I’ve driven manual for years and STILL don’t understand why you need to change gears.

Question

I get that low gears > more power but low speed. I get that high gears >low power but high speed.

But can someone give me the brain dead intuition of why you need to change gear “sizes”? A single sentence if possible.

I’ve tried Googling it but they always use a bike example. I’ve never ridden a bike. Or they start talking about ratios and it just goes over my head.

In: 0

Answer 1

The engine is only likes to rotate at certain speeds. So to keep the engine at its happy speed while the car is moving at different speeds you need to change gears