For those of you that have driven or owned cars like the Honda FD Civic Type R or the Renault Megane RS, you might have noticed that the gear ratios can be too close for daily use.In other words, it felt like you could just use 1st gear and then slot into 3rd gear when moving off from a junction, completely skipping 2nd gear. Would doing that actually damage the gearbox in anyway?
What about shifting down from a higher cruising gear? Is it alright to shift from 5th gear and straight into 2nd when approaching a jam on the highway?
Watch the Engineering Explained video for the answer!
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You can safely shift gears according to the speed of the vehicle. If you are moving off from a slope, makes no sense to move off from 1st gear. Instead, shift directly to 2nd. Similarly, when you are cruising at 80km/h and there is a sudden build up from traffic ahead, causing you to brake, you can downshift from 5th to 3rd or 2nd.