Some additional things to think about! First off, obviously you should never downshift if it means exceeding your engine's redline. Also, skipping gears will put an additional strain on your synchronizers, especially for downshifts. Not that double-clutching is required these days (though if done properly, it will save your synchros), but it can help for getting into first gear if you're moving. If you're traveling at say 15 mph/25km/h, and want to be in first, generally the transmission will prevent you from doing so. Let the clutch out, pop the revs up, then clutch in and shift to first - this will often work. Generally not necessary for getting into other gears, again, that's why synchros exist is to ease and allow for that transition. Hope everyone's having a great day! Consider following on Instagram: instagram.com/engineeringexplained/
I actually came here specifically to say that, about the synchro wear. Going from 5 to 3rd to pass or for a hill is a lot of the reason that the NV4500 will fail the 3rd gear synchro first. Same deal for the second gear on like the Cruze, where people go from 6th down to 2nd for a corner. Worse on the ECO wide ratio trans.
The Cruze has a horrible manual transmission. I hated mine with a passion and after not being able to sell it for months, I took a $3k hit to trade it out.
27Zangle it's fine to drive ('11 eco 1.4t 6MT), but at the end of the day, it's a wide ratio trans that was designed/built with synchros for "normal" ratios, so wear is an issue... I mean, it trashes stock synthetic fluid in 20-30k miles, and should change even amsoil fluid every 50-60k.
Engineering Explained that is the thing though. People, including you, will shift down AND THEN bring the revvs up to match the speed of the drivetrain. You should actually start the rev-match when going out of the higher gear and keep the revs matched as you enter the lower gear and de-clutch.
I've been skipping gears for decades without issue. It's certainly something you want to do after you've driven the car for a while and have a feel for the ratios of each gear. Every car is going to take time to get that feel, especially for rev matching.
ofcourse it is honestly i end up doing it every day i have a big ass hill in my yard so i just go into 3rd at the bottom of it because im alcready going 30 mph which is a bit high for my 2nd
For all of those who didnt learned that while driving: yes, its okay and essential too (example: if youre going downhill and youre in 4th gear you can switch to 2nd gear to have stronger engine break and the car slows itself down)
Essential I think is the wrong term In a Truck with 8-18 gears or a tractor with 8-32 forward gears skipping gears really is essential to not get mad and to not slow down traffic that much. In a car that has 5-6 gears, it usually just is a convenience. For example, I can downahift into 5th at 80 and 4th at 70, sometimes I just let the speed drop to 70 and skip, sometimes I go into 5th and immediatly into 4th. Watching out on my clutch is important to me.
@@SajtosNokedli Nope, I never understood the reason for downshifting with rav matching. Why wear out the expensive gear when I can wear out considely cheaper brake pads.
@@Joseph-eh4rs are you saying you push the clutch, slow down, and then shift? cuz rev matching is designed to not wear out the expensive stuff. you push the clutch, rev, and shift. whats that wearing out? also what if you dont want to slow down at all? are u gonna slow down to shift just to accelerate half a second later?
I learned to drive in the UK, in a manual transmission car. In the UK, skipping a gear is called a 'block change', and it was taught to me by my drriving instructor as a standard procedure.
i rarely used second gear in my lessons... mostly just 1st to 3rd right away and second only if not quite fast in incline or ready to turn but cars ahead or something. before stop at red light always just from whatever gear i'm in right to first (after braking ofc)
I don't get those guys complaining like "Just say yes" ... I mean what's the point of watching videos from "Engineering EXPLAINED" if you don't want the explanation ?
Actualy the comments I have seen like that literaly said "make a 3s vid and say yes" and nothing more so they really are not "like you" and do have not the same argument and thinking way than you, that was to those people I was refering (Sorry for the poor english btw) Tho I think I can get your disapointment about videos like this made for most of common people when you already have good subject knowledge, I personally do not even have my license so I learned a lot just by curiosity with this one ^^ Plus there is a few more details in description and comment posted by the owner you might like, just saying :)
I believe everywhere in Europe you have to take driving test with manual gearshift. And same as this guy from Denmark , we in Croatia also have to do a "first aid test" (which teaches you how to immobilize broken bones, perform cpr, stop bleeding, how to treat acid burns from car batteries etc...).
The short story I am about to tell you is 100% true: About 30 years ago I worked in an electro-plating factory and once we had plated our goods we would have to transport them to another factory 30 miles north of us. Because of the regular runs we had to make the factory employed a young HGV driver. After being in the job for a week he complained that the lorry the factory owned was slow, coincidentally the factory foreman was having a fit about the fuel consumption the driver was getting from the lorry. The two issues were solved when it was pointed out to our driver that the lorry had 6 and not 4 gears!
This has taught me more than I could ask for. Really happy to learn about such things without having to go through a rough experience to learn it the hard way.
Pepe - On a very steep downhill you can go from 1 to 6 and take easy on the gas so it won't put much pressure on the engine and drivetrain. But if you do that on a flat or uphill then you will mess up your car
As a german I am shocked by the amount of people that have no idea how to drive a manual. In Europe (no matter where you live) you do your driver's license with a manual. We don't even learn automatic.
In the US, only certain driving schools provide the car you drive. Since manuals are so rare here now, the chances of having to drive one for your test is fairly low. Most driving schools have you provide the car. Although, if you do drive manual in the US, the chances of your car getting stolen is pretty low. After all, not many people here know how to drive one. The whole point of stealing the car is pretty moot if you can't even get it out of the parking spot.
Vezoy What the other guy said. In America, manual cars are harder to come by unless the cars are too old to daily drive or too expensive for the average person.
DrICHundrannere If you do your final driving test with an auto, your license will be limited to drive automatic cara only. If you take all your driving lessons in an automatic car but do the actual test with a manual car (complete nonsense, I know), you're allowed to drive manuals as well.
You do know that its impossible to put it in reverse while driving right ? The only way thats possible is in a really old car, or when you drive slow enough. (and even then it shouldnt because off safety) real old cars sometimes did not have the safety. It also doesnt really doesnt much because there is a safety (you would know if you actually watched it) They even put it in park but still nothing happend. Same goes for manual gearbox its impossible to put it in reverse because of the safety. Also it was a joke which is already pointed out.
but remeber to put it in 1st to come into first place when racing i've put it into 2nd when was at the finish line and ended up in second place ill never forgive myself because it was for pinks
I know it might not be as common in the US because most of the places where you drive are pretty flat, but I was taught here in Colombia that if you're going to start from a standstill, and you're gonna be going downhill, you can start from second and even third gear, because the hill will help you with the rest, and you won't really be wearing the clutch.
Yep, on declines, especially if steep, makes it easy to start in second. Simply letting off the brake means you start rolling, and get up to a speed where letting out the clutch is no problem.
About the last part: some cars (like my Accord) almost always won't let you select 1st unless you're completely stopped, so I have to use 2nd if I'm going 5 miles an hour.
Rev matching is something i learned in my first month of manual ownership... i miss having a manual. But my options were a 6 speed rio with 6% interest or an automatic soul with 0.99% interest. Went with the money saving option
@@hamyzschidenfeld3215 Many reasons: 1. Manual gives you more control 2. manual actually is more efficient to drive (automatic transmission is heavier than manual aka the car will be heavier and use more gas) 3. Manual transmission is way easier and cheaper to fix if it breaks. 4. Depending on a country you may or may not be forced to drive a manual during learning and the tests for driver's license
Zachary Garcia I've read in instruction manuals of several cars to never floor the gas. I'm pretty sure the best way is to try and get the speed up as fast as your car can manage without flooring since it saves the most gas.
hey everyone, manual is the best anti theft in america americans dont know what gears are 90% of europeans drive manual automatics have gotten as good as manual these days theres actually a lot of americans that drive manual did i mention europeans love driving manual? just thought i would let you all know how original i am by typing the same thing that you can read on literally every video involving a vehicle that has ever been uploaded
WHY HAVE YOUR HAND LOCKED DOWN TO A MANUAL TRANSMISSION WHEN YOUR HAND CAN HAVE THE FREEDOM OF AN AUTO TRANSMISSION LIKE A TRUE AMERICAN HAND all jokes aside it is a shame manuals are becoming more rare these days
Short answer: Yes. It's okay. Just make sure you have enough speed, otherwise you'll stall the car. Same goes for going high to low. Make sure you've slowed down enough or your revs are low enough otherwise you might damage the engine.
I instantly saw the title and got reminded to what my instructor told me on my last lesson - she said “ideally you’re allowed to skip gears when it’s appropriate, such as entering a highway where u need to match the speed of traffic as quick as possible, as long as u get the right amount of RPM for a specific gear”
was hoping he'd say something I didn't know, but everything he said is common sense to anyone who knows even the basics of what a clutch and gearbox do
I have a hard time going from my 18 speed Peterbilt to my Suzuki XL7 5 speed because I float gears all day long then try to get in my POV and "forget" to clutch between gears lol. Can still float the XL7 but have to wait a lot longer between shifts. It's more like a 1500 rpm drop instead of 250
One more tip on upshift skip gears. Be sure to bring your RPMs a little higher first before skipping gears, you do not want your RPMs to be too low either because you might risk lugging the engine.
To sum up the video; Don't down-shift on a car you don't know the typical rpm for each gear. So, not on a brand new car and not on a car you are borrowing. And for upshifting, don't do it up a hill
Well you don't need to know the exact RPM for each gear. All you need to do is be close. Lets say you are in 4th going 35mph, the RPMs are at around 1800. You decide to downshift into 2nd. The required RPMs for second at 35mph are around 4200. You don't rev match and instead use the clutch to speed up the engine. That is bad. Say you're smart enough to blip the throttle and it revs to 3800. You are only using the clutch to speed up the engine 400 RPM. Not great you'll feel it but it is still acceptable. Even if you over shoot it say you rev to 4600. It takes less energy to slow down the engine than speed it up. The point is you can safely rev match a new to you vehicle. You can typically get a feel for the RPM difference between gears the first time you go through them, the rest is fine tuning. My point being, as long as you are in the RPM ball park for a gear you are dramatically reducing the wear on the clutch.
