Dropping cogs

[Jhowe]

Just bought a clio197 having come from an Ibiza FR TDI and did my first long journey last night. Now moving from something with near 300lbft to something with 160 has caught me a little off guard in some situations! Mainly having to change down gears to get going properly. I thought i had gotten used to it until I put it in second (probably should have gone for third) and the car jerked pretty violently before revving onwards to the gear change light. How far up the rev range is it safe/intelligent to go when you're dropping gears?
thanks!
Joe

 

[JamesBryan]

Rev match man!

Definitely go for 3rd next time.

 

[MartinR]

^^As above or wave bye the the engine mounts

 

[Hixle]

Try to learn to rev match to be a little more mechanically sympathetic when dropping down a gear. Will reduced the 'violent jerk'

 

[Adam.]

As above, the 197 boxes are fragile enough as it is.

 

[JamesBryan]

Meant to ask what speed you were dropping down from?

 

[Poopensharten]

Into 1st everytime.

 

[MartinR]

Meant to ask what speed you were dropping down from?

And gear

I reckon 80 + 5th down to 2nd

 

[Jhowe]

To be perfectly honest I'm not sure - it wasn't massively fast the car will do tht speed in second just maybe just a little too many revs for changing down into second. It stopped jerking almost immediately and started picking up again, like people have said though I think I may have got carried away and let mechanical sympathy escape me! Guess It's just a case of getting familiar with things a little more before that.

 

[Jhowe]

And gear

I reckon 80 + 5th down to 2nd

No where near that fast lol - 60 maybe? however 5 down 2 is correct

 

[The Fatty]

Anywhere in the rev range is fine provided you match the revs. But if your going 50mph+, then there's little point going into 2nd as that's at the top of the rev range and you will loose time by having to make another gear change soon after. Best to learn how fast the car will go in each gear, then your will be able to make a better decision about 2nd or 3rd next time.

always rev match when changing down. I personally always heal & toe when slowing down for roundabouts etc as well.

 

[Jhowe]

Anywhere in the rev range is fine provided you match the revs. But if your going 50mph+, then there's little point going into 2nd as that's at the top of the rev range. Best to learn how fast the car will go in each gear, then your will be able to make a better decision about 2nd or 3rd next time.

always rev match when changing down. I personally always heal & toe when slowing down for roundabouts etc as well.

Sounds about right! My driving style has got pretty lazy after having a diesel that's more 'point and squirt!' - RS clio's make u work for it a bit more, having said that it's a blast when you get it right (which in the case I definitely didn't)

 

[Addicted]

Isn't 60 the limit of 2nd gear anyway? o.0

 

[Jhowe]

Probably around that somewhere yeh - that was a guess. Just wanted to clarify it wasn't something daft like 80

 

[Chrisgti6]

Isn't 60 the limit of 2nd gear anyway? o.0

Pretty much yeah

 

[MG cup]

Don't do what my mate done is his first car, a four speed mk1 Clio 1.2. In conversation, as you do when your younger, we were bull**iting about what we have done in our cars. He assured us he could drop from 4th to 1st at dual carriage way speeds (70mph)

We said it wasn't possible so off we went out for a spin, up to 70mph blips the throttle and bangs it into first, safe to say the g/box fell out the a**e of the car. The funniest thing was it never went in first time, you would have thought it sounding like a duke box would have been a tell the first.

 

[Jhowe]

Don't do what my mate done is his first car, a four speed mk1 Clio 1.2. In conversation, as you do when your younger, we were bull**iting about what we have done in our cars. He assured us he could drop from 4th to 1st at dual carriage way speeds (70mph)

We said it wasn't possible so off we went out for a spin, up to 70mph blips the throttle and bangs it into first, safe to say the g/box fell out the a**e of the car. The funniest thing was it never went in first time, you would have thought it sounding like a duke box would have been a tell the first.

Wow. Felt pretty annoyed with myself after for giving my new car that sort of hammer but this tops it by some margin!

 

[McGherkin]

Don't do what my mate done is his first car, a four speed mk1 Clio 1.2. In conversation, as you do when your younger, we were bull**iting about what we have done in our cars. He assured us he could drop from 4th to 1st at dual carriage way speeds (70mph)

We said it wasn't possible so off we went out for a spin, up to 70mph blips the throttle and bangs it into first, safe to say the g/box fell out the a**e of the car. The funniest thing was it never went in first time, you would have thought it sounding like a duke box would have been a tell the first.

Dear lord. Did you actually get in the car for that experiment?

 

[wisey02]

Rev match !!!!

The best/easiest way to get use to it is, if your cruising along at say 50mph is to keep the throttle where it is and take it out of gear put it in neutral, let the revs climb then select the lower gear and release the clutch slowly don't 'pop' it out. This should work well wont be 100% perfect but an easy way to get use to it, then you can start adding a few revs when you get a better feel for the car. If you do it properly you shouldn't feel anything, should be 100% smooth.

But if you try using this method don't rush the change take it nice and slow and it should work well tbh.

Hope this helps.

Oh and a general rule for me is, if your going over 40-45mph always go into 3rd instead of 2nd unless your on a track :rasp:

 

[DrR]

I just assumed rev matching was normal way of driving? I've done it in every car i've driven?

 

[wisey02]

Yeah am the same, learned how to heal toe in my first car and do it all the time when driving now tbh its just second nature now even do it in my van :lolup: Just makes general driving so much smoother.... But does come in handy when giving it some as well.

But have been in a few of my mates cars the are doing 50-60mph in 5th want to overtake something and drag the revs up on the clutch when going into 2nd-3rd usually. Makes me cringe :dead:

 

[MG cup]

Dear lord. Did you actually get in the car for that experiment?

Off course it was comedy gold, we did try to tell him no. When I say the gear box broke it blow a hole in the casing and spewed everywhere, must have been a massive engine over speed too.

 

[Gandi69]

surprised that didnt put a rod through the block

 

[Martin_172]

i went from the top end of 4th and caught 3rd instead of 5th in my ph1 172, the box was brilliant in that car and it slid in no problem lol wasnt until i lifted the clutch i realised, i managed to dip the clutch in time before it shot a rod, still reved round to about 8000rpm lol!

 

[Aluco]

To rev match I give the throttle a good blip so it goes over the required rpm slightly then catch it by releasing the clutch just after it starts falling.

 

[Darren S]

I just assumed rev matching was normal way of driving? I've done it in every car i've driven?

Same here - even in the company cars/hire cars I've borrowed too.

D.

 

[Hixle]

Same here - even in the company cars/hire cars I've borrowed too.

D.

Lol, hire cars love being over revved. They also love speed bumps, so much so that they encourage you to go over them as fast as possible.

 

[Aluco]

Lol, hire cars love being over revved. They also love speed bumps, so much so that they encourage you to go over them as fast as possible.

I got air in a 307 hire car ;D