Bizarre driving habits of the mechanically inept.
Discussion
Something that has been bothering me for a while:
I have noticed that whenever I am a passenger with someone who is totally non-mechanically minded (good examples seem to be church-goers) they tend to drive in the lowest possible gear. Personally I use fifth gear even in town whenever I can, and commonly shift from third directly into fifth. I must admit that recently I drove nearly 150 miles in a rented Mondeo in fifth gear before someone kindly pointed out it had six gears (it was dark etc etc).
I was travelling with my Father in law on an autobahn last week, in an almost new Ford Focus, on a perfectly straight, flat section in *fourth gear*. Any road with a hint of of a curve would be negotiated in third gear. Fifth gear was used possibly twice during a 50 mile trip, on a slightly downhill section of autobahn, and on a totally inappropriate uphill mountain road, where third was the obvious choice. Fuel consumption must be as bad as the noise level was.
On another occasion I travelled down the M1 - as a passenger - for over 100 miles in fourth gear in a Ford Escort. On this occasion I questioned why fifth wasn't being used and the reply was along the lines of "I like to stay in fourth because of the extra engine braking I get". I recounted this experience to a colleague, who actually agreed with him (he was another one who seemed to have no grasp of what gears were for) Bizarre. On this occasion my driver was cross-eyed, and would drift to the right before swerving back to the left of the randomly chosen lane. We nearly caused at least one major accident on that trip through his appaling driving.
I have recently managed to persuade my other half that an automatic car would be better for her, but even though her driving has improved, it was a real struggle to get her to accept that an automatic isn't just for old people.
I find this low gear thing extremely annoying and wondered if anyone else had noticed this phenomenon?
I have noticed that whenever I am a passenger with someone who is totally non-mechanically minded (good examples seem to be church-goers) they tend to drive in the lowest possible gear. Personally I use fifth gear even in town whenever I can, and commonly shift from third directly into fifth. I must admit that recently I drove nearly 150 miles in a rented Mondeo in fifth gear before someone kindly pointed out it had six gears (it was dark etc etc).
I was travelling with my Father in law on an autobahn last week, in an almost new Ford Focus, on a perfectly straight, flat section in *fourth gear*. Any road with a hint of of a curve would be negotiated in third gear. Fifth gear was used possibly twice during a 50 mile trip, on a slightly downhill section of autobahn, and on a totally inappropriate uphill mountain road, where third was the obvious choice. Fuel consumption must be as bad as the noise level was.
On another occasion I travelled down the M1 - as a passenger - for over 100 miles in fourth gear in a Ford Escort. On this occasion I questioned why fifth wasn't being used and the reply was along the lines of "I like to stay in fourth because of the extra engine braking I get". I recounted this experience to a colleague, who actually agreed with him (he was another one who seemed to have no grasp of what gears were for) Bizarre. On this occasion my driver was cross-eyed, and would drift to the right before swerving back to the left of the randomly chosen lane. We nearly caused at least one major accident on that trip through his appaling driving.
I have recently managed to persuade my other half that an automatic car would be better for her, but even though her driving has improved, it was a real struggle to get her to accept that an automatic isn't just for old people.
I find this low gear thing extremely annoying and wondered if anyone else had noticed this phenomenon?
I was in a car yesterday with my girlfriends Mom driving and thought exactly the same as this
We were on the motorway (in the middle lane I hasten to add, overtaking nothing
I did question her about why we were in the middle lane, the reply was "everyone does it" me = 
) we were doing about 65 the whole way in 4th gear, the Mondeo had 6 gears. I don't have much to do with her so I didn't question her gear antics, funny you post this though straight after it happened to me 
We were on the motorway (in the middle lane I hasten to add, overtaking nothing
I did question her about why we were in the middle lane, the reply was "everyone does it" me = ) we were doing about 65 the whole way in 4th gear, the Mondeo had 6 gears. I don't have much to do with her so I didn't question her gear antics, funny you post this though straight after it happened to me Ry_B said:
I was in a car yesterday with my girlfriends Mom driving and thought exactly the same as this
We were on the motorway (in the middle lane I hasten to add, overtaking nothing I did question her about why we were in the middle lane, the reply was "everyone does it" me = ) we were doing about 65 the whole way in 4th gear, the Mondeo had 6 gears. I don't have much to do with her so I didn't question her gear antics, funny you post this though straight after it happened to me
So it's not just me then. Good.We were on the motorway (in the middle lane I hasten to add, overtaking nothing
I did question her about why we were in the middle lane, the reply was "everyone does it" me = ) we were doing about 65 the whole way in 4th gear, the Mondeo had 6 gears. I don't have much to do with her so I didn't question her gear antics, funny you post this though straight after it happened to me 
Silverbullet767 said:
I've noticed s
t driving in general, does that count?
