let me just confirm some stuff

iBot

iBot

iBot

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I consider myself an ok driver. Just lacking experience. My instructor is generally happy with my driving, he just says I need to judge my breaking a bit better.

Now is all this "right"?

Turning into a junction, 2nd gear.
Coming out of junction, 1st gear

Approaching a roundabout, 2nd gear, dropping in to 1st if no opening
Going around a roundabout, 2nd

And if your normally driving around 30mphish 4th?

And when your changing in to second for a turn or roundabout, break gradually over the distance until your slow enough to change a gear down?
 
Looks okay but gearing isn't a concrete rule. Something could happen on your test which results in you picking the wrong gear for the situation.

I think if you have to ask this then you aren't ready to take the test yet (might be stating the obvious as haven't read your other threads if any).
 
Unless you've come to a complete stop (or, you have a tiny engine) I see no reason for 1'st gear on a roundabout, I'd tend to leave it in second & try to leave enough of a gap so i don't have to fully stop.



My car won't go into 4th @ 30 MPH (thats electronic sodding gearboxes for you!) so it again, depends entirely on what sort of car your in.

As for changing gear, do the braking bit first. You'll impress your instructor a lot by learning to keep a distance between you & whatever may cause you to stop, better to keep rolling if possible by anticipating whats ahead. :)

As NathanE says, it sounds like you need a few more lessons yet mate.

I don't consider myself an ok driver, as I know plenty are a lot better than I am. Imo, this isn't a bad thing. Thinking your ok often means the opposite (with the greatest of respect mate)
 
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When he says judge your breaking a bit bitter, he might be referring to the pace at which you're doing it.
Ideally; you should have finished braking, selected a gear and come off the clutch before you start to turn the wheel. But it shouldn't be one frantic move, it should be a smooth, controlled process.

Speed is just as important as the gear selected when turning, so just because your in 2nd gear doesn't mean you're not approaching the corner too fast or slow. ;)
 
NathanE said:
I think if you have to ask this then you aren't ready to take the test yet
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The only correct answer. But it is very good that you are actively asking and thinking about your driving. If I had to choose one attribute to differentiate a good driver from a bad one it would be their willingness to think deeper about what they are being told and what makes good driving.
 
It all looks about right to me. The 4th gear for 30 is what my instructor called green driving to save fuel. His car would drive happily in 3rd and the engine wasn't revving to high so i used 3rd for the test. In 4th if i dropped below 25 or hit a slight incline then the car would start to struggle, which meant i was constantly changing down/up.
 
My instructer told me match the speed with my gear, so 30 to 40 in 3rd and 40-50 in 4th and so on.

Coming out of a junction you dont always have to be in first. If the junction is very open they should allow you to leave it in second, clutch down, going slow and looking for traffic. If there isnt any traffic it should be perfectly fine going around in second.

Hope im talking what your asking about :p
 
as a general rule

only use 1st if your going to stop completely, or just about come to a stop. Anything other than that, eg 15mph or whatever, 2nd gear should be fine.

i'd only use third for stuff like big sweeping roundabouts and motorway roundabouts
 
if you are sitting your test and learning in a Diesel its entirely feasible to use 3rd for round a bouts and turning into side roads.
 
i change down and use the engine to slow the car instead
saves wear on the brakes..
you can slow from 50 in 4th to the lights without braking :p
 
wtf selected gears for situation. Just use the ebst suited gear for the situation, there won't or shouldn't be a standard gear.
 
R124/LA420 said:
Unless you've come to a complete stop (or, you have a tiny engine) I see no reason for 1'st gear on a roundabout, I'd tend to leave it in second & try to leave enough of a gap so i don't have to fully stop.
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I sometimes drop into 1st just to get the thing in boost, though i'm virtually crawling at that time I dare say, 2nd would do but if it's at say 1200rpm or whatever, i just can't wait! 1st gear is so hilarious. (octy vRS)
 
Butters said:
if you are sitting your test and learning in a Diesel its entirely feasible to use 3rd for round a bouts and turning into side roads.
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Depends entirely on the car and the gearing. Understandably as a learner you'll want to 'learn' specific speeds/gears to free up brain power but once you pass your test and drive other cars you need to learn to understand your engine and your gearbox. You can't drive by numbers.
 
iBot said:
I consider myself an ok driver. Just lacking experience. My instructor is generally happy with my driving, he just says I need to judge my breaking a bit better.

Now is all this "right"?

Turning into a junction, 2nd gear.
Coming out of junction, 1st gear

Approaching a roundabout, 2nd gear, dropping in to 1st if no opening
Going around a roundabout, 2nd

And if your normally driving around 30mphish 4th?

And when your changing in to second for a turn or roundabout, break gradually over the distance until your slow enough to change a gear down?
Click to expand...

when i am coming up to a round about i will start changing down the gears as it slows the car down, i was never taught this while i was driving i only picked it up from a friend. say im at 40 mph i would drop it into 3rd slow down to 30 then drop it to 2nd as i come closer to the round about. i drive a slow car so somtimes i need 1st gear even if im still rolling. :p
 
I generally approach a roundabout in 3rd if i can see its going to be clear, 2nd if i have to slow to sub 20mph, and 1st if its a complete stop.

Then again, this is pointless discussion almost, as each car is different.

I had to use 2nd on roundabout approaches in my instructors corsa (which wasnt all that bad tbh, if you just want to go a-b theyre fine, but they get quite a slating here. howevever, i agree there are better cars for the money, and its depreciation isnt its strong point (should be decent 2nd hand buys though).)
 
I thought like that when I was learning. My instructor too me on some really weird roads where you could turn out of a junction in like 3rd and others where you had to stop, no questions.

Like ist already been said, there are no hard and fast rules. I was always taught only go as fast as you can see. i.e make sure you can stop in the distance you can see.
 
iBot said:
I consider myself an ok driver. Just lacking experience. My instructor is generally happy with my driving,
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How can you be an OK driver if you haven't passed your test and obtained a few years driving experience? Until you have done that you are an inexperienced new driver.

Secondly, gear selection is not something you can apply logic to like you have. For example in our diesel car you don't use 4th below 40mph and first gear is so short you only use it if you have stopped moving otherwise second will do. Hell there is so much torque that third will do.

Just relax a little and correct gear selection will come.
 
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