In order to obtain a driver’s license, all applicants must pass a theoretical and a practical exam. While to pass the first it is essential to sink your elbows, for the second it is required to have previously done some practical classes -the number will depend on each person-, with the aim of acquiring a minimum skill behind the wheel. Getting behind the controls of a car for the first time and starting to drive through open traffic is a critical moment for many students, even when they know that their teacher is in the passenger seat, who can act at any time.
Undoubtedly, stalling the engine on a hill or driving through a roundabout are some of the situations most feared by trainee drivers, who often abuse low gears. For this reason, the tiktoker teacher Rafa, from Autoescuela XD, explains why you have to lose your fear of driving with high gears. And he does it in the best way: in a real traffic situation and with one of his students, Lauri. The video in question is one of the most viral that he has published on Tiktok at this training center located in the Madrid municipality of Móstoles. In fact, it already accumulates more than a million and a half views.
The recording has been made on a highway, which is where high speeds can be reached, which require the gear of higher transmission ratios. A camera facing the road captures what happens in front of the vehicle, while another directed inwards records what happens in the passenger compartment. This is how you can see the aspiring driver behind the wheel and the trainer Rafa next to her, in the passenger seat.
For those who believe that when the gear goes up, the vehicle speeds up, the teacher tells them that “by putting fifth gear, the car will not go any further”. To demonstrate this, he asks his student to stop accelerating, step on the clutch and engage fifth gear (other manuals have six gears and a few up to seven, like the Porsche 911 Carrera S and 4S) and accelerate again. After this he asks the young woman if the speed has changed. The answer that she gives him is negative, that is to say, that it has more or less been maintained. “That is! Many times it seems like I’m going to fly with the fifth”, says Rafa, who points out that the only thing that is achieved is to lower the engine revolutions and reduce fuel consumption.
In fact, to improve efficiency and reduce fuel costs, the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) itself recommends driving as long as possible in the longest gears and at low revs. It also indicates that you have to start the engine without stepping on the accelerator. In diesel models, you have to wait a few seconds to start the march for the oil to reach the lubrication areas; in the gasoline ones it is not necessary to do it. In both cases it is advisable to engage the first gear to start the route and switch to the second as quickly as possible.
Some vehicles have a light indicator that indicates when it is convenient to change gear. For those who do not have this system, as a guideline, it can be said that in gasoline cars it is recommended to engage a higher gear when the engine is around 2,000-2,500 rpm, while in diesel cars it is advisable to do so when they are around at 1,500-2,000 laps. If more than the revolutions we take speed as a reference, we can say that we should put the third starting at around 30 km/h, the fourth around 40 km/h and the fifth starting at 50 km/h. After each change you have to accelerate again.
It should be noted that with automatic transmissions all this is easier, since it is the vehicle itself that is in charge of raising or lowering gears at all times. Only if the car has a manual selector, the driver can change them at his discretion. You can often do this from the wheel itself.
