Shifting up too soon

Marcos

Marcos

Marcos

Soldato
Joined
3 Jan 2004
Posts
3,862
Location
Bournemouth
I'm trying to dissect a habit my housemate has, we share a car, its' cost effective. 2001 Ford Focus 1.8 petrol.

He's got this habit of shifting up all the way to fifth regardless of speed, so on a regular 30mph road, he'll go up to 5th to cruise along. But I can hear the car hating it, there's a low bassy rumble coming from under the seats, which gets worse when he goes up a hill or just tries to accelerate up to 40 etc. I only go up to 5th after 40mph and on level ground and I can easily tell when the car is hating it on wrong gear.

Basically he doesn't have a true grasp of a power band or how gears help you get from speed to speed etc.

Thing is I've got no evidence this is doing the car harm and he's fairly hard headed and doesn't like being told.

Do you guys know what this could be doing to the car and gearbox? What is that super low bassy rumble reverberating sound/vibration as the engine struggles to stay above the minimum RPM :confused:
 
Can't see the problem, 5th is correct for cruising at 30. I know for a fact a 1.6 model will hum along like that no problem, can;t see why a 1.8 would be worse. Probably going to want to change down for any kind of hill climbing or accelerating power though.
 
ask him to stick it in 5th and try pulling away from standstill

if that doesn't highlight the need to use gears to make life easier on an engine, clutch and transmission I doubt anything will

someone else will probably target what is likely to fail 1st due to his driving skills
 
Jono8 said:
Really?! I have never had a car that cruises nicely at 30mph in 5th.
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Mine will, just. I prefer 4th so it's got a bit of poke if I want though, as it's completely out of the powerband in 5th and i've never noticed any appreciable difference in fuel usage between the two.
 
My automatic will stick it in 5th above 28mph, but then it will change down to accelerate.

Can't be any worse than my gf's mum, she goes from 3rd to 5th getting on a motorway(A1) and we're talking 40mph or so.

I've never feared for my life as much as that moment
 
paradigm said:
Perfectly adequate. In fact, so much so that (engine temperature and throttle-load dependent) the car will tell me to do just that.
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adequate, not nice :p

Is yours a diesel and automatic? Maybe they are different, i have never owned either. Every manual petrol car i have owned from a N/A 1.1 to a 2.5 litre turbo has been horrible if cruising at 30 in 5th.
 
Never had a problem although the smallest motor was 1.6.
Ironically, the 320d doesn't like it, it even grumbles at 4th. I thought diesels were all about the low rpm y0?
 
Jono8 said:
Well, yes you can, but it isnt very nice.
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When I say 'just' I don't mean it's labouring, it's perfectly smooth, but drop just a smidge under 30 and it starts to labour.

You wouldn't describe it as 'not very nice' to drive or as a passenger.

(The engine would be at around 1300rpm in fifth at 30)
 
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I have a 1.6 8v Astra, bang on 30mph in 5th is about 1150rpm. I only have to tickle the throttle and it cruises along nicely. To pick up speed to to combat a hill, 4th or 3rd is needed.
 
every car I've had except a 1.1 205 has been perfectly fine in 5th @ 30mph and currently car (1.6 206) will happily accelerate up to 50 mph from 5th @ 30

It's all dependent on the gear ratios not the size of the engine
 
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