 3rd it will at least show some signs of accelerating.
Fewer gear changes means less clutch, gearbox and left knee wear!
But all cars are different and you need to judge what is best for yours.
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Depends. In our 1.3 Yaris, 30mph in 4th gear is fine and if you need to accelerate there is enough power to do so. Any slower though, and I would change down to 3rd.
As previously suggested, just make sure that the engine doesn't labour in whatever gear you have selected.
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Much easier to sense the speed in a lower gear as the engine note changes more - helps avoid tickets.
And if you've got 5 gears to use from 0-70++ do you really want to be in the last but one before you're halfway there?
Edited by Bromptonaut on 08/09/2009 at 22:10
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If you have decent speed awareness - see recent polemics on this subject - it is of course good practice to use the highest viable gear at the lowest possible throttle opening. Much easier said than done though. You have to get rolling properly first, then you have to have a proper sense of gradient and a decent ear for when the engine doesn't like it quite so much.
You have to learn each car and its abilities. When in doubt and in difficult, complex traffic situations, lower is better. But you can feel a bit silly in town when you are doing over 30 in second. That said, you sometimes need to rush forward or pounce like a tiger on some evanescent slot in the moving palimpsest...
There are no priorities. Economy is silly or actually offensive if it makes you dawdle in the way. Over-assertiveness can be even worse. A lot of drivers can't do it right to save their lives. The awful thing is they don't even try to learn.
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Just drive in whatever the car feels comfortable (i.e. can it still accelerate?) in. My Mondeo is comfortable in 3rd gear from about 20mph up to about 60mph and it really gets a bit noisy by the time you hit 80mph! I always find it to be a very flexible gear so the Yaris should be ok at 30mph.
It certainly won't do any harm :-)
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My old VW Passat 1.9 TDI is quite high geared and is happier in 3d at 30 mph than in 4th. So I tend to only use 1st, 2nd and 3rd around town.
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3rd doesn't seem to do any harm. In fact, it really helps when stepping on the gas to get out at a roundabout for instance.
The revs adjust automatically at 30 to below 2000rpm and it doesn't sound raucous so I'll stick to driving that way.
Cheers guys!
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I could never keep my car within 30 if I did not keep it in 3rd!
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I could never keep my car within 30 if I did not keep it in 3rd!
Sounds like you guys are all using those comically quaint and old-fashioned cars which can't change gear on their own, and where you have to choose a gear manually by wiggling a stick on the floor whilst pressing a pedal.
I know that retro is fashionable, but isn't this overdoing it a bit?
;-)
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If you are in 4th in the 30 and come to a 60 if you want to make progress you need to change to third as flooring it in 4th result in nothing. In 3rd it will at least show some signs of accelerating.
Colt AMT.
MD
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I agree with everyone really. Third is a good all-purpose gear round town.
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Thanks everyone.
Guess it just depends on what economy you want.
Higher gears equal better economy.....
Or does it!?
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In general, less pressure on the accelerator means better economy. You could be in too high a gear and need to put your foot down more to accelerate.
Cars all have different gear ratios and one can't generalise.
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I do 30 in 1st.............................
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Higher gears equal better economy..... Or does it!?
NO it does not!
I remember driving Fords in the 80's that had 'econolights' basically (IIRC) an amber light, and a red light, if you could keep both lights unlit you were doing good fuel consumption, a red light meant the car was drinking petrol.
quickest way to get the red light on? get into top gear asap!
higher gear = more throttle, to this day I still prefer to rev rather than used excess throttle to keep the speed up.
edit - that means knocking my auto out of 'overdrive' in town. and it does seem to help fuel consumption!
Edited by the swiss tony on 17/01/2010 at 08:58
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Higher gears equal better economy.....
This belief has been misunderstood by many drivers - I've heard of people trying to drive around in 4th/5th everywhere, car juddering all over the place everywhere they go... you'll get the lowest MPG if you make the engine work harder - i.e. driving slower in high gear, you have to use more throttle to pickup speed again than you would in a lower gear, engine works harder, and as a result uses more petrol.
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My Auris 1.33 has stop start technology and indicator lights to identify when to change up or down to achieve best economy. The car is happy to amble along in either third or fourth at thirty. As an aside the car indicates a change to fifth at 35 and sixth at 45.
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