What do gears do, and how do we use them?
Speed Range Guide for 1st Gear
0 - 10mph
For moving off from stationary and speed up to 10mph
Speed Range Guide for 3rd gear
For speeds between
20 -30mph
Speed Range Guide for 5th Gear
For speeds of 40mph and over
Speed Range Guide for 2nd Gear
For speeds between
10 - 20mph
Speed Range Guide for 4th Gear
For speeds of 30mph and over
Speed Range Guide for 6th Gear
For speeds of 50mph and over
Neutral on a gear lever as shown by the green line in the picture.
Is the position selected before starting a car.
We do this so that when the engine is started the car will not move in any direction.
When the gears are in neutral it means that no gear has been selected, therefore no drive can be made between the engine to the gearbox to the wheels.
This is the safest way to start a car to avoid any unnecessary movement .
It is very easy to know whether Neutral is selected, by moving the lever from left to right.
If there is lots of sideways movement you will be in Neutral.
If a gear is selected there is hardly any movement from side to side.
When the Gear lever is in Neutral and not held onto, the lever will naturally sit in between 3rd and fourth gear along the neutral line. This means that to select 1st or second gear you must move the lever to the left, and then either forwards toward the front of the car for 1st gear, or backwards toward the rear of the car for 2nd gear.
3rd gear would be forward from the neutral position
4th gear would be backward from the neutral position
5th gear would be right and forward from the neutral position
6th gear would be right and backward from the neutral position.
Reverse gear is shown by the use of the letter R and may be in different locations depending on what gearbox has been fitted. This tends to change from manufacturer to manufacturer.
When selecting ANY gear the Clutch MUST be fully pressed to the floor. By not pressing the Clutch you risk either jumping into gear and the car will jolt in the direction of the gear selected with a possible stall outcome or you risk damaging the gearbox and you will get a nasty grinding noise as the gears crunch against each other.
If at any time a gear is selected prior to starting the engine and your foot is off the clutch the car will want to move, this is why it is so important before starting the car that is in Neutral or the clutch is fully depressed before turning the engine on.
When changing gear, ease off the gas pedal, depress the Clutch to the floor, select the gear you need, slowly raise the Clutch and finally re-apply the gas.
By using this method every time you change gear, the transition between each gear will be smooth and controlled.
Use of the correct gear and effective use of the clutch will allow for smooth transitions between each gear.
In 1st gear from stationary the clutch MUST be raised gently to allow the car to gain some momentum before releasing the clutch fully.
From 1st to 2nd gear the time to release the clutch is still controlled but nowhere near as slow as it will need to be from moving off in 1st.
All the other gear changes do not necessarily need to be slow releasing the clutch pedal as the car has enough momentum to not cause any issues with stalling or jumpiness.
1st gear provides the greatest force to the wheels and is normally the one you use to get the vehicle moving. If you were pointing downhill you could possibly use 2nd or even 3rd depending on the gradient, as you could select the higher gear, carry out your safety checks visually and the release the parking brake. The car will naturally begin to roll because of the gradient and once you have achieved enough speed to not allow the car to stall you could gradually come off the clutch to engage drive to the wheels from the engine.
The higher the gear you use, the less fuel you use. But you need to have an appropriate speed for the gear that you are using.
Gears can be extremely beneficial when going up hill or downhill if used correctly.
One of the biggest misconceptions with learners and gear use, is that they firmly believe the higher the gear used the more power the car has.
This is in part correct but not where hill are concerned.
If you were going up a steep gradient, gravity and the gradient will begin to slow your car down. If you had started at the bottom of the hill in a high gear, it is inevitable that the car will soon begin slowing because of the gradient and gravity. If you were to leave this gear selected, the car will just get slower and slower until the car either started jumping or came to a complete standstill and an avoidable stalling situation.
Because 1 st has the most force at the wheels, and the higher you go up through the gear the less that force gets, it means that when you are going uphill and you car begins to slow down, you will need to come back down the gears according to how slow the car gets.