No. I'm guilty of that too. Other road users piss me off so much that I have to admit to driving like a tt driving in general, does that count?t through utter frustration sometimes.It's the gear thing that gets me. Why don't these people get automatics? they must surely realise that they cannot drive properly, and since they appear to derive no pleasure from the act of driving, why make it more difficult? Hell, I like driving, but even I like to drive an automatic around town.
my neighbour has a bmw 320d and every morning she revs it to the limiter in 1st gear from cold setting off to work
also in the last 6 months she has reversed out of her drive in front of a car and hit it,then she did the same 2 months later and hit a parked car backing out of her drive (the car has working reverse sensors)
and she has a large rock on the corner of her front garden so people dont run over her flowers,she hit the rock coming into her drive and smacked the side of the car
so she is mechanically inept as well as visibly inept
also in the last 6 months she has reversed out of her drive in front of a car and hit it,then she did the same 2 months later and hit a parked car backing out of her drive (the car has working reverse sensors)
and she has a large rock on the corner of her front garden so people dont run over her flowers,she hit the rock coming into her drive and smacked the side of the car
so she is mechanically inept as well as visibly inept
No.
Much worse than people who drive in too low a gear are people who drive in too high a gear.
30mph in 6th with the engine chuntering and shuddering away is not fuel efficient. It is also mechanical torture. What they don't understand is that although the engine is only turning at 1k rpm, the ECU is having to do its level best to stop it throwing a rod out of the block.
Much worse than people who drive in too low a gear are people who drive in too high a gear.
30mph in 6th with the engine chuntering and shuddering away is not fuel efficient. It is also mechanical torture. What they don't understand is that although the engine is only turning at 1k rpm, the ECU is having to do its level best to stop it throwing a rod out of the block.
sniff diesel said:
valve bounce66 said:
my neighbour has a bmw 320d and every morning she revs it to the limiter in 1st gear from cold setting off to work
Do diesels have rev limiters?
governer
Edited by valve bounce66 on Tuesday 11th August 00:31
gamefreaks said:
No.
Much worse than people who drive in too low a gear are people who drive in too high a gear.
30mph in 6th with the engine chuntering and shuddering away is not fuel efficient. It is also mechanical torture. What they don't understand is that although the engine is only turning at 1k rpm, the ECU is having to do its level best to stop it throwing a rod out of the block.
Much worse than people who drive in too low a gear are people who drive in too high a gear.
30mph in 6th with the engine chuntering and shuddering away is not fuel efficient. It is also mechanical torture. What they don't understand is that although the engine is only turning at 1k rpm, the ECU is having to do its level best to stop it throwing a rod out of the block.
The strain on the crank is immense.
When on a blat i tend to use the lower gears, obviously, but i try not to labour the engine too much by using too low or high of a gear.
dr_gn said:
Personally I use fifth gear even in town whenever I can, and commonly shift from third directly into fifth.
I take "in town" to mean pootling around at 30mph or so - In which case, fifth gear seems just as bizarre to me! Don't you notice your engine straining away on the slightest incline, or the complete lack of "get me out of trouble" acceleration available to you?
Edit: Actually, you probably wouldn't notice in a 4.2 litre Jag!
Edited by BonzoGuinness on Tuesday 11th August 00:34
The Riddler said:
The strain on the crank is immense.
When on a blat i tend to use the lower gears, obviously, but i try not to labour the engine too much by using too low or high of a gear.
...though I guess you could counter that by saying that most of these people will be driving cars with 50,000 mile old sludge in teh sump, and tap water in the cooling system...
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