Changing Gears – Literally
The way I was taught to know when to change gears when driving a car is to feel the car. I guess it’s about feeling the vibrations from the revs. Aussies tend to have beastie cars so it is pretty easy to feel the engine. If you can’t feel then you hear the change via the rev noise. As a last resort, and you generally shouldn’t need to get to this stage if you know how to drive, is to look at your speed to know when to change gears. All my driving life I have been able to feel when the right time is to change gears, until Norway…
Driving a manual car is much safer in Norway because you have more control, especially over snow and ice. However, I’m having a very hard time knowing when to change gears in Winter. Feeling the car, or hearing the car, is not happening for me. It might be because every Winter the roads are covered with a foot of ice and snow so much so that the speed bumps disappear altogether. Not only that, the busses with their snow chains rib up the roads so when the car jiggles over your voice shakes. It’s great for grip but it sure makes it hard to hear, let alone feel, the car. So now I have to resort to looking at the speedo if I want to know when to change gears. What a hassle! ;D
I’m just glad that 2nd gear is a robust little fella otherwise I would have gone through several gear boxes by now.
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I was always taught that you should change gears when the RPM gage is reading 2000 to 3000 RPM (conservatively). I’ve found it to be far more accurate than the feel or sound of the engine. Of course, now when driving a manual auto I “sense” it somehow. Every auto will show signs of physical tension if it is going to fast for the selected gear.
You could just listen to what my dad used to say: “Turn down the stereo and pay attention to the auto!”
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from L-Jay:
Yeah, but that’s the problem – the sound of the tires on the ribbed ice makes such a loud noise that I can’t hear the engine. Also, there is no ‘pulling’ effect on the car to know when to change gears as the car is bouncing over the ribs and therefore doesn’t get enough traction to have the ‘pull’. Mind you, Tromsø has been voted to have the worst roads in the country
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Does Norway cars are manually operated or most of them are automatic? Thanks
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from L-Jay:
Most cars are manual as you have more control on the snow and ice.
Try an automatic next time. I used to think a stick shift was more effective but after many years of driving both types in some bad winter conditions, I lean toward an automatic. For a number of years, Subaru would furnish courtesy cars to elite members of the National Ski Patrol and I understood that they were automatics. The patrol members were quite impressed with their handling in the snow. All wheel drive obviously helped also.
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from L-Jay:
I’ve heard that 4WDs are really good for the snow and ice but automatics make it impossible to get out of mud-pits or snow drifts as you can’t easily rock your way out – you have to keep switching from neutral to reverse whereas in a manual you can just pump the clutch. Believe you me, nearly every day we have to rock ourselves out of our parking spot! As the snow blocks us in.
Also in an automatic you have to be in neutral to start the engine which isn’t practical when you are sliding down an icy hill. Can you roll-start an automatic?
There aren’t any driving schools in Norway with automatic cars, are there? Well, not in the North at least.
Driving a manual is much more fun in any case
As for the shifting, just keep an eye on the revs as previously suggested. You can spend summer getting a feel for what rev count is roughly right for shifting for your car.
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from L-Jay:
I think the other hard thing about driving in Tromsø is that most speed limits are 30 and 40 km/h. You are constantly shifting from 2nd to 3rd every road.