If we put gears in their most basic understanding for new drivers, we would say
1st gear is use from
Zero speed - 10mph
2nd is used from 10mph - 20mph
3rd is used from 20mph - 30mph
4th is used from 30mph - 40mph
5th is used from 40mph - 50mph
and 6th is used from 50mph upwards.
That really is putting a very bland line on how gears work, but it will give you a better understanding, that as per the example above of starting at the bottom of the hill in a speed that warranted 6th gear, it would mean that you were probably doing somewhere between 50-70mph.
But the hill is long and steep and the gradient and gravity begins to slow your car. By the time your speed has dropped to 40mph, you'll probably be needing to be back in 4th gear, and if the car continues to slow and slow and slow, you could even end up with your car being back in 1st gear just to get you to the top of the hill.
Had you continued to keep the car in 6th gear thinking it has the most amount of power to get you up the hill, you would be totally wrong and you would end up with a stalled car for sure.
Likewise, coming down hill.
By utilising the gears in the correct manner, it will stop your car from running away with you, and the constant need to keep braking to slow the car down.
In 6th gear the car wants to do speeds upwards of 50mph, but in 1st gear it wont want to do much more than 10mph.
Therefore, if you are coming downhill and you find you need to keep pressing the brake pedal to stop the car running away with you, them come down a gear. If the car continues to keep running away with you, then drop down another gear and so on until you might end up back in 1st gear.
By utilising the gear to keep your speed slow, it will avoid the need to keep using the brake pedal.
Constant use of the brakes in a short period of time will cause what is known as brake fade.
Brake fade (or vehicle braking system fade) is the reduction in stopping power that can occur after repeated or sustained application of the brakes of a vehicle, especially in high load or high speed conditions.
Brake fade can be a factor in any vehicle that utilizes a friction braking system including cars, trucks, motorcycles, airplanes, and bicycles.
Brake fade is caused by a buildup of heat in the braking surfaces and the subsequent changes and reactions in the brake system components and can be experienced with both drum brakes and disc brakes. Loss of stopping power, or fade, can be caused by friction fade, mechanical fade, or fluid fade. Brake fade can be significantly reduced by appropriate equipment and materials design and selection, as well as good cooling.
Brake fade occurs most often during high performance driving or when going down a long, steep hill.
It is more prevalent in drum brakes due to their configuration.
Disc brakes are much more resistant to brake fade because the heat can be vented away from the rotor and pads more easily, and have come to be a standard feature in front brakes for most vehicles.
Is a method used to assist the control and selection of the gear lever when changing from one gear to another.
Palming is all about how you hold the gear lever in a slightly different manner dependent on what gear you are moving from and to.
By placing your hand in certain positions whilst selecting each gear it will naturally guide the gear lever in the direction you are aiming form.
Whenever a gear is deselected and the gear lever placed in neutral, the gear lever will naturally centralise itself along the neutral line and sit between 3rd and 4th gear.
Some learners tend to have trouble trying to find 3rd gear. If you have this problem, when changing from say 2nd gear, just take it out of 2nd gear and let go of the gear lever. It will naturally settle in between 3rd and 4th gear, all you will then need to do is push the lever straight ahead and it will always end up selecting 3rd. Then when you want 4th gear it just a case of moving the lever directly backwards.
Looking ahead to see where you are going
Looking down at the gear lever and taking your eyes off the road.
When someone starts learning to drive, there is usually a bad habit that kick in from day one. And that is to look down at the gear lever when changing gear.
Along with a few other things that new driver do, it can be extremely dangerous doing this.
Think about what you are looking at!
You are looking at the gear lever, which means you have no idea of what is happening ahead of you!
Is a vehicle just about to pull out in front of your?
Are a set of lights changing to red?
Is a pedestrian crossing the road?
Is a vehicle braking in front of you?
Just some of the issues that you just would not know are happening if you are looking at the gear lever.
A Gear levers position NEVER CHANGES.
It is fixed in the same position day in day out, other than it moves slightly from one gear position to the next.
All you need to do is place your hand in the vicinity of the gear lever and you'll find it.