Anyone else have a funny step in their gears? 1 to 2, 2 to 3, 4 to 5, and 5 to 6 have the same amount of RPM drop from one to the next, but 3 to 4 is about half as much RPM drop which totally fucks up the rhythm. '12 Honda Cr-Z
Driving your car is bad for it. You wear out engine components, wear out your clutch, brake pads, brake disks, tyres, differentials, driveshaft uni joints, you will get stone chips in your paint, your shock absorbers eventually fail, the seats will wear out, rust will form. Best off leaving the car at home and walking.....
Actually, NOT driving your car is WORSE for it than reasonable driving cycle and proper maintenance. A vehicle not prepared for storage needs to be run to operating temperature (lube oil, not just coolant) at a MINIMUM monthly to prevent premature drivetrain failure.
I drive truck (Lorry for you europeans) and if I didn't skip gears empty, I'd take forever and a day to get going. So nah, manual you have to skip if you've got more gears. In pickups and cars, whatever, you've gotta hit the right rpm.
@@_-Anthony-_ pardon me for not knowing something about something thousands of kilometers away with people I've never met before. Stop bein a stuck up twat maybe bud
@@diraltmcallister3523 why are you making the first lorry comment, like u know what you're saying about euopeans, YOU are the one saying lorry is a european term , it is not, Anthony was correct and polite u are one agresssive little aussie, don't hit a kangaroo , you didgeridoo.
I've been driving a manual for a couple years now as my first car, and I've always wondered about skipping gears but always forgot to ask, so I'm glad I found your video! The answer was pretty much what I expected it to be but it's nice to have confirmation.
and knowing what speed/rpm your higher gear will cause a downshift skip to be at as over revving happens a lot more than people think due to this being done
it`s not. Try to shift from 1st into 4th gear in a H3 3.7 Manual. It`s not possible, the gearbox makes horrible noises. From 1st to 3rd or from 2nd to 4th works fine. This guy has no clue what he is talking about. Also shame on me for buying a murican car, never ever again!
When shifting down, we also have to be carefull not to over-rev, that is, going over the engine revolution limit, risking damaging the valves and pistons.
I think everybody does this jump from 5 to 3 or 4 to 2 while down shifting so as to more effectively use engine braking. I've never done this while shifting up.
Same, especially upshifts. And sometimes in stop signs i forget to put back 1st and start moving again in 2nd, car does just fine, it just takes more clutch play and gentleness
Vincent - It's not good for the engine. It will put more stress on the pistons/rods in the engine and can eventually break...unless you are going to take very easy on the gas and let it accelerate very very slowly then it would be OK but not practical. Better to shift gears 1,2,3,4,5, and 6. Also avoid using 6th gear if you drive slowly in the city in heavy traffic. Leave it in 5th gear or even 4th. Takes a little more gas but easier on the engine.
I skip gears in the scenario where i've accelerated quickly, hence being in a average higher rev range, then want to start cruising at 55, so i might skip 3rd and 4th by going from 2nd to 5th. As long as you let the revs come down, the car should not know the difference vs a 4th to 5th shift as far as wear goes. I'd say you save a bit of standard wear n' tear by requiring 2 less shifts. Again in this scenario, i don't see any drawback or putting more stress on anything (outside of revving the engine higher to initially accelerate - but we all know that's not as good for the car as babying it at 1500rpm)
In the US they're not that common. The place i've seen a fair amount of cars that are manual are cars at my local high school, as they're cheaper here (people think it takes too much effort to drive manual I guess) and parents snap those cheap cars up, thus their kids drive in manual cars. It's almost a shame, as my first car is a standard and driving it isn't hard once you get the hang of the car and where to shift.
It is quite uncommon here unless you are after a sports car. I just purchased a new 2017 Nissan Frontier and had to wait 8 weeks while it was on order. The closest one to me in the trim package I wanted was almost 400 miles away, and I still would have had to make some compromises on options I wanted. There basically aren't any new full size truck options that can get you a manual transmission(no Fords, Nissans, Toyotas, a couple Ram 2500s starting at $40,000, and no Chevys). Mid-size trucks like the Frontier, Tacoma, Colorado, and Canyon do offer them, but they are often very limited in the configurations you can get them in. Cars give much better options on them, but you are typically forced to special order them unless you are going for a low-end econobox or a sports car. The sports cars are often able to be found with manual transmissions for the driving experience, and the econoboxes offer them simply for low cost.
The higher the number, the less the engine is turning (and thus less fuel consumption and engine wear). So when going from 2nd to 4th gear, you're making the engine work less, thus "going down" as far as engine revolutions is concerned.
If you know the car and the street it definitely makes sense, especially on a decline. I live in a very hilly area and I'm going from 2nd to 4th or 3rd to 5th all the time to get up to speed and then slowly rolling down the hill on low rpm. Also when overtaking trucks, getting up to like 80 km/h in 3rd, then changing into 6th to keep cruising.
I once drove a car that only had 3 working gears. Had to go from 1st to 3rd and 3rd to 5th. Quite an interesting way to drive haha. Oh and in 3rd you had to hold it in or it would pop out.
My first several cars had only three gears forward, period, except for the throttle-activated planetary overdrive on the Studebaker, the Rambler, and the Galaxie.
The synchros were worn out... you may have been able to shift in to any gear you wanted if you double clutched... I has a transmission in a 1949 Chevy Coupe that had no synchros and you had to double clutch every single time in order to shift in to any gear.
At first, I didn't understand rev matching on switching to lower gears. Once you mentioned being in gear five and taking a corner that requires gear two, it all made sense. I couldn't have explained it in a theoretical way until now, yet without this video, my intuition would've told me don't release that clutch until the more suitable (slower) speed has been reached.
Right, I’ve discovered that the two options for downshifting (whether skipping gears or not) is either to wait for the car to reach the appropriate speed or to rev match if you want to maintain a similar speed between the higher and lower gear. I was trying to learn rev matching and kept blipping the throttle after I’d already slowed down to an appropriate speed for the lower gear 😅 And then was taking right hand turns way too quickly because I was trying to rev match and change gears way too late… So now I just slow down for tight turns, but rev match for other situations like speed limit changes, upcoming hills, exit ramps, etc…
Good point. That's about the only reason to downshifting with rev match. But, never understood why people use downshifting to slow down the car say nearing red light when you can use brake and wear out cheaper pads than expensive gears.
@@Joseph-eh4rs the only situation I downshift to slow down the car, two actually, would be either failing brakes or even more breaking. I had one situation where the second gear at like 50kph or so definetly saved my ass from crashing into another guy randomly changing into my lane as brakes alone probably wouldn't've been enough lol
@@Joseph-eh4rs Rev matching is an essential skill. Same as motor-braking. It doesn't "wear out expensive gears". But your brakes wear out and they might also overheat and start to fade, especially on descends when your vehicle is heavy.
Depends on the vehicles. Some vehicles have very low first gears and are fine to start in second. A lot of truck made for towing are like that. And i assume more sporty cars would be fine too
I tend to take off in 2nd in bad weather, and I’ve had two original clutches still in play when I got rid of the cars (120K and 125K). So I dunno. I don’t do it all the time, though.
from a UK driver - why the hell would you go from 1st the 3rd? 1st is to start the car you should be going to 2nd as soon as possible instructors in the UK encourage skipping up from 3rd to 5th as it means you have you hands on the wheel more as speeds above 40 but its gross and i doubt i'll do it after i pass my test. What the guy doesn't seem to mention is that you need to be at the correct speed for the gear you are selecting. If you gear up to 4th at 25mph your car is going to judder, be unresponsive or stall. If you try to gear down to 2nd at 40mph your car...likely won't allow you to
Yes. In fact it's advised going down the box and up, especially if you use a low gear to get to speed and then select a higher one to maintain it. Unnecessary changes are distracting and increase driver work load to no benefit.
I learned how to drive standard using the neutral trick. I don't climb gears or descend them necessarily. I throw it in neutral then depending on the feel of the car/rpm's put it into the proper gear. Sometimes it's the next one up or down, sometimes it skips one in either direction, it really all just depends on the car. Sometimes I just let it coast in neutral for a while. You get a feel for it and kind of do it intuitively after a while.
Been driving a tractor, that has no synchronization in the gearbox, so upshifting and downshifting on the go is an art (doing it with no grinding noises when shifting).
It's completely normal to skip shift. I drive a semi-tractor trailer truck and skip shifting and rev matching is normal. I don't skip shift up very frequently but I skip shift down shifts if I'm bobtail or light. Besides, you have to rev match because there are no synchronizers in heavy duty transmissions. :)
Great insights, your overviews rock. I have a 2001 Honda Civic EX Vtec manual. Has 250,000 miles on it. After all these years, I have downshifted occasionally, skipped gears if needed, and upshifted quickly. This car has handled like a sports car on all the major grades of the west, for example: Tehachapi Pass. The clutch has never been touched (nor has engine), works as new. I feel with prudence, and in a well designed vehicle, all will be well, just enjoy your ride.
I just wish I could buy a 2004 Renault Twingo with all the extras. Used of course but I could go camping with that mini car, has enough space for sleeping for a fat guy like me even. That is my wish from life yet that car type is near extinction due to rusting in my country, which is sad.
When I get tailgated I can put my transmission into neutral and put the stick barely in the Reverse slot without putting it into gear where my reverse lights will turn on. It scares them lol.
I would be way too scared to do that with my car. The best way I have found to discourage tailgaters is to turn on my windshield washers, they back off real quick then!
You select any gear that is appropriate to your speed. Want to get up that round quickly you can go high revs and straight into 4th from 1st. not nice though. Turning into a junction you are still rolling them go straight into 2nd from top gear and off you go. No need to change down sequentially and that comes straight out the Traffic Police manual called "Road craft". Done it all my life and never had transmission problems. Anyone who disagrees doesn't what they are talking about or is a 100 years old learning to drive before synchromesh.
