Shifting question

[Anne Lee]

I recently bought a little Kia Rio which is a stick shift. I've noticed that sometimes on city streets DH will get the car up to cruising speed (about 30 mph) and then shift directly into 5th. I don't know enough about transmissions to know if this is ok. What consequences, if any, are there to doing something like this?

[CathyA]

Hmmmm.....well, I don't know if its bad on the car, but I do that myself. If the car doesn't act like its going too slow for the gear you're in, then I think its fine. (By that I mean that the car sort of struggles to move forward, or takes too long to pick up speed after he shifts into 5th............that might use up too much gas). Then again......waiting too long to shift uses up even more gas.

[Anne Lee]

I think I may have found the answer to my question, thanks to Car Talk (http://www.cartalk.com/content/guide-better-fuel-economy):


Getting into the highest gear you can, at the lowest possible speed, will save you plenty of gas.

Why? Because you use less gas when the engine is turning slowly. The slower the engine turns, the fewer the number of explosions in the cylinders. And fewer explosions means less gas consumed.

So, if you drive a manual transmission car, shift sooner. As long as the engine doesn't buck, shudder, or ping, you're fine. You'll sacrifice the ability to accelerate quickly - but you can always downshift if you need to accelerate.

[CathyA]

Thanks for posting that Anne Lee! Its funny, but I used to have a Volvo station wagon and it had a light that would light up, when "it" thought you should shift. And it always came on much soon than I would have wanted to shift. Looks like your DH is okay here!

[treehugger]

I have also heard that shifting to a higher gear sooner is better for gas mileage, so I have been driving my Jetta like that for about a year now. Good to see that also confirmed by Car Talk.

I have driven one car (it was my brother's and I only drove it for a short time) with that "Shift Now" light and I found it extremely annoying. So glad my Jetta lets me make my own decisions! :)

Kara

[Spartana]

Shifting like that is a hypermiling technique to save on fuel and doesn't do anything bad to the transmission or engine. Look up hypermiling for more techniques to save on fuel. Some are illegal though but a fun way to see just how far you can go on little fuel. Some claim getting around 120mpg by using the various hypermileage techniques - some listed on this wikipedia site. Lots more online.
www.wikicars.org/en/Hypermiler

[mira]

I was always taught that 4th was the highest gear that should be used when driving at lower speeds or in cities/towns, but I know nothing about how cars work (I'm so ashamed!). I found the following at Ecodrive.org (http://www.ecodrive.org/en/what_is_ecodriving-/the_golden_rules_of_ecodriving/) (50kph is roughly 30mph):


Shift up early

Shift to higher gear at approximately 2.000 RPM
Consider the traffic situation, safety needs and vehicle specifics (See also additional explanation #4)

Additional Explanations #4:
Driving with high or even medium engine RPM always consumes more fuel then driving at low RPM at whatever speed. Therefore, early shifting is highly recommended. However, vehicle specifics and also given traffic situation has to be taken in account.

Rough guidance for shifting and steady speed driving (on the flat, not uphill):
1st Gear: Driving-off only (one vehicle length)
2nd Gear: 20 kph
3rd Gear: 30 kph
4th Gear: 40 kph
5th Gear: 50 kph
6th Gear: 60+ kph

Based on the rough guidance for steady speed driving (on the flat, not uphill) the optimum gear shifting for each car has to be identified individually. Full throttle acceleration should be avoided if the acceleration can be chosen individually. When driving uphill choose a gear which does not require fully pushing down the accelerator to keep an acceleration reserve (safety issue). As appropriate accelerator pedal position 2/3 or 3/4 should be chosen.

[goldensmom]

I routinely accidentally go from 2nd to 5th, missing 3rd and 4th because of the shift pattern. I also start out in 2nd instead of 1st. on purpose. No damage so far.

[Spartana]

I routinely accidentally go from 2nd to 5th, missing 3rd and 4th because of the shift pattern. I also start out in 2nd instead of 1st. on purpose. No damage so far.

Of course if you are "riding the clutch" because you didn't have your speeds up high enough when shifting, you could "maybe" burn the clutch out sooner depending on what kind you have.

[CathyA]

This reminds me..........when I was younger, I had an old volkswagen beetle. I had trouble starting it at times. I lived at the top of a hill in an apartment. If the car wouldn't start, 2 of my friends would come over and push me over the drive to the top of the hill, then one of them would go down in the street and make sure no cars were coming, and I would coast down the drive and pop the clutch to get it started. Oh.......those were the good old days. hahaha

[fidgiegirl]

Ooh if I were in 5th at 30, it'd be shudderville. I usually don't go into 5th until 55 or 60.

[mira]

Why do you start out in 2nd? The dragging feeling of starting in too high a gear must feel wrong for a reason!

[goldensmom]

Why do you start out in 2nd? The dragging feeling of starting in too high a gear must feel wrong for a reason!

I don't know other than my husband said to, I've done it since my first manual shift car in 1984, it doesn't feel wrong, no drag so that is 28 years of no adverse effects. Maybe it depends on the car. I know it's not the same but we've started out in 2nd with the tractors my whole life. I've been driving cars/trucks, automatic and manual for 40 years and tractors longer and I DO NOT ride the clutch (reference to a previous post), that would be stupid.