When do you use 5th gear

Ixon

Ixon

Ixon

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Joined
30 Apr 2003
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Wigan
Had abit of an argument over the use of 5th gear.

Now i tend only put my car into 5th gear when going over 40mph, usually i tend to keep it in 4th max when in urban area's only basically using 5th gear when on a dual carriageway, motorway or NSL roads if they pretty straight.

Now one of my mates, tend to drive about in 5th gear whenever he can, even at 30mph he usually skips 4th gear and put his car into 5th ie 3rd to 5th.

I said to him eariler on today why do you do that, why not use 4th instead of 5th, he said it saves fuel, I said no it doesn't if anything it uses more & put's more strain on your engine as your having to acclerate more to get up small hills than you would in say 4th or 3rd.

He wouldn't have it in his head he thinks being in 5th gear as much as possible save fuel, I don't.

So who right on this matter me or him?
 
I just edited a (rather boring) video for Confused.com on how to save fuel by driving more economically. One of the tips is to shift up to 5th/6th whenever possible, although yes, I believe this does also put more strain on the engine when you're doing low speeds.
 
Depends on the car and gearing. The civic will sit in 5th at just over 30 without labouring, don't do it right enough and doubt there's any fuel saving as to go anywhere requires a harder push on the diseaselpower pedal
 
highest gear whenever possible. Of course it saves fuel, going by the gauge on mine it does about 35mpg 4th, 50mpg 5th at 30mph. What is the point in unnecessarily revving the engine if you don't need the extra power?
 
As soon as the engine isn't labouring - it'll happily drive about in 5th at 30mph and actively trying to anticipate what's happening in front of you, hopefully minimises the need to be accelerating too much.

I've got half a thought in the back of my mind that i've read something recently suggesting that even when the engine is labouring, the fuel consumption is actually still favourable for being in a high gear but i've absolutely no idea where I read it so I can't really find it and post a link :p
 
My 1.4 Fiesta happily sits in 5th at 30 as long as I aren't going up steep hills. I quite often skip fourth and go for fifth instead too.
 
I usually have it in 5th at 30mph depending on the gradient of the hill. It pulls very well from idle in 5th. Massive torque y0.
 
I've always assumed lower revs equals lower fuel consumption, so always put it in the highest gear possible. So 30mph = 5th unless going up hill or into a nsl road. Rarely get above 1.5k revs below 40mph.

But lots of people I know happily leave their cars in 3rd at 30mph using 2-3k revs, so maybe it doesn't really matter.
 
What engine do you have? You'll be labouring the engine at such low revs I'd of thought in a small 4 pot engine.
 
Can't really use 5th until i pass about 45mph as 30mph in 5th is a hair over 1000rpm. I don't tend to bother with 5th unless i'm holding 50mph or more, else i just stick with 4th.
 
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