It's perfectly OK. When shifting to a higher or lower gear the transmission doesn't know which gear you coming from, so it's ok and safe skipping gears as long as the car is moving at a speed matching the gear
dosent anyone hate when you see an add and think that that little tab on the bottom left is the skip add but it tells you when the add is goeing to end
I´m from Germany and I´m mostly driving manual cars and by shifting down from 4th to 2nd for example you definetely do not need to rev match while downshifting. Like mentioned, it could be better for the clutch but i´ve never heard about locking up the driven wheels and this has never ever happened to me before and I did own a manual Nissan 370Z with around 540hp and while driving fast on curvy roads this does not happen because of skipping gears.
You need to be at least little gentle on the clutch, if you release it instantenously it can be bad but if you are little gentle as you release it, it should be fairly smooth transition.
Netandycz: Anyone who learned to drive properly in a manual knows not to release a clutch instantaneously when changing down, but to do it smoothly. I've driven manual cars for over 40 years, skipping gears frequently, and never damaged a clutch yet.
Alan J, I've been driving manual cars for almost 8 years. I put almost 60,000 miles on a MINI Cooper with a manual. I skipped gears all the time. It NEVER had clutch problems. Everyone saying you should never ever skip gears is following ancient advice. Manual transmissions have changed somewhat over the last few decades. In fact, my VW has a gear change indicator on the dash board. If I'm very slowly accelerating to 70 kmh, the indicator flashes a 2-4, meaning skip third gear. If I go farther up to say 100 kmh, it flashes 4-6. If I push the gas pedal hard, it says 4-5 then 5-6. I know how to rev match but my car has never had transmission problems of any kind.
I skipped gears all the time. I don't think I had clutch wear, considering I allowed the engine to rev a little higher and went directly into a gear, My car did not lurch, and it moved forth normally. When downshifting quickly, such as what you mentioned a 5th to 2nd scenario, you would be applying the brakes to decellerate and should be releasing the clutch once you're at your desired engine speed, which can be monitored by either mph and rpm.
Haha, I like to think I'm not all that unpleasant to be around. Unless you're curious about cars and want to talk about them, I'm not going to bring it up.
You and me sir would be talking for hours... I don't find many people that care enough about cars ( outside my wife, she is a gear head as much as I am, part of why I married her )
+kenny simpelaar No, UK cars are better. Right-hand drive is conclusively proven to be safer for everyone than left-hand drive (look it up if you don't believe me!).
no is the opposite because right eye have wider sight of line if you drive on the left side and right eye is dominant over the left eye. and who said that you cant drive with right hand in a left side car? i switch from right hand to left hand only for change gears
I find skipping gears most useful in hilly area. If you are starting the near near the top of a hill in 1st gear, and the road quickly starts to head down hill, I typically shift from 1st to 3rd and skip 2nd because the car pick up speed so much faster.
What I've learned from your videos is doing anything to your car is bad, because they don't last forever and are supposed to break. Even washing your car is bad because you depreciate the clear coat and eventually expose the base coat then rust:/ Nobody would buy new cars if they lasted forever.
Ok, to be honest, you are right. But then there was my grandfather, taking so much care for his car. On the 20th year, the paint still looked like new and the maintenances (he didn´t do them himself) were always done on time when the manufacturer recommended. Would be still running around if anyone would have wanted it. It was a shitty 70cv VW Vento from 1994
This. I unsubscribed from him when he started doing these videos. I wanted to see unique and interesting things I didn't know about, explained by a certified Engineer in layman's terms, not "top 10 things you do everyday that are going to give you cancer (arrows and circles)".
I will sometimes start in 2nd gear from a standstill if I'm going downhill and can't accelerate anyway (usually due to dense traffic). There's really no point going into 1st gear if you can just start rolling forward and gently ease it into low RPM 2nd gear.
I used to shift 1 2 5 in my 87 Accord because it realy needed the revs to accelerate, but 2nd was good for about 55MPH, so around town I could get done shifting sooner. 5th to 3rd was common, and 1235 was common when getting on the highway. One trick I sometimes did was to brake and corner down to about 50 or 20, then drop it into 2nd or 1st. The extreme engine braking would cause the tail to kick out (because FWD), then floor it when the car was pointing the right way. I could make a 0-point U-turn on a two lane street this way. It was not quite stock. I had a center force clutch, Jackson Racing struts, brembo rotors and performance friction pads. Oh yeah, Yokohama AVS A+4 tires. But the engine and transmission were stock, as were the rear brakes which seemed to have been just along for the ride because the linings were still fine at 250k miles. I think I changed about 8 clutches, 5 sets of half-shafts, more sets of front brake pads that I care to remember and at least 5 or 6 sets of tires. I thrashed that car and it only failed to get me where I was going 3 times. I lost a water pump at about 20k, a battery at about 2 years, and a radiator exploded at about 175k.
This was kind of funny, when I´m used to drive manuals for almost 50 years (started with a traktor in the age of 10). Actually I prefer manuals, because I have better control of the car and performance. Yes you can do that and also a bunch of other things sliding the clutch. Apart from some cheap old cars I have not been able to wear out the clutch with normal driving and sliding the clutch from time to time. Sliding the clutch is kind of a thing it´s designed for, so don´t be afraid to use it. Use the clutch with downshifting for engine braking. Use the clutch for quicker accelerating, when your engine don´t have that much torque. You can also change gear with a manual without using clutch at all. If your clutch is broken, you can start the car from third gear and get going to nearest garage and so on... Well, how to learn those tricks, it´s more like a backbone thing. You can´t learn them from books, or someone telling you. You just need to do some training. And please don´t do it in traffic.
I missed the technical explenation, so here is mine. In the gearbox all gear pairs always interlock, with the gears on the output shaft free to rotate around the output axis. They rotate along with the gears on the input shaft. Gear engagement is done by connecting one of the gears to its own shaft. This connection is made with a connector which is pushed between shaft and gear wheel with a shift fork, creating a fixed connection between input shaft and the relevant gear wheel. The shift fork is operated directly by the gear lever. When shifting from first to second gear, a series of events take place. 1. Using the clutch the engine is disconnected from the inputshaft. 2. Deselect first gear disconnects the inputshaft from the outputshaft. The inputshaft is still spinning in firstgear speed due to inertia, but disconnected on both ends. 3. By selecting second gear the second connector presses against its synchromeshring (basically a conical friction coupling), which forces the inputshaft and al gearwheels to slow down to the speed of second gear. 4. When the rotational speeds of both axes are synchronised according to second gear ratio, the second gear connector can easily connect output shaft to gearwheel, thus connect inputshaft to outputshaft. 5. Releasing the cluth connects engine and inputshaft, forcing them to turn in the same rotational speed. So, in step 3, the larger the difference between consecutive selected gears, the more rotational speed difference of the inputshaft the synchromeshring has to slow down, thus potentially a bit more wear on these rings.
0:40 - Sequential transmissions don't force us to use gears sequentially, only to SHIFT sequentially. In my motorcycle days, on a fast liter bike, it was not uncommon to go 1-2-click-click-click-6, since by the top of 2nd gear, I was already going 80 mph. It's just not a DIRECT shift.
Yes they do force you to use gears sequentially. Even if you go 1-2-click-click-click-6, you still have to momentarily use gears 3, 4 and 5 before moving to 6, unlike a manual transmission where you can just can go INSTANTLY from 2 to 6 without EVER being at 3,4 and 5.
I actually shifted from fifth to second gear when i drove on the Autobahn the first time in my driving school. My instructor really wasnt happy, but the car was fine.
Look up on youtube from 3rd or 4th gear to Reverse and show to your instructor maybe he will be extra mad later... what will happened to car if you downshift from 5th to 3rd? i was doing from 5th to 2nd gear with balancing the rev that makes no problem to car you just adjust
You know I thought about this one. I generally don't skip gears on the upshift. My thinking, although may be completely wrong, is I want the synchros to wear evenly. I feel like I've driven a used manual before where the previous driver always skipped 2nd gear when shifting from 1st going directly to 3rd. It seemed like it was always harder to shift into second because of this. Again I may be completely wrong on this. On the downshift, for example skipping from 6th to 4th I always double clutch. Again, I feel like I'm saving the wear and tear on the synchros. What you think?
So if you're done accelerating in 2nd gear and you want to shift to 5th gear for cruise, you go through 3rd and 4th gear before putting it in 5th gear and release the clutch?
Many years ago my GF ended up with a Cutlass Rallye 350 with a 350 CI engine, hurst shifter on the 4 speed, and 4:11 rear end. We learned to drive it by experimentation. Torque was so great that starting in 2 nd was no problem and it would start up a slight grade in 4 th gear (gentle clutch work). That meant that when going around any corner while still rolling, there was no need to downshift. As we got more confidence we added in more and more up and down shifting. The clutch was fine because we were patient and easy on the throttle and clutch. Once we got the hang of it, we explored its FULL potential- pretty nice, but still not a 442. It was so light in the rear end that second gear starts were the easy way to avoid wheelspin when it was wet.
I drive my manual civic all winter. Starting in second for icy conditions is fine, as it helps your car hook up; even starting in third is ok if you have enough ice. But, you don’t want your car to hook up on fair ground then bind, as it will stall or worse. You don’t want to be trying to get traction over the same patch of snow once you have spun out, as it has already turned to ice. my grandfather always said fore wheel drive only gets you feather in the ditch, and that’s true philosophically. know the limits of your car.
I would skip (1,3,5) in testing for my case (92 Bronco, 5.0) for if it would help fuel mileage wise. Found out it was better to stick with short shifting through all the gears instead for fuel mileage as it made about 0.5-1.0 mpg difference (short distance driving at around 11-12mpg overall). Downshifting (since 5 speed) for braking purposes was always better to just skip 4th since the gear ratios were close enough to not make any difference in slowing me down, or to skip to 3rd to accelerate faster in order to pass someone.
