Driving help!

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all well.

I’ve been driving for a few months and I have my test upcoming.

One thing I still struggle on is moving from 4th to 5th gear - sometimes I may put it into 3rd or sometimes it seems resistant to move into 5th. I’ve practiced moving from 4th to 5th when the car is stationary and seem to have no issues. I’m pretty sure it is something to do with my technique, which I can’t seem to perfect!

Can any other drivers help me or offer their advice please?

Reply 1

tinygirl96

21

Practice makes perfect

Reply 2

RambleAmple

17

I'd say to just try break it down slightly in your head - rather than think 4th to 5th, think 4th to middle/neutral and then move it to the right and up into 5th. Also make sure that you are putting the clutch down fully - as you are likely to be going at faster speeds you may be more nervous, consciously or unconsciously, so make sure to first stamp down on the clutch. I had troubles with putting into 5th gear as never really used it before my test until I started to drive more on my own this year down faster roads and this helped me.

Reply 3

Dan Silverman

OP

14

Original post by RambleAmple

I'd say to just try break it down slightly in your head - rather than think 4th to 5th, think 4th to middle/neutral and then move it to the right and up into 5th. Also make sure that you are putting the clutch down fully - as you are likely to be going at faster speeds you may be more nervous, consciously or unconsciously, so make sure to first stamp down on the clutch. I had troubles with putting into 5th gear as never really used it before my test until I started to drive more on my own this year down faster roads and this helped me.

Thank you! I’ll take this on board. I think you are right, I’m pretty nervous changing at higher speeds!

Reply 4

RambleAmple

17

Original post by Dan Silverman

Thank you! I’ll take this on board. I think you are right, I’m pretty nervous changing at higher speeds!

Since my test and lessons were in towns where I never went above 40mph I never had to use 5th basically at all, so I think it is just the fact of it being a less used gear when you are learning and the nervousness of also having things happen more quickly while driving faster. After I passed and was driving further on faster roads this used to really worry me as I'd often not be able to put it into 5th on the first try, but then I'd just put it back in 4th and go through the steps of clutch down, into the middle, right and up and release clutch. It wasn't until June (like 9 months after I passed, but then I didn't drive much March-June with lockdown and prior to this wasn't driving alone much outside of towns) I've become fully confident with 5th - I started regularly driving to a stables where there is a 50mph road for about 2 min and initially I was just doing it in 4th as I was nervous, then when I got confident with the place I started to sometimes put it into 5th and now I don't even think about it most times wherever I'm driving. It is practice makes perfect but it is difficult initially while you're still learning, depending on if you have access to a car outside of lessons.

Driving help!

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