Am I the only one?

[Mike 820]

I have been working at my current job for 3 months now and drive there and back daily.

The route consists of two steep hills. When I approach the hill I drop into thrid and allow engine braking to take over. I dont press the brakes at all and let the car travel down the hill in a controlled manner. Leaving it in 3rd gear usually holds the car between 27-30mph which is perfect for the conditions.

I have yet top see another car descend the hill the same way I do. If I ever follow a car down the hill I notice they seem to roll off rather quickly and constantly dab at the brakes in a very 'out of control' manner. Likewise if someone is behind me they will get right behind me then (presumably) hit the brakes and drop back. Then do the same again etc.


Im begining to wonder if decending a hill is a lost art amongst other road users.

Dont get me started on driving up the hills too. Again it seems like people leave it in 4th and let the engine labour up the hill with speed dropping off. If Im following then I find myself constantly shifting down trying to keep the car in a comfortable power band 2-3krpm. In winter I dropped right back and allowed these morons to get ahead of me so I could have a nice clean run at the hills.

Edited by Mike 820 on Tuesday 15th February 20:51

[maniac0796]

Some people don't like the noise of the engine I guess. Hate to see what their method in the snow is.

I cannot stand the majority of peoples technique for going up hill. I assume it's leave it in 5th till the car basically stalls itself, then drop to 3rd and shoot off making me look like a goon.

[Adam_W]

a fair number of cars are auto and thus wont have much in the way of engine breaking unless the user physically drops the gears, assuming they know how/have the option

[LukeSi]

Don't get me started on how the mother drives up hills. She shifts up at around 3000rpm (engine will happily go all the way upto 6000) And then wonders why the car seems underpowered (well it is a 1.1 but still). Lately though I have managed to get her to shift down to second and give it the boot all the way up the hill. Still can't get her to go up to the redline yet though. Amazingly the 1.1 Kia Picanto actually sounds a tiny bit throaty when it is actually being revved.

[Ozzie Osmond]

Adam_W said:

a fair number of cars are auto and thus wont have much in the way of engine breaking unless the user physically drops the gears, assuming they know how/have the option

On a down-hill section a decent auto will change down automatically as soon as the brake pedal is touched for the first time. The transmission will then hold the lower gear for engine braking until otherwise directed.

[twazzock]

Don't see many people using engine braking on the (few) hills near me. My mum thinks anything over about 3k rpm sounds like 'the wrong gear' and bad for the engine; bet a lot of people will refuse to engine brake because of this sort of reasoning.

[davepoth]

LukeSi said:

Don't get me started on how the mother drives up hills. She shifts up at around 3000rpm (engine will happily go all the way upto 6000) And then wonders why the car seems underpowered (well it is a 1.1 but still). Lately though I have managed to get her to shift down to second and give it the boot all the way up the hill. Still can't get her to go up to the redline yet though. Amazingly the 1.1 Kia Picanto actually sounds a tiny bit throaty when it is actually being revved.

1.1s are awesome.

They've not taught engine braking as part of the test for years, modern cars are massively over-braked compared to years ago, and there's just no need. As far as I'm concerned it's free braking though, and I do it all the time.

[SteveS Cup]

I'm 23 and my driving instructor (hen I was 17) loved the fact that I knew how to match the revs and let the engine do the braking. But told me not to do it in my test.

I live on box hill and the OH is on caterham on the hill... So fairly hilly and these people who ride the brakes all the way down the hill in clearly manual cars drive me crazy.

I think there is a massive lack of mechanical understanding these days. I'm an office boy but I still like to know how things work and operate... I guess a lot of others don't care!

[HereBeMonsters]

I remember being told by a driving instructor to ride the brakes as much as possible, as pads can be replaced cheaper than clutches and engines.