Hey Jason, KUDOS on the whole massive thing you're doing. You're really gifted in your ability to understand, and your ability to create understanding in others (i.e. "teach"). THANK YOU!!
Martin Liyali you can actually safely change gears in a car without using the clutch. You just have to be very careful and precise with the rev matching
What about wear on the synchros? I was told that skipping gears puts additional stress on the synchros and thus one should work through the gears instead of skipping gears when downshifting. This is particularly applicable to track driving, where you on a long strait and the are hard on the brakes and need to drop 2 gears (e.g. 4th to 2nd).
Disengaging the clutch separates the engine from the transmission. But remember the transmission gearset is spinning at road speed. I believe if you skip a gear (again 4 to 2) you are putting additional stress on the 2nd gear synchros to spin up the input shaft to that speed. If instead you went 4,3,2, I have been told that the intermediate 3rd gear selection will help distribute the load on the synchros (less shock than going 4 to 2) and thus less wear and heat. This makes sense to me, but I don't know if there's appreciable load differences and wear between these two methods, or if it's more just theoretical. Obviously this assumes we are perfectly rev matching the final 2nd gear selection before reengaging the clutch.
twinscrew928 Fair point, I would presume you're right because something always has to catch up with the road speed. Synchros engage so well though, id bet the loads are very close
Prich038 rev matching doesn't affect synchro use unless you double clutch to bring up or bring down the speed of the clutch disk before making your gear selection. Rev matching is for matching engine / flywheel speed to the next assumed gear, the clutch is still disengaged so any rpm changes don't affect the clutch speed. Double clutching is WAY too much work, and synchro wear is slim anyways so I still skip gears, but keeping in mind that rev matching is purely for my comfort and reduced clutch wear. Sorry for the worst reply.
I had a 1995 Golf with a 5 speed manual transmission. I used to skip 3rd to 5th after getting up to speed. The neutral safety switch didn't work, so I would sometimes start the car while in gear to get out of a sticky spot. In heavy traffic I would idle with the transmission in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th gear. It is amazing how much torque you get from a diesel engine.
Some additional things to think about! First off, obviously you should never downshift if it means exceeding your engine's redline. Also, skipping gears will put an additional strain on your synchronizers, especially for downshifts. Not that double-clutching is required these days (though if done properly, it will save your synchros), but it can help for getting into first gear if you're moving. If you're traveling at say 15 mph/25km/h, and want to be in first, generally the transmission will prevent you from doing so. Let the clutch out, pop the revs up, then clutch in and shift to first - this will often work. Generally not necessary for getting into other gears, again, that's why synchros exist is to ease and allow for that transition. Hope everyone's having a great day!
Consider following on Instagram: instagram.com/engineeringexplained/
I actually came here specifically to say that, about the synchro wear. Going from 5 to 3rd to pass or for a hill is a lot of the reason that the NV4500 will fail the 3rd gear synchro first. Same deal for the second gear on like the Cruze, where people go from 6th down to 2nd for a corner. Worse on the ECO wide ratio trans.
The Cruze has a horrible manual transmission. I hated mine with a passion and after not being able to sell it for months, I took a $3k hit to trade it out.
Short answer, as long you are carefull only wear and tear is the danger...
27Zangle it's fine to drive ('11 eco 1.4t 6MT), but at the end of the day, it's a wide ratio trans that was designed/built with synchros for "normal" ratios, so wear is an issue... I mean, it trashes stock synthetic fluid in 20-30k miles, and should change even amsoil fluid every 50-60k.
Engineering Explained that is the thing though. People, including you, will shift down AND THEN bring the revvs up to match the speed of the drivetrain. You should actually start the rev-match when going out of the higher gear and keep the revs matched as you enter the lower gear and de-clutch.
I like going from 6 to R ( rocket mode )
Mii too
lol roasted
You mean Rally Gear?
Racing!
Warren Greaves No dude it's rocket mode
I've been skipping gears for decades without issue. It's certainly something you want to do after you've driven the car for a while and have a feel for the ratios of each gear. Every car is going to take time to get that feel, especially for rev matching.
Me going full throttle in 2nd gear then skip all the way to 6th to cruise :P
I used to do that on my old renault hatchback cuz the third was so short it rarely was worth using lol
@@thesolidsnek8096 I own a 50cc bike and my first gear is so short that I would have to shift before even turning during an intersection.
Yeah, i usually start with first into second and then from second to fourth if i immeadiatly get on a road with a speed around 40 mph.
@@DustGamezX same
Spoiler ahead: Yes, it's okay.
Thank you
Thanks
Saved me 6 minutes 😂🙏
Thx bud
ofcourse it is honestly i end up doing it every day i have a big ass hill in my yard so i just go into 3rd at the bottom of it because im alcready going 30 mph which is a bit high for my 2nd
For all of those who didnt learned that while driving: yes, its okay and essential too (example: if youre going downhill and youre in 4th gear you can switch to 2nd gear to have stronger engine break and the car slows itself down)
"Essential" not quite more like a convenient get around
Essential I think is the wrong term
In a Truck with 8-18 gears or a tractor with 8-32 forward gears skipping gears really is essential to not get mad and to not slow down traffic that much.
In a car that has 5-6 gears, it usually just is a convenience. For example, I can downahift into 5th at 80 and 4th at 70, sometimes I just let the speed drop to 70 and skip, sometimes I go into 5th and immediatly into 4th. Watching out on my clutch is important to me.
Rev matching while shifting down is the most important lesson to me.
@@SajtosNokedli Nope, I never understood the reason for downshifting with rav matching. Why wear out the expensive gear when I can wear out considely cheaper brake pads.
@@Joseph-eh4rs are you saying you push the clutch, slow down, and then shift? cuz rev matching is designed to not wear out the expensive stuff. you push the clutch, rev, and shift. whats that wearing out?
also what if you dont want to slow down at all? are u gonna slow down to shift just to accelerate half a second later?
I usually stay in neutral and push the car and get in.. So I can save fuel
Nice little workout too 💪
@@AnonYmous-iz6wl exactly saves your money and your health
IT'S ALL ABOUT SAVING, PEOPLE.
Kollam fury spotted
I don't even sit in the car. I put car in neutral and push it all the way to destination. Zero fuel consumption.👌
Only my 1st and 5th gear works so i have to skip.
Lukas trellstedt that’s fuckedddd😂😂
😂😂😂😂😂😂
1st and 5th is on the same planetary gear
Oof I’m just imagining the sound of your engine, and it’s not very nice.
I had a vehicle that only one, three, and five worked. It was interesting to drive.
manual transmission, probably the best anti theft car equipement in us
Tony x that's rite
i cant like you more than once my friend...
excellent humor...!!!
lololol...
I heard of a guy who was forced out of his car by gun point and the thief got in, but couldn't drive stick so he took off.
Tony, you have no idea how true that is.... :D
HAAHAHAH
I learned to drive in the UK, in a manual transmission car.
In the UK, skipping a gear is called a 'block change', and it was taught to me by my drriving instructor as a standard procedure.
i rarely used second gear in my lessons... mostly just 1st to 3rd right away and second only if not quite fast in incline or ready to turn but cars ahead or something. before stop at red light always just from whatever gear i'm in right to first (after braking ofc)
Well that's nice. I've never taken a driver's Ed class. I was just taught by my father, and took my test from there.
no body gives a sh
@@christophercolumbus8944 You evidently gave enough of a sh to read it and leave a comment.
@@thepenultimateninja5797 no i don't and i don't look like a r tard driving like you people on the wrong side of the road
I skip gears all the time with my 27-speed mountain bike....
Transpower me too... Me too
I skip gears in my 7 speed
Why do you need that much gears?
@@rezwan6613 When going up or down steep hills!
Make sure to rev match
I don't get those guys complaining like "Just say yes" ... I mean what's the point of watching videos from "Engineering EXPLAINED" if you don't want the explanation ?
Thanks Nico! :)
Actualy the comments I have seen like that literaly said "make a 3s vid and say yes" and nothing more so they really are not "like you" and do have not the same argument and thinking way than you, that was to those people I was refering (Sorry for the poor english btw)
Tho I think I can get your disapointment about videos like this made for most of common people when you already have good subject knowledge, I personally do not even have my license so I learned a lot just by curiosity with this one ^^ Plus there is a few more details in description and comment posted by the owner you might like, just saying :)
I believe everywhere in Europe you have to take driving test with manual gearshift. And same as this guy from Denmark , we in Croatia also have to do a "first aid test" (which teaches you how to immobilize broken bones, perform cpr, stop bleeding, how to treat acid burns from car batteries etc...).
You could also say,
*'I'm triggered'*
would save us time reading this nonsens
sixfootten thanks for your explanation.
the short explanation is
it was viewersb8
I just always Drive in 1st, I didn't know you had to change gears. Even on the interstate.
The more you know!
thats a very tall first gear 😆😆
Tesla driver spotted!
The short story I am about to tell you is 100% true: About 30 years ago I worked in an electro-plating factory and once we had plated our goods we would have to transport them to another factory 30 miles north of us. Because of the regular runs we had to make the factory employed a young HGV driver. After being in the job for a week he complained that the lorry the factory owned was slow, coincidentally the factory foreman was having a fit about the fuel consumption the driver was getting from the lorry. The two issues were solved when it was pointed out to our driver that the lorry had 6 and not 4 gears!
So you're the real Jason Mewes.
This has taught me more than I could ask for. Really happy to learn about such things without having to go through a rough experience to learn it the hard way.
I like going from 1 to 6, because that's good for saving fuel!
Pepe Daily lmaoo
Pepe Daily ROFL...
Profile picture checks out
Kelvin Klein are you discriminating against a kekistanian you racist.
