how do you know when to change gears in a manual car?
In: Engineering
There is no time or rpm or speed which to shift. It’s by feel, and hopefully I can give you a bit of insight.
First, you shouldn’t skip gears on a regular basis. It makes sense if you accelerate hard and fast, like you hit 60 mph in 2nd gear but then you want to cruise; instead of bouncing between all the gears, because they’re all the wrong gear, just to get up to top gear, you can just pop it into top gear. You can hear your automatic transmission do exactly this if you accelerate like a banshee and then let off. You shouldn’t be driving like you stole it all the time, though…
So what you should aim to do is, since you know approximately what you’re going to be accelerating up to, try to give each gear equal time. This should be easy on most cars if you’re going >30 mph. Slower speeds, and you end up with a lot of short durations in each gear, and at slower speeds, you might not even get into higher gears.
Aim to make the drive smooth and comfortable, for yourself and your passengers. If nothing else, this is all that matters. If it feels right, if it sounds right, then it is right. The goal isn’t to get to any particular gear, it’s to make your shifts smooth and the ride comfortable. It’s to keep the RPMs low for fuel economy, regardless of what gear accomplishes that for the speed. It’s about not doing anything unexpected, so you don’t surprise the other drivers on the road and insight an accident. Imagine your grandmother is in the car – she is not going to appreciate shift shock, jerkiness, and vibration. Neither will your car’s mechanics.
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