Shifting question: First second then fifth, or use every gear?

[Piotrsko]

Driving diesel schoolbus, you traditionally look at the speedometer to see what gear you should be in

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

Driving diesel schoolbus, you traditionally look at the speedometer to see what gear you should be in

Reminds me of some small motorcycles with marks on the speedometer which indicated the gear it was expected to be at each speed.

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Reminds me of some small motorcycles with marks on the speedometer which indicated the gear it was expected to be at each speed.

I actually use the speedometer quite a bit for this with my current vehicle. My rule is one gear above the nearest 10kph.

[me and my metro]

I skip gears all the time to get into high gear sooner in my car.
Last week I moved an eighty thousand pound trailer about 50 miles and I used every gear. The semi tractor has a 15 speed transmission and two speed diffs.
It depends on what I am doing.

[Tmugz88]

I personally have tried to maintain a standard practical approach to shifting our 14Spark and just shift 1-2-3-4-5. Once im working outreach again I want to attempt and work through DFCO and see if I personally notice any improvements. But on occasionally will skip shift from 2-5 and notice no negative changes. The shift pattern in our Spark is so close , and I've discussed this with others in thay cars forum with little clarity if it does anything for fuel economy.

45mpg on avg with just shifting it like it eas meant seems to be working fine for us.

[campisi]

Nissan Xterra 6spd:
1 - 4.368
2 - 2.518
3 - 1.743
4 - 1.283
5 - 1.000
6 - .769
final - 3.692

I have never done anything other than 123456 with the occasional 12346. It's a heavy, non-aero vehicle with a 4L V6. I'll have to play around a little with some other skips.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Ecky

My rule is one gear above the nearest 10kph.

Sounds like driving school in Brazil. Unlike other countries where drivers either get either an unrestricted license even if they do the test with an automatic, or other countries where unrestricted and automatic-only licenses are issued, it's still required to get the driver test in Brazil with a manual transmission, unless the driver is applying for a disabled driver license, which may require automatic transmission according to the disability.