Pepe - On a very steep downhill you can go from 1 to 6 and take easy on the gas so it won't put much pressure on the engine and drivetrain. But if you do that on a flat or uphill then you will mess up your car
As a german I am shocked by the amount of people that have no idea how to drive a manual. In Europe (no matter where you live) you do your driver's license with a manual. We don't even learn automatic.
In the US, only certain driving schools provide the car you drive. Since manuals are so rare here now, the chances of having to drive one for your test is fairly low. Most driving schools have you provide the car.
Although, if you do drive manual in the US, the chances of your car getting stolen is pretty low. After all, not many people here know how to drive one. The whole point of stealing the car is pretty moot if you can't even get it out of the parking spot.
Vezoy What the other guy said. In America, manual cars are harder to come by unless the cars are too old to daily drive or too expensive for the average person.
You can learn automatic but then your license will be limited to automatics only.
DrICHundrannere If you do your final driving test with an auto, your license will be limited to drive automatic cara only. If you take all your driving lessons in an automatic car but do the actual test with a manual car (complete nonsense, I know), you're allowed to drive manuals as well.
actually it makes perfect sense, because you showed the government official that you are able to drive a stick shift safely during a test situation
Americans be like "lol what's a gear"
Lol
I only know Top Gear bro
And what makes you say that, don't believe any Americans race? Or actually drive manual transmission?
Auto pilot is almost here.
Lol
4th to 2nd is so much of my life haha. Especially where I live. There’s no point to go to 3rd before a turn often.
i like going from 6 to r (race mode)
That'll destroy da transmission
The TeddyBear rocket mode
Lols no it wont. There is a wall while moving that wont let you shift to race mode, Those bastards are saving the fun for themselves
I've been debating this in my race machine (Honda Civic), but I'm not sure these streets can handle the power. Is it worth?
Me too I go from 5th to P for pass
"2nd DOWN to 4th" You're confusing me.
Ok 2 then longtiditudually south towards the rear of the vehicle towards 6 o clock into 4th
Edit probly confused you more with the 6 o clock
I know I’m super late, but he was saying down in reference to the engine revs, not the gear itself.
It was poor choice of words. He said both "2nd down to 4th" and "4th down to 2nd".
@@gwcrispiyeah that was super confusing
I love going from 5th to 3rd gear in a smooth transition when exiting the highway, the most satisfying feeling ever ☺
Same here lol
I love going from 6th to R gear on highway (R= rally mode)
I can think of at least 6 more satisfying feelings.
Or going from 5th gear to 3rd gear to pass a vehicle in a single-lane highway.
Yup 🤷
I like to go from 3rd to (R) "Race" and do a fly by
Jeff domner wrong gear, idk how you even got the car in reverse, mythbusters tested it, no good
thats the joke
You do know that its impossible to put it in reverse while driving right ? The only way thats possible is in a really old car, or when you drive slow enough. (and even then it shouldnt because off safety) real old cars sometimes did not have the safety.
It also doesnt really doesnt much because there is a safety (you would know if you actually watched it) They even put it in park but still nothing happend. Same goes for manual gearbox its impossible to put it in reverse because of the safety.
Also it was a joke which is already pointed out.
Well, you are gonna do a fly by... xD
but remeber to put it in 1st to come into first place when racing i've put it into 2nd when was at the finish line and ended up in second place ill never forgive myself because it was for pinks
I know it might not be as common in the US because most of the places where you drive are pretty flat, but I was taught here in Colombia that if you're going to start from a standstill, and you're gonna be going downhill, you can start from second and even third gear, because the hill will help you with the rest, and you won't really be wearing the clutch.
Yep, on declines, especially if steep, makes it easy to start in second. Simply letting off the brake means you start rolling, and get up to a speed where letting out the clutch is no problem.
Engineering Explained 2nd is useful on snowy roads aswell..
This is also how you start a manual transmission car if the car starter is broken or your battery(on diesel cars only) is dead.
bios47 works on gassers also
Engineering Explained
Is a manual truly more fuel efficient vs auto?
About the last part: some cars (like my Accord) almost always won't let you select 1st unless you're completely stopped, so I have to use 2nd if I'm going 5 miles an hour.
Dell0304 my civic si does the same thing
Yeah, my old Mitsubishi Eclipse was the same way too.
Dell0304 thank you ive been wondering about that im going to drive a manual soon
yes the car will roll without any input until the gas runs out in second gear, if it's flat at least.
My Mazda rx8 will let me but i have to give a good amount of force to enter first gear under 5mph. So i just use 2nd most of the time.
Rev matching is something i learned in my first month of manual ownership... i miss having a manual. But my options were a 6 speed rio with 6% interest or an automatic soul with 0.99% interest. Went with the money saving option
Kia? Sad
Souls are kinda fun in their own goofy kinda way
Why would you want a manual? Way easier to drive automatic.
@@hamyzschidenfeld3215More control of vehicle
@@hamyzschidenfeld3215 Many reasons:
1. Manual gives you more control
2. manual actually is more efficient to drive (automatic transmission is heavier than manual aka the car will be heavier and use more gas)
3. Manual transmission is way easier and cheaper to fix if it breaks.
4. Depending on a country you may or may not be forced to drive a manual during learning and the tests for driver's license
Question- more fuel efficient to- A) Floor it from zero to speed limit, then cruise or B) Slowly accelerate until the speed limit, then cruise?
Im interested in that question too! I think B is slightly more efficient.
Zachary Garcia I've read in instruction manuals of several cars to never floor the gas. I'm pretty sure the best way is to try and get the speed up as fast as your car can manage without flooring since it saves the most gas.
Please answer this!
High acceleration to reach speed limit is more fuel efficient than slowly accelerating up to speed.
its B. There is a reason why the prius and other hybrid cars want you to accelerate slow.
Spoiler: u cant skip leg day
Have leg day today, thanks for reminding me :(
you can... you wont die, you'll just be a bit top heavy.
Josip, its gonna make standing on your head way easier.
Ice ZnX maybe you cant coz u merican..
ok /fit/
hey everyone, manual is the best anti theft in america
americans dont know what gears are
90% of europeans drive manual
automatics have gotten as good as manual these days
theres actually a lot of americans that drive manual
did i mention europeans love driving manual?
just thought i would let you all know how original i am by typing the same thing that you can read on literally every video involving a vehicle that has ever been uploaded
@MlSHKlN it is , it’s really fun and keeps focused
WHY HAVE YOUR HAND LOCKED DOWN TO A MANUAL TRANSMISSION WHEN YOUR HAND CAN HAVE THE FREEDOM OF AN AUTO TRANSMISSION LIKE A TRUE AMERICAN HAND
all jokes aside it is a shame manuals are becoming more rare these days
80%, and dropping
Did you know that it is IMPOSSIBLE for your car to get stolen if you drive a manuelle transmissione?
Most of cars here in the philippines are manual transmission, unfortunately
Short answer:
Yes. It's okay. Just make sure you have enough speed, otherwise you'll stall the car.
Same goes for going high to low. Make sure you've slowed down enough or your revs are low enough otherwise you might damage the engine.
Unless Its a rental car, then you can shift from 5th down to first. The engine will brake. The engine will also break.
Thief: nice car! Lets get it
Manual transmission: *are you sure about that*
I read the second part in John Cena's voice. 🤣🤣🤣
@@CrestedSaguaro520 same
You say that but the guy stealing your car draves that beat up 94 manual honda accord
@@EpicTacoSenpai hmm.. drave?
Let me put it in race mode just in case the cops get called
I like going from 6 to N (nitrous mode)
HoeLeeFuQQ *nitrous mode*
Gas mode
I prefer 6 to R (race mode)
Thuarakan SJY lmao 😂😂😂😂😂👍🏽
HoeLeeFuQQ i prefer 6 to P ( Power )
Wihtout watching the video. Yes it's OK.
Also, you don't shift *down* from second to fourth, that is shifting up.
Jonathan Blake thanks, I was looking for the answer as the video was playing.
Jonathan Blake no 4th is lower than 2nd learn about engine rpm and you will understand
Hulk GTI the guy was talking about engine rotation. The engine rotates less in 4th gear than in 2nd hence the word "down".
From first to fourth? No it's not ok as far as I know, your car is going to wobble a lot and it will damage the engine
nova all about rpm, if you’re close to redline in first gear, a shift into 4th would be fine
I instantly saw the title and got reminded to what my instructor told me on my last lesson - she said “ideally you’re allowed to skip gears when it’s appropriate, such as entering a highway where u need to match the speed of traffic as quick as possible, as long as u get the right amount of RPM for a specific gear”
Short answer,
*well.* *_yes_* but actually *_no_*
was hoping he'd say something I didn't know, but everything he said is common sense to anyone who knows even the basics of what a clutch and gearbox do
Wrong. It is okay.
@@_-Anthony-_ depends, sometimes it can be bad to skip a gear, But if you are cruising and you go to N and then to 2nd after a while then thats fine
When can it be bad then?
I guess there are many people who haven't driven with a manual transmission. It's great someone is answering basic questions.
I drive an 18 speed Roadranger - I skip 5 at a time.
Ha, nice!
I have a hard time going from my 18 speed Peterbilt to my Suzuki XL7 5 speed because I float gears all day long then try to get in my POV and "forget" to clutch between gears lol. Can still float the XL7 but have to wait a lot longer between shifts. It's more like a 1500 rpm drop instead of 250
@@veteranheavyequipmechanic4990 i float my car and pickup..just used to doing it that way..
Skip without the clutch
which ones?
One more tip on upshift skip gears. Be sure to bring your RPMs a little higher first before skipping gears, you do not want your RPMs to be too low either because you might risk lugging the engine.
you make it sound like ultra complex .... but once you drive for some time you feel your car and you kinda do all that by default.
Ultra complex? A 5 year old could understand all of this.
@@sjoerdvelzen8255 I can assure you that most 5 year olds would not understand this.
@@sjoerdvelzen8255 5 year olds don't understand zebra's..
