Essential Gear Shifting Tips Every Driver Overlooks

Essential Gear Shifting Tips Every Driver Overlooks

Let’s face it—most of us think we know our way around a gear shift. After all, moving a lever from one position to another can’t be that complicated, right? But here’s the thing: even the best drivers have a few blind spots when it comes to shifting smoothly, and some of the most essential techniques tend to slip under the radar.

Ever thought about how much your clutch timing really matters? Or what actually happens to your car’s gears when you’re “just winging it”?

 

RPM

A great way to think about RPM is to imagine it as a scale of efficiency versus responsiveness for your car. The higher the RPM, the more responsive your engine becomes—but at the cost of fuel efficiency. It’s a tradeoff.

Are you just cruising along and prefer better fuel economy? Then, keep your RPM as low as possible.

But if you’re in a situation where responsiveness matters more, shift gears and raise your RPM. It’s really as simple as that.

 

Gear Lever

 

Gears for Everyday Driving

For regular driving, aim to stay in the highest gear with the lowest RPM possible. Not only does this make for a smoother drive, but it also makes the accelerator pedal feel less sensitive, which is ideal for daily cruising.

You want a gentle, easy throttle—no sudden jerks—so you can just glide along the road. Lower RPMs contribute to this smoothness, and you’ll find that your car feels more relaxed overall.

Another benefit of keeping RPM low is improved fuel efficiency. RPM measures how many times your engine fires per minute, so the fewer times it fires, the less fuel you use. Cruising at around 1,200 RPM is highly efficient for most cars.

If you’re driving a manual, these decisions are up to you. A good rule of thumb, especially if you’re still getting familiar with your car, is to shift up at around 2,000 RPM.

For example, at 35 mph, you might be sitting around 2,000 RPM. If you shift up, you might drop down to 1,500 RPM, which is good, but you could eke out even more efficiency by going slightly slower—say, around 30 mph—which might get you down to around 1,200 RPM. That’s a bit more efficient for casual driving.

However, even in everyday driving, there are times when you’ll need more power. Merging onto a highway, for instance, or when you need to reach 70 mph quickly for safety. In those cases, the lowest RPM isn’t ideal; you need the engine to fire faster to give you that necessary acceleration.

On the daily driving front, that pretty much covers the essentials. Now, let’s dive into the good stuff!

 

Spirited Driving

Here’s an example of how to make the most of your gears when driving spiritedly. When you’re in fifth gear, there’s little to no acceleration. But drop down to fourth or even third, and now you’ve got a bit of punch. Glide through that corner smoothly in fourth—lovely!

Now, for this upcoming corner, which is a tight one, we’ll need to shift down a few gears. This is where gearing really shines. First, we take a downshift, brake into the corner, then downshift again. We probably could’ve gone for a third downshift there, but now we’ve got plenty of power to exit the corner.

I love sticking to this gear for these winding sections. A light tap on the brakes here, and no gear change needed—I’m getting excellent power because I’m holding third. That extra power is exactly what I want to stay on the gas through this next corner.

As we exit, a quick downshift gives us more responsiveness. Back up through the gears…nice. This gear feels just right through here, allowing a full push. And as we approach a little straight, we shift up, take a bit of brake, drop one gear, then two, and power out—perfect!

I’m staying in this gear as we approach that puddle up ahead. I don’t want to turn on the water, so down a gear and up the hill with plenty of power.

Gears for Spirited Driving

Isn’t that so much more fun than just cruising in fourth the whole time? The interaction between me and the car—finding the sweet spot in the power band—is where the joy is.

Spirited Driving

I guarantee, even in a 1.2L Honda Jazz, driving this way on a winding road would be a blast! What’s crazy is I haven’t broken any laws, yet I’m having an absolute blast, fully engaging with what the car can offer. If you had a manual transmission, it’d be even better.

The gearbox is one of only three direct connection points to the car’s mechanics: the steering wheel, the pedals, and the gearbox.

Some might argue the seat counts too since it connects you to the chassis, but let’s not go there.

For me, a spirited drive is all about interacting with the car I love. Feeling every detail—steering, acceleration, braking—is part of that, but the gearbox is just as important.

I’ve met so many enthusiasts who just don’t use the gears. Gears add to the excitement; they make the drive more engaging.

So, make use of them. When approaching a corner, don’t just roll around in sixth. Find the right gear, set yourself in the middle of the power band, and give it a little poke as you come out—it’s more responsive, and it feels so much better. More RPMs mean more responsiveness, and you can feel that difference. Drop to sixth and floor it—nothing much, right?

But bring it down to third, floor the throttle, and you’ve got power to play with. This matters even more if your car isn’t packing 300 horsepower.

If you’ve got, say, 200 hp in a Golf GTI or something similar, use those gears to extract that power.

One of my biggest pet peeves with spirited driving is how people handle automatic transmissions. Most of the time, I’m on a country lane, having a bit of fun with manual mode. Don’t just set your car to Auto—it’ll make the wrong choice every time. If I want a bit of acceleration and press the throttle, the automatic often drops to some odd gear.

My other pet peeve is with manual drivers who don’t take advantage of what they’ve got.

You all have the tools! Put yourself in third, power through the corner, shift up, brake, downshift for the next one, and just let yourself enjoy the car.

With a manual, you unlock a whole new level of driving fun. So use it! Whether it’s an auto or a manual, make the most of your gearbox and enjoy the drive.