What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
The Third Man
I noticed advice in a recent article on ‘green’ driving to keep in as high a gear as possible (or comfortable). On my recent IAM course I was told not to go above third gear wherever there was a 30mph limit. Which do you advise?
Asked on 28 November 2011 by JG, Bristol
Answered by
Honest John
This is contradictory advice and, of course, depends on the gearing of the car and the torque characteristics of its engine. My FIAT 500 1.2 will take 5th at 30 no bother. The new FIAT 500 TwinAir, on the other hand, actually requires 3rd for 30mph. The IAM advice is partly to remind you of the speed you are doing by engine revs, and partly so you have instant power to accelerate out of danger should any danger occur. It has nothing to do with fuel economy.
Tags:
fuel economy
advice
Real MPG enables you to register the fuel economy you are actually getting against your make and model of car, its engine and type of transmission.
Every time you enter an average consumption figure against your car, the overall average automatically adjusts to reflect it.
Similar questions
I would like to buy a Volvo V40, Ford Focus or Seat Leon but wonder which model has the better engine (reliability, consumption, power)? As I want decent performance for reasonable money, I'm considering...
I'm tempted by a Volvo C30 or an S40 to do 8000-10,000 miles per year. But it has to be automatic. Pity they don't do a 1.8 or 2.0 petrol auto. The choice seems to narrow down to a 2.0D Powershitft or...
I have just retired and my current car is a diesel automatic Skoda Octavia. The car is okay, but does seem rather noisy on some road surfaces. Our driving will be a mix of pottering about South East London...
Related models
.jpg)