@@DustyyBoi you don't understand apostrophes :D
@@huawafabe I use the swipe feature to type so that's autocorrect not me
To sum up the video; Don't down-shift on a car you don't know the typical rpm for each gear. So, not on a brand new car and not on a car you are borrowing.
And for upshifting, don't do it up a hill
Sigmund Trutt How are you gonna drive without downshifting? And same for shifting uphill?
Wiikendz I think he meant don't skip gears when downshifting
Jacob Greenway Doesnt work that way either, people who drive manuals will know.
Well you don't need to know the exact RPM for each gear. All you need to do is be close. Lets say you are in 4th going 35mph, the RPMs are at around 1800. You decide to downshift into 2nd. The required RPMs for second at 35mph are around 4200. You don't rev match and instead use the clutch to speed up the engine. That is bad. Say you're smart enough to blip the throttle and it revs to 3800. You are only using the clutch to speed up the engine 400 RPM. Not great you'll feel it but it is still acceptable. Even if you over shoot it say you rev to 4600. It takes less energy to slow down the engine than speed it up. The point is you can safely rev match a new to you vehicle. You can typically get a feel for the RPM difference between gears the first time you go through them, the rest is fine tuning. My point being, as long as you are in the RPM ball park for a gear you are dramatically reducing the wear on the clutch.
Anyone else have a funny step in their gears? 1 to 2, 2 to 3, 4 to 5, and 5 to 6 have the same amount of RPM drop from one to the next, but 3 to 4 is about half as much RPM drop which totally fucks up the rhythm. '12 Honda Cr-Z
Driving your car is bad for it. You wear out engine components, wear out your clutch, brake pads, brake disks, tyres, differentials, driveshaft uni joints, you will get stone chips in your paint, your shock absorbers eventually fail, the seats will wear out, rust will form. Best off leaving the car at home and walking.....
Guys, it was a joke.
Legendary Gamer//Alvinator It’s a joke kiddo
Actually, NOT driving your car is WORSE for it than reasonable driving cycle and proper maintenance. A vehicle not prepared for storage needs to be run to operating temperature (lube oil, not just coolant) at a MINIMUM monthly to prevent premature drivetrain failure.
Daniel Santos Why don't you shut up then?
--- Joke
---Daniel's head
---Daniel's brain
Every European:
*_"Wait, you are not supposed to skip gears?"_*
Oh yeah!
I drive truck (Lorry for you europeans) and if I didn't skip gears empty, I'd take forever and a day to get going. So nah, manual you have to skip if you've got more gears. In pickups and cars, whatever, you've gotta hit the right rpm.
@@diraltmcallister3523 "Lorry" is only used in the UK. Stop thinking the UK is the entirety of Europe.
@@_-Anthony-_ pardon me for not knowing something about something thousands of kilometers away with people I've never met before. Stop bein a stuck up twat maybe bud
@@diraltmcallister3523 why are you making the first lorry comment, like u know what you're saying about euopeans, YOU are the one saying lorry is a european term , it is not, Anthony was correct and polite u are one agresssive little aussie, don't hit a kangaroo , you didgeridoo.
I've been driving a manual for a couple years now as my first car, and I've always wondered about skipping gears but always forgot to ask, so I'm glad I found your video! The answer was pretty much what I expected it to be but it's nice to have confirmation.
it's all about clutch play and rpm matching great video
;>
Exactly.
and knowing what speed/rpm your higher gear will cause a downshift skip to be at as over revving happens a lot more than people think due to this being done
Take a shot each time he’s says clutch wear
it`s not. Try to shift from 1st into 4th gear in a H3 3.7 Manual. It`s not possible, the gearbox makes horrible noises.
From 1st to 3rd or from 2nd to 4th works fine. This guy has no clue what he is talking about.
Also shame on me for buying a murican car, never ever again!
When shifting down, we also have to be carefull not to over-rev, that is, going over the engine revolution limit, risking damaging the valves and pistons.
In short keep on that clutch for a few seconds before lifting it out
I think everybody does this jump from 5 to 3 or 4 to 2 while down shifting so as to more effectively use engine braking. I've never done this while shifting up.
I always skip gears
Same, especially upshifts.
And sometimes in stop signs i forget to put back 1st and start moving again in 2nd, car does just fine, it just takes more clutch play and gentleness
Vincent - It's not good for the engine. It will put more stress on the pistons/rods in the engine and can eventually break...unless you are going to take very easy on the gas and let it accelerate very very slowly then it would be OK but not practical. Better to shift gears 1,2,3,4,5, and 6. Also avoid using 6th gear if you drive slowly in the city in heavy traffic. Leave it in 5th gear or even 4th. Takes a little more gas but easier on the engine.
IamAnoobiecheez LOL WHAT DUDE
I skip gears in the scenario where i've accelerated quickly, hence being in a average higher rev range, then want to start cruising at 55, so i might skip 3rd and 4th by going from 2nd to 5th. As long as you let the revs come down, the car should not know the difference vs a 4th to 5th shift as far as wear goes. I'd say you save a bit of standard wear n' tear by requiring 2 less shifts. Again in this scenario, i don't see any drawback or putting more stress on anything (outside of revving the engine higher to initially accelerate - but we all know that's not as good for the car as babying it at 1500rpm)
6-spd in the city be like, 1, 2, 6.
Is that rare to drive a manual car in USA? In France it's very common
In the US they're not that common. The place i've seen a fair amount of cars that are manual are cars at my local high school, as they're cheaper here (people think it takes too much effort to drive manual I guess) and parents snap those cheap cars up, thus their kids drive in manual cars.
It's almost a shame, as my first car is a standard and driving it isn't hard once you get the hang of the car and where to shift.
It is quite uncommon here unless you are after a sports car. I just purchased a new 2017 Nissan Frontier and had to wait 8 weeks while it was on order. The closest one to me in the trim package I wanted was almost 400 miles away, and I still would have had to make some compromises on options I wanted. There basically aren't any new full size truck options that can get you a manual transmission(no Fords, Nissans, Toyotas, a couple Ram 2500s starting at $40,000, and no Chevys). Mid-size trucks like the Frontier, Tacoma, Colorado, and Canyon do offer them, but they are often very limited in the configurations you can get them in. Cars give much better options on them, but you are typically forced to special order them unless you are going for a low-end econobox or a sports car. The sports cars are often able to be found with manual transmissions for the driving experience, and the econoboxes offer them simply for low cost.
In US, Australia and UK people seem to drive automatic transmission, whereas the rest of the world drives manual.
Patricia Oudshoorn I'm from the UK and I know of almost no one who drives an automatic and if they do, it's on a luxury model.
Don't forget Canada. It seems only 'car guys', and gals know how to drive manual.
Why do you say go "down" from 2nd to 4rth gear. It's seems like you have your gears mixed up.
high rev down to low rev.
The higher the number, the less the engine is turning (and thus less fuel consumption and engine wear). So when going from 2nd to 4th gear, you're making the engine work less, thus "going down" as far as engine revolutions is concerned.
oneeyednarn was just about to type this lol
Thank you that confused the hell out of me
I thought he meant positionally. 2nd is "up" and 4th "down" (with the shifter). It made sense to me this way.
If you know the car and the street it definitely makes sense, especially on a decline.
I live in a very hilly area and I'm going from 2nd to 4th or 3rd to 5th all the time to get up to speed and then slowly rolling down the hill on low rpm.
Also when overtaking trucks, getting up to like 80 km/h in 3rd, then changing into 6th to keep cruising.
I once drove a car that only had 3 working gears. Had to go from 1st to 3rd and 3rd to 5th. Quite an interesting way to drive haha. Oh and in 3rd you had to hold it in or it would pop out.
Hahaha, love it. These are great experiences that give you a finer appreciation when you get into a manual that simply works as it's supposed to. :)
My first several cars had only three gears forward, period, except for the throttle-activated planetary overdrive on the Studebaker, the Rambler, and the Galaxie.
+Engineering Explained I once drove a Nissan Tsuru without 2nd gear. Had to go from 1st straight to 3rd haha.
Devin Stambolziovski the dodge neon only had a 3 speed transmission for the automatic. That is the last 3 speed that I'm aware of
The synchros were worn out... you may have been able to shift in to any gear you wanted if you double clutched... I has a transmission in a 1949 Chevy Coupe that had no synchros and you had to double clutch every single time in order to shift in to any gear.
At first, I didn't understand rev matching on switching to lower gears. Once you mentioned being in gear five and taking a corner that requires gear two, it all made sense. I couldn't have explained it in a theoretical way until now, yet without this video, my intuition would've told me don't release that clutch until the more suitable (slower) speed has been reached.
Right, I’ve discovered that the two options for downshifting (whether skipping gears or not) is either to wait for the car to reach the appropriate speed or to rev match if you want to maintain a similar speed between the higher and lower gear.
I was trying to learn rev matching and kept blipping the throttle after I’d already slowed down to an appropriate speed for the lower gear 😅 And then was taking right hand turns way too quickly because I was trying to rev match and change gears way too late… So now I just slow down for tight turns, but rev match for other situations like speed limit changes, upcoming hills, exit ramps, etc…
Good point. That's about the only reason to downshifting with rev match. But, never understood why people use downshifting to slow down the car say nearing red light when you can use brake and wear out cheaper pads than expensive gears.
@@Joseph-eh4rs the only situation I downshift to slow down the car, two actually, would be either failing brakes or even more breaking. I had one situation where the second gear at like 50kph or so definetly saved my ass from crashing into another guy randomly changing into my lane as brakes alone probably wouldn't've been enough lol
@@Joseph-eh4rs Rev matching is an essential skill.
Same as motor-braking. It doesn't "wear out expensive gears". But your brakes wear out and they might also overheat and start to fade, especially on descends when your vehicle is heavy.
I don't recommend taking off in 2nd gear with OEM ratios.... 100,000 mile clutch would probably last 50,000 or less
Alcatel Evolve2 thats why we are recommended to do double clutching if you dont want to mess with your gearbox
Depends on the vehicles. Some vehicles have very low first gears and are fine to start in second. A lot of truck made for towing are like that. And i assume more sporty cars would be fine too
Granny gear, it is meant to be skipped if you do not have a heavy load.
