Third Gear

ganesh

ganesh

ganesh

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Joined
23 Sep 2006
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Wiltshire
Hopefully you lot will be able to clear up a quandry of mine.

After making some sort of comment about driving in third in 30 zones, my girlfriend was shocked, and seemed to think that doing so would cause damage and use up large amounts of petrol (as opposed to driving in 4th). In her words "Third is not a driving gear" (what she means i have no idea). She has been driving for 7 years, and myself for 4 months (I was taught to stay in third in 30 zones) so i was a little unsure.

My first reaction was to think that she's talking crap, however i do not have the mechanical knowledge to back this up.

If someone could answer this for me i would be most grateful.

Thanks.
 
I don't see the problem with it, depending on the car. I normally use 4th in 30 zones as for pottering along, the revs are a bit high in 3rd. It depends on the situation of course.
 
Being a new driver I was told the same, however in my car I find that 3rd uses quite a bit more petrol than 4th so unless I need the acceleration I always use 4th.
 
I've used 5th gear on both of my cars in 30 zones. 3rd is easier but in 5th its just more quiet and less fuel
 
Learning right now, if the road is clear i will put it in 4th while doing 30, but as soon as there are any parked cars etc i change down into third. The clio doesn't like doing any less than 30 in 4th not even 29.
 
I always try use the highest gear possible without labouring the engine, 5th gear cruising at 30mph is fine on my car and drop a cog or 2 if you need to make rapid progress.
 
Use the gear that is most appropriate for the speed and road conditions based on the car you drive.

It's really rather simple.
 
There's absolutly zero need to drive in 3rd in a 30. Unless it's uphill. 4th is best. Read your car instruction manual, it'll probably say don't have the revs lower than 1200 -1500rpm. 4th at 30 would normally be above that hence fine.

You are wasting petrol definately. I sometimes use 6th at 40 if the road is completely flat and i'm not acelerating.
 
it depends entirely on the car, in my gf's micra fourth is usually used as its quite long geared, the bmw is comfortable in third, but i usually have it in fifth as the acceleration is more than adequate with the torque that's on tap.
 
( |-| |2 ][ $;12066690 said:
You are wasting petrol definately. I sometimes use 6th at 40 if the road is completely flat and i'm not acelerating.
Click to expand...

40mph in 6th gear can sometimes use more petrol than 40mph in 5th gear. If your car has the same engine as my old Toledo (180bhp version) then 5th is more economical at 40 than 6th.
 
Lower revs does not mean more mpg remember that. Revs is only 1 factor of several that effects consumption. As has been mentioned letting it slip below around 1200-1500rpm will be warned against in the manual. Often between 2000-2500rpm is the most economical revs. For example cars are more economical at 30mph than 20mph and the most efficient speed for modern cars is 56mph. Using 5th in a 30mph zone in most cars prob wont really add up. Ironically you may be archiving less mpg and you will just end up burning the valves or something.
 
30mph in 3rd is what I prefer in my motor if I'm around town, simply because the revs are quite low at that speed and I can get moving pretty quickly if I need to. Long, straight road = 4th though.

I suppose it depends on how your car is geared...
 
In residential/town areas I'll do 30 in 3rd because it's easier when the speed fluctuates. Say the traffic slows down to 20mph, I can accelerate back up from that in 3rd quite happily :)

3rd at 30 isn't noisy/high revving in my car anyway, just over 2k IIRC. I use it on the 30 limit roadworks on the A316 too, cos it's fun to stomp it when they go from 30 to NSL :D
 
General rule:

1st to get the car rolling
2nd @ 10mph
3rd @ 20mph
4th @ 30mph
5th @ 50mph
6th @ now your just showing off! :p

That's what I was taught in my driving test anyway.
 
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