how do you know when to change gears in a manual car?
In: Engineering
Changing gears (along with gas pedal position) is used to control the RPMs of the engine and the speed of the vehicle.
When accelerating, you push on the pedal and RPMs increase.
For casual driving, people usually want to keep the RPMs within a comfortable range. This will differ from engine to engine and people to people, but an example might be between 1000 and 5000 rpm.
So as the RPMs increase, you change to a higher gear. This will reduce engine rpm while maintaining about the same speed.
When slowing down, the RPMs will decrease. You can change to a lower gear which will increase rpm.
So whether accelerating or decelerating, you change gears to keep the RPM in the range that you want.
How do you know when? One way would be to look at the tachometer, which shows engine rpm. However, most people also use the sound of the engine, the speed of the vehicle, and the rate of acceleration. They develop a feel for when to change gears and it becomes very intuitive.
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