+Alcatel Evolve2
It's not even just about the clutch. The engine will sputter and jerk, potentially ruining internals
I tend to take off in 2nd in bad weather, and I’ve had two original clutches still in play when I got rid of the cars (120K and 125K). So I dunno. I don’t do it all the time, though.
from a UK driver - why the hell would you go from 1st the 3rd? 1st is to start the car you should be going to 2nd as soon as possible
instructors in the UK encourage skipping up from 3rd to 5th as it means you have you hands on the wheel more as speeds above 40 but its gross and i doubt i'll do it after i pass my test. What the guy doesn't seem to mention is that you need to be at the correct speed for the gear you are selecting. If you gear up to 4th at 25mph your car is going to judder, be unresponsive or stall. If you try to gear down to 2nd at 40mph your car...likely won't allow you to
Yes. In fact it's advised going down the box and up, especially if you use a low gear to get to speed and then select a higher one to maintain it. Unnecessary changes are distracting and increase driver work load to no benefit.
I learned how to drive standard using the neutral trick. I don't climb gears or descend them necessarily. I throw it in neutral then depending on the feel of the car/rpm's put it into the proper gear. Sometimes it's the next one up or down, sometimes it skips one in either direction, it really all just depends on the car. Sometimes I just let it coast in neutral for a while. You get a feel for it and kind of do it intuitively after a while.
Yes, google the term “block gearing” i was taught to do that when I took my driving lessons
I have riding bikes for a decade doing the skipping gears. It's OK when you do it properly.
Been driving a tractor, that has no synchronization in the gearbox, so upshifting and downshifting on the go is an art (doing it with no grinding noises when shifting).
It's completely normal to skip shift. I drive a semi-tractor trailer truck and skip shifting and rev matching is normal. I don't skip shift up very frequently but I skip shift down shifts if I'm bobtail or light. Besides, you have to rev match because there are no synchronizers in heavy duty transmissions. :)
Shock Diamond Dude manual trannys in semi trucks and cars are totally different. Its like comparing a low duty item with a heavy duty item.
Great insights, your overviews rock. I have a 2001 Honda Civic EX Vtec manual. Has 250,000 miles on it. After all these years, I have downshifted occasionally, skipped gears if needed, and upshifted quickly. This car has handled like a sports car on all the major grades of the west, for example: Tehachapi Pass. The clutch has never been touched (nor has engine), works as new. I feel with prudence, and in a well designed vehicle, all will be well, just enjoy your ride.
I just wish I could buy a 2004 Renault Twingo with all the extras. Used of course but I could go camping with that mini car, has enough space for sleeping for a fat guy like me even. That is my wish from life yet that car type is near extinction due to rusting in my country, which is sad.
My cousin had the same car and he let me drive it once - what a joy to drive and to work the shifter and clutch
I often downshift 4 - 2 when approaching a stop. Otherwise I shift in sequence.
When I get tailgated I can put my transmission into neutral and put the stick barely in the Reverse slot without putting it into gear where my reverse lights will turn on. It scares them lol.
I would be way too scared to do that with my car. The best way I have found to discourage tailgaters is to turn on my windshield washers, they back off real quick then!
Proud American you're like 12, stop
One love
I flip the smoke switch in my diesel and give them a big black cloud of cancer.
OR... You could get out of that lane and let the faster traffic through! Geez...some drivers out there...
You select any gear that is appropriate to your speed. Want to get up that round quickly you can go high revs and straight into 4th from 1st. not nice though. Turning into a junction you are still rolling them go straight into 2nd from top gear and off you go. No need to change down sequentially and that comes straight out the Traffic Police manual called "Road craft". Done it all my life and never had transmission problems. Anyone who disagrees doesn't what they are talking about or is a 100 years old learning to drive before synchromesh.
It's perfectly OK. When shifting to a higher or lower gear the transmission doesn't know which gear you coming from, so it's ok and safe skipping gears as long as the car is moving at a speed matching the gear
I usually just skip down from 4th to 6th when I'm slowing down in my Nissan Navara. I don't really skip any other times
"If you downshift without rev matching, you might lock up the wheels." Makes me think of how I used to play Daytona USA in the arcades.
Tsuchia would call that "Shift Lock" drift initiation.
dosent anyone hate when you see an add and think that that little tab on the bottom left is the skip add but it tells you when the add is goeing to end
**COUGH** adblock **COUGH**
Volvirth Not on mobile. Who still watches TH-cam on a computer?
Plenty people watch youtube on a computer. Stick with your tiny screen and horrible sound quality and volume.
Robertas S. Millions of people.
**ad** not add. Also, its bottom right. Also it’s “going”
I´m from Germany and I´m mostly driving manual cars and by shifting down from 4th to 2nd for example you definetely do not need to rev match while downshifting. Like mentioned, it could be better for the clutch but i´ve never heard about locking up the driven wheels and this has never ever happened to me before and I did own a manual Nissan 370Z with around 540hp and while driving fast on curvy roads this does not happen because of skipping gears.
You need to be at least little gentle on the clutch, if you release it instantenously it can be bad but if you are little gentle as you release it, it should be fairly smooth transition.
Or he have almost broken clutch :D
Netandycz: Anyone who learned to drive properly in a manual knows not to release a clutch instantaneously when changing down, but to do it smoothly. I've driven manual cars for over 40 years, skipping gears frequently, and never damaged a clutch yet.
Alan J, I've been driving manual cars for almost 8 years. I put almost 60,000 miles on a MINI Cooper with a manual. I skipped gears all the time. It NEVER had clutch problems. Everyone saying you should never ever skip gears is following ancient advice. Manual transmissions have changed somewhat over the last few decades. In fact, my VW has a gear change indicator on the dash board. If I'm very slowly accelerating to 70 kmh, the indicator flashes a 2-4, meaning skip third gear. If I go farther up to say 100 kmh, it flashes 4-6. If I push the gas pedal hard, it says 4-5 then 5-6. I know how to rev match but my car has never had transmission problems of any kind.
Mr. Smith ‘
I skipped gears all the time. I don't think I had clutch wear, considering I allowed the engine to rev a little higher and went directly into a gear, My car did not lurch, and it moved forth normally. When downshifting quickly, such as what you mentioned a 5th to 2nd scenario, you would be applying the brakes to decellerate and should be releasing the clutch once you're at your desired engine speed, which can be monitored by either mph and rpm.
#7 on trending congrats!
Just unbelievable, this is so exciting!! :)
Lucas Nguyen My trending is full of stabbings in Turu lol
Cant even imagine the ordeal of him being a backseat driver
Haha, I like to think I'm not all that unpleasant to be around. Unless you're curious about cars and want to talk about them, I'm not going to bring it up.
You and me sir would be talking for hours... I don't find many people that care enough about cars ( outside my wife, she is a gear head as much as I am, part of why I married her )
your wife being a gear head is the sweetest thing ive ever heard i hope both of you are very happy
nivesh tayal - hahaha this made me laugh :). Can't imagine.
If the person giving you driving tips is more knowledgeable about cars and driving, they're a navigator, not a back seat driver.
This is all child's play in the UK - we don't really do automatics. If you have one, people wonder what's wrong with your left hand.
Im left handed so really enjoy driving manual, never even driven auto before.
I use my left hand for steering like the rest of europe. uk cars are weird.
+kenny simpelaar No, UK cars are better. Right-hand drive is conclusively proven to be safer for everyone than left-hand drive (look it up if you don't believe me!).
no is the opposite because right eye have wider sight of line if you drive on the left side and right eye is dominant over the left eye.
and who said that you cant drive with right hand in a left side car?
i switch from right hand to left hand only for change gears
Wider sight of line?? You clearly have no idea what you're talking about...
UK lorry driver here, when I did my licence back in the 80s I was taught to block change… on a crash box… and double de clutch
*but can you skip life?*
Azio Prism Asking the real question!
yes.,.. all you need is an exercise band ;)
That's called death, now go and try it!
☆better question☆:
Can you *skip those @holes* who will try to threaten you w/ their
..reckless impatience & ....
I find skipping gears most useful in hilly area. If you are starting the near near the top of a hill in 1st gear, and the road quickly starts to head down hill, I typically shift from 1st to 3rd and skip 2nd because the car pick up speed so much faster.
I live in a hill, after close the gate its almost 45°, no problems starting from 3rd gear.
What I've learned from your videos is doing anything to your car is bad, because they don't last forever and are supposed to break. Even washing your car is bad because you depreciate the clear coat and eventually expose the base coat then rust:/ Nobody would buy new cars if they lasted forever.
Ok, to be honest, you are right. But then there was my grandfather, taking so much care for his car. On the 20th year, the paint still looked like new and the maintenances (he didn´t do them himself) were always done on time when the manufacturer recommended. Would be still running around if anyone would have wanted it. It was a shitty 70cv VW Vento from 1994
David No cool story
One love
This. I unsubscribed from him when he started doing these videos. I wanted to see unique and interesting things I didn't know about, explained by a certified Engineer in layman's terms, not "top 10 things you do everyday that are going to give you cancer (arrows and circles)".
Raven Sharpless "This is a comment I've seen pop up in the comment section, so it's something I thought I should address". Can't please everyone dude.
This just accidentally answered my question about rev matching. I never knew what it was but it just clicked so hard in my head!
I will sometimes start in 2nd gear from a standstill if I'm going downhill and can't accelerate anyway (usually due to dense traffic). There's really no point going into 1st gear if you can just start rolling forward and gently ease it into low RPM 2nd gear.
Me to but I need to rev abit more like 2k rpm or else my car will start bocking 😅
0:14 why does it look so goofy
Lol 😂
Lmaoooooo😂
Just depends on engine Revs, if you know how to drive stick, you know when and where you can.