The reason why new drivers look at it is because they are not competent in knowing where each gear position is.
And because of that, not only do they take their eyes off the road to find the gear lever initially, they continue to keep their eyes off the road while they try and work out what gear they are currently in and where they need to position the gear lever for the next gear selection.
All UK gear boxes form gear 1 to gear 6 are laid out in the exact same manner, the only gear that changes it's position would be reverse gear, and that would be down to individual manufacturers and their need in the manufacturing process to make a gear box that fits within their engine bay and allow mechanisms of lever to select gearing right back to the centre console of your car.
All odd numbered gears are always forwards from neutral and all even numbered gears are backwards from neutral.
1st gear is always furthest to the left and forward
6th gear is furthest to the right and backward.
Building up an image in your head of the layout of gear is a crucial part to not needing to look at the gear lever.
The second most important part of using gear is to know what gear is the best gear to use for your car based on the speed you are doing.
Once you have mastered these, using the gears becomes a breeze.
Is a term referred to when a driver misses out a gear or two when changing gears.
This is perfectly acceptable with modern day gearboxes.
With how modern gearboxes are manufactured and the tooling used , as well as the materials used, gearboxes are much more resilient to block changing without causing damage to them. This along with the efficiency of modern braking systems allows speeds to be matched by either accelerating to a higher speed and missing out a gear when going up through the gears, or by utilising the brakes to slow the car to a speed that will match the lower gear that you are going to select.
When coming down through the gear it is highly recommended that all the slowing of the vehicle is carried out by the brakes first before changing gear.
By not doing so, you will get engine braking which could cause you vehicle to slow down very rapidly which may cause a following vehicle to hit you because there will be no visible notification to the following vehicle that you are slowing down. This is why the braking first is so important, as when you brake, your brake lights illuminate to notify following vehicles that you are slowing.
Also, by using engine braking (using the gear to slow you down) if you were at a high speed and selected too low a gear and removed you foot from the clutch quickly, you could cause damage to your gearbox or even your engine. Although we mentioned that gearboxes are built to be more resilient these days, there is always a limit to how good they are.
The most common block gear changing is usually when going from 1st to 3rd, 2nd to 4th or 3rd to 5th when increasing speed.
Or from 6th to 4th, 5th to 3rd, 4th to 2nd or 3rd to 1st when coming down through the gears.
Coasting happens when the engine is running but is not being driven by the engine this would mean that either a gear has been selected but while the vehicle is moving the clutch pedal is fully depressed or when the vehicle is moving but the gear lever is placed in neutral,
Coasting can cause issues.
For example:-
You might find you'll have trouble re-engaging a gear if something happened and you needed to get your vehicle to move.
It reduces the amount of control you have over the vehicle.
If you were to be coasting while driving downhill and especially while cornering at the same time, your vehicle would gain speed very quickly as the engine is not engaged and therefore the drive of the wheels speed would not be maintained by the engine ( you will be freewheeling) This in turn may need additional braking or heavier braking to bring the car under control. As we have mentioned on our Oversteer and Understeer page, braking on a bend can be extremely dangerous.
Coasting when arriving at a junction at slow speed is totally acceptable, as is the few seconds it take you to change gear, as you will will be coasting in that time, but generally at all other times, coasting is not considered safe.
Some drivers believe they are coasting when they have very little or no pressure on the accelerator pedal. This is not so, as the engine and gearbox are still joined which means that the engine is controlling the speed of the vehicle.
The terminology for when the car is still moving while in gear but you are not on the accelerator is known as Over-run.
If used correctly, happens on purpose, and is a great way of controlling your vehicle in very slow speed situations. (Ideal for manoeuvring)
If you have read our page on Using the Cutch, you'll understand about the biting point and transition points.
Riding the clutch is when you hold the clutch pedal in between the biting point and the transition point. This will allow drive to the wheels but only a partial amount of drive. The higher you lift the clutch the bigger the percentage of drive from the engine will go to the wheels.
This in turn means that you can control the speed of the car when travelling slowly to give you an excellent amount of control of the car.
