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When To Shift Gears To Expect An Impressive Fuel Economy?

ByMatsumoto Naoki-January 22, 2019

When driving down the road, getting an efficient fuel economy is a plus point. It is one of the best features that not only save you money but also saves fuel. When achieving fuel efficiency is in mind, driving patterns matters more than what your car promises. For example, when to shift gears is an essential parameter to measure fuel economy. For better understanding, let’s dive in deeper into the conversation.

When To Shift Gears For The Best Fuel Economy?

There is science behind when to shift gears on a manual transmission to make your vehicle fuel efficient. Now, who would have thought of it? Read on, to know how your driving could save you fuel.

1. Understanding RPM

To drive a car efficiently and to utilize the fuel economically, maintaining a low RPM (Revolutions per Minute) is essential. In simple words, the lower the rotations per minute, the better is the fuel economy. The reason behind this is pretty simple; lower revs are equal to lower frictions between the engine parts.

If you are driving at the first gear, the RPM is going to be the highest, thus less fuel economy. Conversely, when you drive at the fifth gear, the RPM is the lowest, i.e., better fuel economy. As far as when to shift gears is concerned, you would understand how moving at higher gears can help you solve the purpose.

Understand your gears

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2. Fuel Efficiency And Load

To your surprise, the engine load forms another factor that sways the fuel efficiency of the vehicle. The load is akin to throttle opening! When you put the least of load on the engine, you are using the least of the throttle. In turn, that implies that the engine needs to work a big ton to pull out the intake air from the partially closed throttle body.

On the other hand, a wide open throttle offers the best suction and availability of the intake air. This means that heavier load is synchronized with better throttle opening, thus better fuel economy.

3. So When To Shift The Gears?

The simple answer to “when to shift gears for the best fuel economy,” points out at accelerating at a higher load, while maintaining a low RPM. There is a catch here though! When you accelerate way too often, you would be putting pressure on the engine, which, in turn, would lead to its lugging. To avoid the scenario, always prefer accelerating when your RPM is somewhere above 1500. This is the best trick when getting fuel economy is in mind!

You could also refer to driving tips to know whether releasing the accelerator pedal leads to more fuel consumption or not.

Shift gears properly around 1500 rpm

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Wrapping Up

When you have a manual transmission vehicle, knowing when to shift gears could be real helpful. Knowing such techniques would not only make you a smart driver but would also make you save fuel to a great extent. In short, you would be killing two birds with one stone!

Matsumoto Naoki is senior car blogger at Car From Japan. Having background in mechanical engineering, he has a unique perspective on a lot of new car innovations. Prior to Car From Japan, Matsumoto was Mechanical Design Engineer at Yajima Plant, Subaru Corporation. His articles provide detailed DIY instructions and how-tos to help you get your new car on the road. If you want to save money and feel more confident when working on your cars, you should not ignore Matsumoto’s sharing posts. He presents driving tips and tricks for everyone through easy-following steps and mechanically but friendly writing.

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