I used to shift 1 2 5 in my 87 Accord because it realy needed the revs to accelerate, but 2nd was good for about 55MPH, so around town I could get done shifting sooner. 5th to 3rd was common, and 1235 was common when getting on the highway. One trick I sometimes did was to brake and corner down to about 50 or 20, then drop it into 2nd or 1st. The extreme engine braking would cause the tail to kick out (because FWD), then floor it when the car was pointing the right way. I could make a 0-point U-turn on a two lane street this way. It was not quite stock. I had a center force clutch, Jackson Racing struts, brembo rotors and performance friction pads. Oh yeah, Yokohama AVS A+4 tires. But the engine and transmission were stock, as were the rear brakes which seemed to have been just along for the ride because the linings were still fine at 250k miles. I think I changed about 8 clutches, 5 sets of half-shafts, more sets of front brake pads that I care to remember and at least 5 or 6 sets of tires. I thrashed that car and it only failed to get me where I was going 3 times. I lost a water pump at about 20k, a battery at about 2 years, and a radiator exploded at about 175k.
Excellent and properly explained video. I also had this doubt while I used to drive but now I'm aware of what to do! Great job!! 👍
This was kind of funny, when I´m used to drive manuals for almost 50 years (started with a traktor in the age of 10). Actually I prefer manuals, because I have better control of the car and performance.
Yes you can do that and also a bunch of other things sliding the clutch. Apart from some cheap old cars I have not been able to wear out the clutch with normal driving and sliding the clutch from time to time. Sliding the clutch is kind of a thing it´s designed for, so don´t be afraid to use it.
Use the clutch with downshifting for engine braking. Use the clutch for quicker accelerating, when your engine don´t have that much torque. You can also change gear with a manual without using clutch at all. If your clutch is broken, you can start the car from third gear and get going to nearest garage and so on...
Well, how to learn those tricks, it´s more like a backbone thing. You can´t learn them from books, or someone telling you. You just need to do some training. And please don´t do it in traffic.
"Is It Okay To Skip Gears In A Manual Transmission?"
well.... is water wet?
Dextomus I don’t know
No
Actually, water isn't wet. Water makes something wet
You should’ve said “is it ok to breath two times in a row?”
I've heard its viscous
I missed the technical explenation, so here is mine.
In the gearbox all gear pairs always interlock, with the gears on the output shaft free to rotate around the output axis. They rotate along with the gears on the input shaft. Gear engagement is done by connecting one of the gears to its own shaft. This connection is made with a connector which is pushed between shaft and gear wheel with a shift fork, creating a fixed connection between input shaft and the relevant gear wheel. The shift fork is operated directly by the gear lever.
When shifting from first to second gear, a series of events take place. 1. Using the clutch the engine is disconnected from the inputshaft. 2. Deselect first gear disconnects the inputshaft from the outputshaft. The inputshaft is still spinning in firstgear speed due to inertia, but disconnected on both ends. 3. By selecting second gear the second connector presses against its synchromeshring (basically a conical friction coupling), which forces the inputshaft and al gearwheels to slow down to the speed of second gear. 4. When the rotational speeds of both axes are synchronised according to second gear ratio, the second gear connector can easily connect output shaft to gearwheel, thus connect inputshaft to outputshaft. 5. Releasing the cluth connects engine and inputshaft, forcing them to turn in the same rotational speed.
So, in step 3, the larger the difference between consecutive selected gears, the more rotational speed difference of the inputshaft the synchromeshring has to slow down, thus potentially a bit more wear on these rings.
0:40 - Sequential transmissions don't force us to use gears sequentially, only to SHIFT sequentially. In my motorcycle days, on a fast liter bike, it was not uncommon to go 1-2-click-click-click-6, since by the top of 2nd gear, I was already going 80 mph. It's just not a DIRECT shift.
Yes they do force you to use gears sequentially. Even if you go 1-2-click-click-click-6, you still have to momentarily use gears 3, 4 and 5 before moving to 6, unlike a manual transmission where you can just can go INSTANTLY from 2 to 6 without EVER being at 3,4 and 5.
I actually shifted from fifth to second gear when i drove on the Autobahn the first time in my driving school. My instructor really wasnt happy, but the car was fine.
Look up on youtube from 3rd or 4th gear to Reverse and show to your instructor maybe he will be extra mad later... what will happened to car if you downshift from 5th to 3rd? i was doing from 5th to 2nd gear with balancing the rev that makes no problem to car you just adjust
You know I thought about this one. I generally don't skip gears on the upshift. My thinking, although may be completely wrong, is I want the synchros to wear evenly. I feel like I've driven a used manual before where the previous driver always skipped 2nd gear when shifting from 1st going directly to 3rd. It seemed like it was always harder to shift into second because of this. Again I may be completely wrong on this. On the downshift, for example skipping from 6th to 4th I always double clutch. Again, I feel like I'm saving the wear and tear on the synchros. What you think?
So if you're done accelerating in 2nd gear and you want to shift to 5th gear for cruise, you go through 3rd and 4th gear before putting it in 5th gear and release the clutch?
@svr5423 no way, I shift normally through every gear. 😅
Many years ago my GF ended up with a Cutlass Rallye 350 with a 350 CI engine, hurst shifter on the 4 speed, and 4:11 rear end. We learned to drive it by experimentation. Torque was so great that starting in 2 nd was no problem and it would start up a slight grade in 4 th gear (gentle clutch work). That meant that when going around any corner while still rolling, there was no need to downshift. As we got more confidence we added in more and more up and down shifting. The clutch was fine because we were patient and easy on the throttle and clutch. Once we got the hang of it, we explored its FULL potential- pretty nice, but still not a 442. It was so light in the rear end that second gear starts were the easy way to avoid wheelspin when it was wet.
i only skip gear when i still have the roadrunner coz cops cops are always behind me it squills all the time in first !
VTEC: " do not even think about it."
"Rev match everything and you can shift anywhere.. even reverse"
Johnny Haller truth!!!
One could even shift WITHOUT clutching, if the revs matches perfectly. (done this many times)
Once my car starts moving I don use my clutch anymore. I'm so awesome.
D.O.A. *spin your car the other way
D.O.A. *spin your car the other way
Skip gear still ok .... some people skip breakfast, lunch and dinner ...
I drive my manual civic all winter. Starting in second for icy conditions is fine, as it helps your car hook up; even starting in third is ok if you have enough ice. But, you don’t want your car to hook up on fair ground then bind, as it will stall or worse. You don’t want to be trying to get traction over the same patch of snow once you have spun out, as it has already turned to ice. my grandfather always said fore wheel drive only gets you feather in the ditch, and that’s true philosophically. know the limits of your car.
In my driving lessons I learned this as "block changing" and used 1st/2nd/3rd/4th/6th
As for doing it downchanging, durrr that's normal!
I would skip (1,3,5) in testing for my case (92 Bronco, 5.0) for if it would help fuel mileage wise. Found out it was better to stick with short shifting through all the gears instead for fuel mileage as it made about 0.5-1.0 mpg difference (short distance driving at around 11-12mpg overall). Downshifting (since 5 speed) for braking purposes was always better to just skip 4th since the gear ratios were close enough to not make any difference in slowing me down, or to skip to 3rd to accelerate faster in order to pass someone.
The wear and tear, Transmission synchronize shifting FROM gear to gear, in steps UP and down, professional Drivers practicing daily. 👍
Double clutching and heel and toe techniques must be also considered. But requires high skills.
Hey Jason, KUDOS on the whole massive thing you're doing. You're really gifted in your ability to understand, and your ability to create understanding in others (i.e. "teach"). THANK YOU!!
With my Mazda 6 2.5L i can even change gears without using the clutch! As long as you drive Japanese you can do everything with your Gears!
Level- God
What kind of a car is dat one whr u can change gears without placing clutch no way🙅
Martin Liyali you can actually safely change gears in a car without using the clutch. You just have to be very careful and precise with the rev matching
I'm doing it with my Mazda 3 all the time, it's all about matching the revs, but you should be careful while doing it.
What about wear on the synchros? I was told that skipping gears puts additional stress on the synchros and thus one should work through the gears instead of skipping gears when downshifting. This is particularly applicable to track driving, where you on a long strait and the are hard on the brakes and need to drop 2 gears (e.g. 4th to 2nd).
twinscrew928 as long as you're pushing the clutch in all the way, the synchros will engage just like normal
Disengaging the clutch separates the engine from the transmission. But remember the transmission gearset is spinning at road speed. I believe if you skip a gear (again 4 to 2) you are putting additional stress on the 2nd gear synchros to spin up the input shaft to that speed. If instead you went 4,3,2, I have been told that the intermediate 3rd gear selection will help distribute the load on the synchros (less shock than going 4 to 2) and thus less wear and heat. This makes sense to me, but I don't know if there's appreciable load differences and wear between these two methods, or if it's more just theoretical. Obviously this assumes we are perfectly rev matching the final 2nd gear selection before reengaging the clutch.
twinscrew928 Fair point, I would presume you're right because something always has to catch up with the road speed. Synchros engage so well though, id bet the loads are very close
Which is why you rev match
Prich038 rev matching doesn't affect synchro use unless you double clutch to bring up or bring down the speed of the clutch disk before making your gear selection. Rev matching is for matching engine / flywheel speed to the next assumed gear, the clutch is still disengaged so any rpm changes don't affect the clutch speed. Double clutching is WAY too much work, and synchro wear is slim anyways so I still skip gears, but keeping in mind that rev matching is purely for my comfort and reduced clutch wear. Sorry for the worst reply.
I had a 1995 Golf with a 5 speed manual transmission. I used to skip 3rd to 5th after getting up to speed. The neutral safety switch didn't work, so I would sometimes start the car while in gear to get out of a sticky spot. In heavy traffic I would idle with the transmission in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th gear. It is amazing how much torque you get from a diesel engine.
A '95 Golf diesel made 122 lb-ft of torque. Barely more than a gas Civic or Corolla, and less than a common gas Accord or Camry