Always avoid looking down at the gear lever. You should have a mental picture of the gear layout. This will enable you to change gear without looking at the diagram on top of the gear lever. Your eyes should be on the road. With practice, changing gear becomes second nature. Vist www.2Pass.co.uk The complete resource for all your FREE Learner Driver information
Excellent video. I’m currently learning myself and haven’t used the “palm away” “palm towards” approach on the gears, but it looks a good way so I’m going to practice it. Can you tell me, on what occasions would you jump gears going up (e.g. 3rd to 5th)? I always thought it was bad to skip gear (going upwards).
please help i have a 03 dodge pickup and some times its really hard to shift to 1st or 2sd and other times its really esay. and when its off it shifts just fine. what do you think i should do.
rajmani
for a 2.0 turbo petrol for maximum fun what is the best way to drive it with regards gear change, wait til the car revs hard ( near the redline) in 2nd or 3rd gear before moving on til the next gear or another suggestion.
I have a habit of changing gear very early (short shifting i think it is called) to get into 6th gear asap and keep the revs at all times under 3000rpm.this does save fuel but I am on about fun now and again, i also have a sport button. any tips are welcome thanks guys.
Sounds like you might need a new or upgraded syncromesh for 2nd gear, I’ve read its quite a common problem in some cars
I’m having a hard to shifting to second when I’m “racing”. I keep missing second when the revs are high. Any tips to nail second?
Thats excellant advice, thanks. Something along those lines was going to be my next step! One of those ‘light bulb moments’!
Atleast Il know im taking the right approach.
Cheers again.
Try and get him to practice while the car is parked and the engine switched off, talk him through the process.. clutch down off the gas, change gear, clutch up and on the gas. Keep doing this through all the gears while watching his feet, make sure he is looking straight ahead and lifting off the gas pedal each time as the clutch goes down, like a see saw. 3rd to 2nd is normally the hardest one for a new driver. You will find this ‘dry’ practice really makes a difference when your on the move..
Im finding it really hard just to get my son to change gear at all, even in an off-road surroundings. He’s got great hand / eye coordination but he’s very nervous. Just getting from 1st to 2nd is going to be a real challenge.
I may have to leave this stage to an instructor.
I learned to drive a “standard” here in the U.S. by first using the tachometer as a reference, but after a few years, i can “feel” the motor rev, and know when to shift. It takes practice, but is easy once learned! Automatics are too boring!
If you have a rev counter then you can change up when the counter gets to 2’000 or change down when it gets to 1’000. ‘When you hear, change gear’ is a good saying. After a few lessons you will instinctively know when to change gear
when can we know that we’re supposed to change the gears or is there any mechanism behind it ? if you could explain me ?
Make a mental picture of the letter H and imagine the numbers 1 to 4
You could be in any gear and need 1st if your slowing to a near stop, once you’ve been driving for a few hours you’ll soon get to know which gear to use. BBC = Brakes Before Clutch
Great videos, Instructor. May I ask, what situations would call for you to go from 3rd to 1st? and would you have to be braking enough so the car’s going at the right speed to be put into 1st? thanks!
how we can know the gear position
Please look at your personal messages, I need advice!
Towards the passenger, if you palm towards the driver you’ll be in 3rd or 5th if you push too hard..
Thank you for answering my question. I have another one. When you change from 2nd to 1st, do you have your palm toward the passenger or towards the driver?
The spring in the gear stick pushes it over for you, so you only need to pull back gently and it will drop into 4th without any problem
How come you went from 5th to 4th, your palm wasn’t out towards the passenger?
thank u.for this vid.
I don´t like automatic gearbox and I live in Europe, trust me
so, ask anybody about that steering, you cant control car like in the lesson above.. and about changing gears down to 1? if we ignore type of engine and gearbox (which matters), I still see more situations when is more appropriate not to do that, because of characteristic of gearbox (1st gear)..
I really think I am not bad or hothead driver, several years ago I even raced and as I checked your videos, you seem you like racing
@Ubiquitarian
so you’re american then and have never driven stick before? lern2shift nub
Your right about stopping to park etc, but I was thinking more in the line of a give way or a short stop, its nice to drop it softly into 1st while its moving slowly. If its in neutral and you try to put it into gear quickly, the synchro-mesh has to work quite hard to stop the gearbox from spinning