General Which gear
- Thread starter leonh
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General Which gear
....in your opinion 
Driving back from work, car started on petrol as they do, doing 35 in 6th (yes I know I'd said I'm starting to do it less) and as soon as the fuel switched over to LPG the car started to labour. So put it into 5th and it was fine.
So perhaps different quality of fuels could also lead to labouring in 6th for some at 30, and not others.
But I'm not wanting to go into a whole arguement and who-ha, just thought it was worth mentioning
I think all that goes to show is, how close you are to labouring the engine really.
Assuming that it is a Panda, driven on typical public roads, how can tyres at 15psi not be bad?
Because if it were a Panda 4x4 stuck in a field, lowing the pressure could help it out
:yeahthat:
Anyways I've another conclusion on labouring, all depends upon fuel quality
Just had my Stilo back from it's LPG conversion today.
Driving back from work, car started on petrol as they do, doing 35 in 6th (yes I know I'd said I'm starting to do it less) and as soon as the fuel switched over to LPG the car started to labour. So put it into 5th and it was fine.
So perhaps different quality of fuels could also lead to labouring in 6th for some at 30, and not others.
But I'm not wanting to go into a whole arguement and who-ha, just thought it was worth mentioning
what has a Stilo got to do with a Panda
Right! (Shades of Monty Python's 4 Yorkshiremen coming up now.)
When I were a lad, cars had carburettor(s) which meant that although they were quite advanced in comparison with cars some 80+ years before, were no where near as accurate as today's MP EFI systems. If you want an example, drive a Lancia Y10 Turbo, if you can find one and compare it with something like a GP 120. Chalk and cheese. The White Hen had incredible turbo lag and the GP is far, far smoother and more responsive. In the Lancia, unless you had over 2500 revs up you pressed the gas and.....waited.....and.....waited followed by Holy S**t. It was like being hit from behind by a fast moving truck.
When I changed from being an Instructor with BSM on 1.2 Corsas to the AA with Fiesta Ghia 1.25 the Ford was far more flexible, as were the Focus models, both 1.6 and 1.8.
I have a Panda MJ and Mrs.Beard has a 1.4 Stilo (as per MEP). One thing I noticed though, being a tighta**e, is that the Fiestas, 1.6 Focus and MJ all have one thing in common and that is the speed vs. rpm. In other words,2,000revs in 1st equates to 10mph, in 2nd it's 20mph, 3rd is 30mph and 4th equals 40mph.
The exception is the Stilo with its 6 speed 'box.
During normal driving I find that 2K on the rev counter allows me to stay with the majority of urban traffic and 2500 is all that's needed to get up to 70 in time to join a Motorway on a downhill sliproad, maybe 3000 on an uphill slope.
The Panda does an average of about 56 mpg during my normal routine which includes 15 mile each way Motorway commute. I went to Caernarfon in it recently which included M56, A55 plus running about on local A and B roads. It was never caned, but then I didn't exactly hang about either. It returned 67.7 mpg. Above fuel figures were all brim to brim calculated.
When Mrs. Beard (also known as lead-foot) drives her car she gets about 36 mpg around town. I get 42. On a run up to Middlesbrough, she gets around 42 but I tend to return nearer to 49/50 mpg. All these figures are via the trip computer. When she uses my car for several days for urban driving the trip computer figure goes down, when I drive it around town it goes up. The difference is that she always hangs around in lower gears more than me and gives it more revs before changing up.
On the subject of gearchange timing and patterns, I've always taught learners to go up through the gears, but block change down on the principle of "Gears for going; brakes for slowing." Brakes are more effective at slowing the car down than the engine/'box and are also cheaper to repair/replace. At more advanced levels however (dependant on the car) I often advise block changing up, but using a higher level of forward planning, to back off early which gives a better chance of the engine doing the work and the driver only needing one change down which can help momentum and therefore lower fuel consumption.
When I were a lad, cars had carburettor(s) which meant that although they were quite advanced in comparison with cars some 80+ years before, were no where near as accurate as today's MP EFI systems. If you want an example, drive a Lancia Y10 Turbo, if you can find one and compare it with something like a GP 120. Chalk and cheese. The White Hen had incredible turbo lag and the GP is far, far smoother and more responsive. In the Lancia, unless you had over 2500 revs up you pressed the gas and.....waited.....and.....waited followed by Holy S**t. It was like being hit from behind by a fast moving truck.
When I changed from being an Instructor with BSM on 1.2 Corsas to the AA with Fiesta Ghia 1.25 the Ford was far more flexible, as were the Focus models, both 1.6 and 1.8.
I have a Panda MJ and Mrs.Beard has a 1.4 Stilo (as per MEP). One thing I noticed though, being a tighta**e, is that the Fiestas, 1.6 Focus and MJ all have one thing in common and that is the speed vs. rpm. In other words,2,000revs in 1st equates to 10mph, in 2nd it's 20mph, 3rd is 30mph and 4th equals 40mph.
The exception is the Stilo with its 6 speed 'box.
During normal driving I find that 2K on the rev counter allows me to stay with the majority of urban traffic and 2500 is all that's needed to get up to 70 in time to join a Motorway on a downhill sliproad, maybe 3000 on an uphill slope.
The Panda does an average of about 56 mpg during my normal routine which includes 15 mile each way Motorway commute. I went to Caernarfon in it recently which included M56, A55 plus running about on local A and B roads. It was never caned, but then I didn't exactly hang about either. It returned 67.7 mpg. Above fuel figures were all brim to brim calculated.
When Mrs. Beard (also known as lead-foot) drives her car she gets about 36 mpg around town. I get 42. On a run up to Middlesbrough, she gets around 42 but I tend to return nearer to 49/50 mpg. All these figures are via the trip computer. When she uses my car for several days for urban driving the trip computer figure goes down, when I drive it around town it goes up. The difference is that she always hangs around in lower gears more than me and gives it more revs before changing up.
On the subject of gearchange timing and patterns, I've always taught learners to go up through the gears, but block change down on the principle of "Gears for going; brakes for slowing." Brakes are more effective at slowing the car down than the engine/'box and are also cheaper to repair/replace. At more advanced levels however (dependant on the car) I often advise block changing up, but using a higher level of forward planning, to back off early which gives a better chance of the engine doing the work and the driver only needing one change down which can help momentum and therefore lower fuel consumption.
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