Advanced Driving Hub

Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote:My new Skoda seems to think the ideal engine speed (admittedly it's a diesel) is about 1150 rpm. The engine doesn't feel happy at that speed, and, of course, there's little to no acceleration available, so I'm learning to ignore the shift indicator too. But it keeps nagging ...!

I bet it isnt as big an indicator as the one in my car - it's about 3/4 inch high

and never tells me to change down... how I ever manage to start off again once stopped in 6th is beyond me

The one in the centre of the instrument cluster doesn't, on mine, but I did see a prompt to change down on the green-leaf-eco-score-thingy on the main display the other day.

To those who suggest tape, it'd have to be bigger than I want to cut out the parallax, and anyway I don't fancy having to explain it at car handover time (or the scratches engendered by removing it). Every now and then it has a use, when I've been too lazy to change up.

Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote:My new Skoda seems to think the ideal engine speed (admittedly it's a diesel) is about 1150 rpm. The engine doesn't feel happy at that speed, and, of course, there's little to no acceleration available, so I'm learning to ignore the shift indicator too. But it keeps nagging ...!

The wifes Octavia 1.6tdi indicates change up at about 1150rpm too, and it's not happy at such low revs. I've always ignored it personally.

I do like the new smiles.

Nigel.

Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote: Every now and then it has a use, when I've been too lazy to change up.

I thought that was called a rev limiter?

Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote:The one in the centre of the instrument cluster doesn't, on mine, but I did see a prompt to change down on the green-leaf-eco-score-thingy on the main display the other day.

To those who suggest tape, it'd have to be bigger than I want to cut out the parallax, and anyway I don't fancy having to explain it at car handover time (or the scratches engendered by removing it). Every now and then it has a use, when I've been too lazy to change up.

Just tape up the whole car, inside and out. Problem sorted.

I'd find it annoying too, flashing lights and the like are just another driver distraction. You will soon learn at what revs you should change, so it becomes redundant after a short while anyway.

Trust me, I'm not using it as a driving handbook, neither am I particularly annoyed, just observing its antics and comparing its recommendations with my @rse mounted gyroscope and aural feedback system. The car will (just about) drive if you follow its advice, but it's not pleasant. I'm not entirely convinced it's more economical, either, but that's very hard to prove.

My little petrol car will happily do 30mph in 5th on the flat, although at only around 1500 rpm it doesn't seem natural. The turbo kicks in at over 2k revs. Like you, I can't see if it's more economical than in lower gears. But if I wanted better economy I would have bought a different car in the first place.

Those of us who drive 4 cylinder turbo diesels seem to agree that our gear-change indicators advise us to keep the revs approximately between 1,000 and 1,500 rpm, but many say they generally use a higher rev range for flexibility and/or refinement. We also agree that the gear-change indicators are set to maximize economy.

This suggests that we put economy low in our priorities when it comes to a judgement of what constitutes good driving - in spite of it being a scored attribute in advanced tests. Should advanced drivers place a higher priority on economy?

waremark wrote:This suggests that we put economy low in our priorities when it comes to a judgement of what constitutes good driving

I think we put economy below mechanical sympathy.

...and standing in front of the damn thing winding it up in the morning (actually that lasted quite a bit longer than you might imagine. IIRC Lada still had that option into the '70s and '80s even)

In 1971 I bought a Sunbeam Stiletto (Hillman Imp range) and found that a starting handle was an optional extra, so had one - very useful for DIY servicing as well as flat batteries.