pumapilot said:
As for driving at 30mph in 5th gear, will your ex driving instructor pay for a gearbox rebuild when you bend the selector rods in your gearbox? as above be in the right gear to get out of any situation, thats why the Puma sits nicely at 30mph in 3rd gear, but takes off like a scalded Kat if required, changing down from 5th to 3rd may be the difference between saving yourself and your car.............or a lot worse.
Now you have passed your test you must learn to drive
yippeekiay said:
Can't see any problem with driving at 30mph in 5th whatsoever. The car can do it without any problems, mine doesn't struggle, baulk or strain to do it, quite the opposite.
Most roads I drive on locally are 30mph and with everyone else doing 30 I can't see why I would want to keep it in 3rd or 4th for miles and miles having the engine at higher revs than is necessary and wasting fuel when my speed won't be varying more than a couple of mph up or down for prolongued periods.
Yes, if I need to slow down or want to speed speed up in a hurry then I can change gear but if I'm merrily on my way, in moderate traffic then the need for a lower gear is redundant as I'm not going to get anywhere any quicker. If the speed limit changes then it's not going to damage the car accelerating with the traffic flow normally in 5th whatsover.
Can't see what situations would warrant having to suddenly stomp on the accelerator to get out of the way of an incident (whatever that may be) - if you have enough time to think you could avoid it by accelerating chances are you will have even more time and space to come to a halt by stomping on the brake.
Dunno how many people see an accident about to happen and automatically floor the accelerator:?
Yippie, Thanks for agreeing.
I've had 5 years driving experience and passed first time driving to this exact method and never had a problem with the gear box or big end bearings, I fail to see the problem. Eco driving styles say to get to the highest gear you can as quick as you as long as the car can cope with it. I go through all the gears and work up to 5th. Sometimes I go from sitting at a traffic light in a 40mph - by this logic you would have me in 3rd/4th for that? I always get to 5th and leave it there, anything under 30mph I tend to leave it in a lower gear yes ...
for the puma
What I should have pointed out is that in the 1.7 engine I would do 30mph in 5th (typically) because I know its responsive to a feathers touch on the accelerator should I need to increase my speed (within reason i.e. town driving). I also own a 1.2ltr Grande Punto and yes there are times when doing long stretches of 30 I tend to slip to 5th, but for speed control - as per advanced driver techniques a lower gear (such as 3rd/4th) should and is used in that particular car.
As Yippie's also pointed out, Puma's happily go at 30mph when you press the accelerator when in 5th.
I take on board what you say about being responsive, but as I said earlier, I like to think I'm young enough to be able to recognise the situation and react accordingly - whether that be e.stop or accelerate out (by gear change). There are also different situations when 5th gear is not appropriate at 30mph, for instance - harsh acceleration (standing start/low speed start to national speed limit)
As I said, each to their own. If you wanna drive at 30mph in 3rd, then do so. If you wanna drive at 30mph in 5th then do so. Everyone has their own driving style, its down to the driver to recognise what is best for them and how confident they are at handling the car and their own judgement/experience on the car.
Anyway, I think that's a debate for a seperate topic and not this thread.
k: