This thread is proper partridge. Thirty IT dads all flustered trying to tell missy that she's doing DRIVING wrong 😀
Who gives a flying fuschia. It's her Range Rover Sport and it works for her. And anyway, we've had an explanation of why she does it - to allow space and access to her bag of girl-accoutrements. Which I think is genius. Necessity is the mother of invention etc...
What about using 23456 and just skipping 1? It could be you have a faulty gearbox if all the odd gears are hard to use.
How high do you have to rev in 2 to get straight to 4?
My Volvo handbook tells me that I should always use 2nd gear to get moving unless the car is heavily loaded or a steep hills tart.
I regularly skip 4&5th too.
Not very high at all. Rev up in 2nd as normal, shift into 4 and it pulls easily without any protestation in 4th and then into 6th. Seriously, it really doesn’t *seem* to cause any mechanical ill effects when doing it, although I take the point that it *could* be causing problems, hence my original query. I find it a lot more difficult to do that MrsT, who really could be driving Miss Daisy, she’s that smooth.
(That reply to Molegrips)
Rev up in 2nd as normal, shift into 4 and it pulls easily without any protestation in 4th
Then you could've shifted into 3rd earlier.
Not reading all that but block shifting a manual is fine.
Leonard had some very specific advice for abusing autoboxes.
And a wonderful, logical explanation as to why it was beneficial to do so.
He was right, as usual.
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I miss Len.
Who said it was a Rangi ?
When I had my 130i (265 bhp 3 litre straight six) it would not be labouring and easily keep up with normal traffic in 6th gear from 35mph from memory, so there was no need to use all the gears. I also used to jump gears, mainly 1-2-3-5 in my Golf V5 (5 speed gearbox) and gears 1-2-4-6 in the 130.
With enough power and torque etc you are not going to cause a problem, certainly not anything to worry about wear wise in my opinion. Also expect the large engine and therefore stronger clutch etc are more than capable of coping with starting in 2nd.
could’ve
This is where you’re going to have to take a leap of faith. “Could’ve” and “should’ve” are irrelevant in this context. Try instead a “don’t like to/too many gears/prefer to pull lever back into gear” combo and you’re part way towards understanding why it happens. She, or anyone choosing to do so I guess, drives way smoother in 246 than 123456. I’m still uncomfortable at the thought but if you were sat in the passenger seat with eyes closed, you’d probably not notice anything unusual.
^^^
Ditto with my 3L Ford, it was very easy to become a lazy driver and probably not a problem mechanically to drive it in such a fashion. But not ideal, and certainly not the most efficient way to drive...
I had an old fiat panda.
By the end it was anyones guess what gear you'd selected.
Not the most efficient way to drive
Mmm...you say that - and so would I - but she manages a better mpg than me. I’ll admit I like the sound of the engine and like to rev it at times, but on occasions when I’m driving economically, I’m still not averaging her levels. I’ll also say, hands down she’s a better driver than me. This is no criticism of ability (far from it) just a feeling that 246 ain’t right in some way. An auto would probably suit her but she doesn’t like the feeling of gears “running away with themselves” on the open road and don’t get me started on flappy paddles - that’s a whole new thread in itself 🙂
If she's getting better fuel economy than you and is a smoother/better driver than you despite only using half the gears then, sorry buddy, but you must be a really shit driver.
Fair play, she sounds like a good driver. But how much better could she be if she used all 6 gears...
An auto would probably suit her but she doesn’t like the feeling of gears “running away with themselves”
This doesn't happen with the latest DSG gearboxes - they provide lots of engine braking.
not sure why 4cl (which is unlikely, but just about possible) would be worse than a 6? yes the pulses would be bigger but the oil pressure/bearing speed would be the same? Either way, most engines (in fact all that aren't broken) have acceptable oil pressure at idle - as long as shes not forcing it significantly below that, the pressure is fine so whats the issue?
Oil pressure is fine in engines idling otherwise they'd chew themselves to bits we know that, but those big slow 750cc slugs of power (if its a 4) in an engine at full load at just above idle/low rpm are relying on that thin film of oil to stop contact between bearing surfaces. Worst case scenario.
Better case scenario is more cylinders for the same rpm, better still is any amount of cylinders but higher rpm (higher oil pressure & less dwell time of the pressure/load side of the big end bearing against the crank).
Light load - higher revs, your crank bearings, DMF and gearbox will thank you. Everyone trundling along at low revs in 6th gear is knocking the shit out of a DMF.
Scotroutes - nail on head. More than that, she also does it wearing high heels at times and that takes a heck of a lot of skill in my book (not that I’ve tried it). To pivot your foot around a fulcrum which is a few inches above the floor must be really tricky (and to swap between that and normal soled shoes without problem). This is another reason why she hasn’t got on with autos in the past because the pedal’s too big and has got used to driving with two feet (and no, I don’t get that either, but there you go).
scotroutes - Member
If she's getting better fuel economy than you and is a smoother/better driver than you despite only using half the gears then, sorry buddy, but you must be a really shit driver.
Define 'shit'.
GlennQuagmire - Member
Fair play, she sounds like a good driver. But how much better could she be if she used all 6 gears...
Define 'better'.
🙂
I'm stunned it took you a year to notice.
Define 'better'.
Less shit 😉
If there’s a “high fives” emoticon, can I send it to Glenn 😀
Tinners - maybe it's the heels. Science says you have to try that option to see if that's what is making the difference.
Failing that, it could be a seating position difference caused by your reproductive organs.
I'd try the heels first....
If there’s a “high fives” emoticon, can I send it to Glenn
Thank you! 😀
I have a 130i and you're right about 35mph in 6th.When I had my 130i (265 bhp 3 litre straight six) it would not be labouring and easily keep up with normal traffic in 6th gear from 35mph from memory, so there was no need to use all the gears.
I think I could easily get away with only using gears 2, 4 and 6. In fact I'm going to adopt this tehnique for a while to see how it goes (I'll use 1st for hill starts).
Edd, I’d be really interested to hear how you get on.
Anyone else started having Porsche adverts on the page instead of chainreaction/clothing? Spooky!!
GlennQuagmire - Member
Define 'better'.
Less shit
😀
Driving.
It's like making love to a beautiful woman.
I had a go at this on sunday morning in the wifes 1.8T.
Turns out 1st & 5th are not required but third is sorely missed.
You can certainly drive 2/4/6 but 25-30 mph is difficult. Also shifting from 2nd to 4th seems a big drop in revs.
Turbo complicates things as you struggle below 2k revs.
