I tried looking online but have a hard time finding out exactly what the number on the gears of the car represent. What’s the difference between 1-3 or 2-5?
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The higher the number, the higher the gear. The higher the gear, the faster the wheels turn for every rotation of the engine/driveshaft, which means the higher the cruising speed. The trade-off is power; at higher gears, it’s harder to accelerate. Trying to accelerate from stop at 5th gear is horribly inefficient, if not dangerous to your car. But trying to use 1st gear to cruise at 50 mph will cause you to redline your engine and potentially damage it.
You should use low gears at low speeds and higher gears at higher speeds to keep your engine running at a safe “rate” (rpm) while keeping up with traffic.
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