Your response time to maneuver will increase if you have to re-shift to a positive gear and apply gas to avoid trouble. The proper way to slow down your manual transmission-equipped car is to downshift.
When you take your right foot off the brake, you press the clutch with your left foot, shift down a gear. You will have to touch the accelerator pedal to do some rev matching before releasing the clutch. The car should be slowing down and you should slowly get on the brakes to shift down to neutral and stop the car.
When slowing down from a highway speed, a little more work is needed. It will require you to watch the speedometer and tachometer to measure your downshifts. You might want to wait until you get to MPH before downshifting from sixth to fourth to third — using the brake, clutch and accelerator pedals properly.
Do be careful if you slip into a much lower gear on the downshift. You might end up to over revving the engine, which could cause problems down the road. However, if you want to have a little fun, work the accelerator a bit on downshifts.
In normal driving, as you begin moving off in 1st gear, you will need to change into 2nd gear almost instantly. Remember when moving off from a stationary position, you will need to release the clutch slowly else you may stall the car.
See how to stop stalling a car for a further help. To give an indication on when to change into 3rd from 2nd gear, keep an eye on the speedometer. When you reach between 15 to 20 mph, change into 3rd gear.
Whilst accelerating in 3rd gear, when a speed of 30mph is reached change into 4th gear. Certain vehicles drive around town at 30mph in 3rd gear quite happily although it is recommended to use 4th to increase fuel economy. In most cars, reaching a speed of 40mph should allow you to change into 5th gear. Using these reference points on when to change gear is an ideal aid for learning to drive.
It does however involve taking your attention away from the road and onto the speedometer to establish when to change gear. This is perfectly acceptable for a novice driver over the guidance of a driving instructor. Ultimately however it is of course safer to change gear without these reference points and listening to the engine will in fact provide you with all the information on when to change gear.
There will be occasions during the course of normal driving, driving lessons and the driving test when you may need to reach a certain speed in a faster time than usual. A typical situation can be joining a dual carriageway where it is often essential to accelerate along the slip road to match the speed of the traffic on the carriageway.
This can be achieved by providing greater power to the engine by pressing harder on the accelerator and by reaching a higher speed in each gear before changing. Listening to the engine is key here but avoid pushing the engine too hard before changing gear. In such situations the rev counter can be beneficial by ensuring the needle does not get to close or go into the red line. Whilst slowing down it may be necessary to change down a gear else the car may lose the ability to accelerate further due to an inappropriate gear or even possibly, you could stall the car.
Whilst slowing remember the speeds at which you changed up in the first place, for example slowing down from 30mph to 20mph would be an ideal time to change from 4th gear to 3rd.
Remember however, if coming to a complete stop at a red traffic light for example, in modern cars you do not need and are not expected to change down through the gears. Regardless of the speed or gear you are in, you simply need to gently slow down using the brake and a few metres before you stop, depress the clutch and select 1st gear.
Each car has an optimal speed for each gear. The table below provides a general guide for what gear for which speed. What gear should you always start off in my dads always started in 1st gear, but my uncle came round and told him to start in 2nd gear, that 1st is very rarely used and is for going uphill, what gear should my dad start in. Hello Alicia, You should always start moving off in 1st gear. You can move off in 2nd, but you would need to slip the clutch much more to prevent stalling.
You can try 2nd gear to see if it helps. Is he ok in other cars or just this car he kangaroo jumps? Generally, to get a good idea of when to change up, listen to the engine. As the engine begins to work harder and you can hear it revving, change up a gear. If going down hill, select a lower gear to allow the car to slow down using engine braking — this will save wear on the brakes.
Keeping the car in as higher gear as possible, but allowing the car to also be responsive with the accelerator will give you more control and save fuel.
So listen to the engine — this will tell you when to change up. I usually use 4th gear till speed 60mph. Is this okay? Hi Sheetal, The chart is a rough estimate for learner drivers in the UK to know when to change gear.
Each car is a little different, but generally for economy, change up a gear as soon as you can and when the engine is capable of doing so. If he is taking a long time, then he is also using more fuel as the car will slow down during gear changes.
Hello Alex, They do take eco-driving into account on the driving test. If you red line it due to necessity; for example you required high acceleration to reach a high speed for joining a dual carriageway, that would be acceptable.
But consistently doing so unnecessarily might result in some issues. Using a lower gear say 3rd instead of 4th for example means you will have better control of your vehicle and the engine will struggle less to get uphill. If you are in manual mode, easing off the throttle just before shifting up will result in a smoother gear change.
With manual gearboxes, press the clutch in a fraction of a second before releasing the throttle and then go through the motion of selecting the gear. This way, you will not feel the jerk from a sudden cut in power. The only time you should depress the brake pedal is when you shift from, say, Park to Drive when stationary.
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