How can I drive my car without a rev counter?

Question

I'm learning to drive and have just got my first car prior to taking my test in a few weeks time. However, I've been learning in a car with a rev counter and have moved off from standing by setting the revs at 1.5 and then finding the bite. In my new car there is no rev counter and so I have no indication of when to move off and I keep stalling due to not having enough gas. It's very frustrating and is putting me off driving my car so any help would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

Millions of people have learnt to drive in cars without rev counters.



Millions of people drive cars without rev counters every day.



You shouldn't be looking at the rev counter when you are about to move off in any case.



Incidentally, the correct name is a 'tachometer', and you have been setting off at 1500 rpm, not 1.5.

Answer 2

Driving instructors can only teach you so much, the rest comes from practice, and experience.

Try this. Engage 1 st gear, then without touching the accelerator gradually let the clutch out and let the engine pull away on 'tick-over', ( around 750 rpm - half what your instructor had you using ) then attempt to accelerate away - it may take a couple of attempts. If you stall, increase the revs very slightly until you can pull away normally. - This will be your 'bite point'. So once you have mastered that, you can drive 'by ear' - listening to the engine note instead of looking at the rev counter. If nothing else, you will use less fuel by keeping the initial revs down and increase the life of the clutch plate into the bargain.

Good luck and have fun!

Answer 3

What Is A Rev Counter

Answer 4

Setting off is very much better for all concerned if done while looking for hazards and where you're going to go, not while looking at the dials. Stalling isn't just about not enough gas, on the flat most cars will go without touching the gas if the clutch is fed in smoothly enough.

Listen to the engine, feel for 'the bite' and then keep the engine speed fairly steady (the balance) as you feed in the clutch. And keep looking out of the windows.

Practice, keep calm, and it'll come.

Answer 5

don't bother with the rev counter drive by the sound of the engine my previous car never had a rev counter and i don't think all of the cars i learnt in did but i could tell just by sound if the gear i was in was too high and the engine was 'dragging' or too low and the engine was over revving. when i learnt to drive i was always taught in first gear to find my bite on the clutch pull off then put my foot of the accelerator

Answer 6

You should have learnt to set the gas by ear not using the rev counter. It's not too late, so start ignoring the rev counter and use your ears.

You need to be adaptable when driving not sticking to rigid methods.

Answer 7

Learn to drive by the sound of the engine, not by looking at the rev counter. It'll come quick enough.

Answer 8

My car doesn't have a rev counter and I was learning with one. You just gotta listen to the sound of your engine and feel the revs more and you'll soon get used to it. I did, don't panic

Answer 9

You usually listen for the engine and feel for the clutch when it's about to stall. You should practice engaging the clutch to 1st gear with out giving it any gas. It'll help you learn the friction point faster.

Answer 10

Use the mark l eardrum. Just listen to the engine when driving the learning car, and listen for the same sounds in yours

Answer 11

driving town 5th gear save fuel

Answer 12

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It's a horridly vague way to answer, but, "it depends". Your results will vary a lot depending on the car and the terrain. Typically running your car in the highest possible gear in which you're not abusing the engine will give you the best constant-speed economy (without resorting to bonkers hypermiler methods such as "pulse and glide" that will raise your economy but get you killed ... by an accident, or an enraged fellow motorist), as has been proven in many tests. The 30mph speed range is a tricky one, however, as it's more subject than e.g. 50mph to the variations in gearbox and engine characteristics - you could be well inside the economic range with an old small-engined Polo as it's best torque/best economy speed is at low rpm, and even 5th gear is shockingly low, and you're best to get into top as soon as possible (or similar for a diesel van, or the wierd little Hijet my dad used to own, which could be driven like a 3-speed using 3rd gear to pull away when you were feeling lazy). Certainly accelerating with any kind of (relative) force at this speed won't be particularly economic unless you have quite a low-revving engine (a non-turbo diesel, for example) and a quite "short" gearbox (revving comparitively high in top gear) - with a modern car, particularly with the gearing you describe, you're going to be just nicely in the eco band in 4th, but 5th is likely to be well below it. If you're cruising, it should be ok, as the reduced restriction on the throttle and lower overall friction should balance out any creeping low-speed inefficiencies, but as soon as you want to climb a hill or gain any serious speed you'll need to downshift - or you'll soon have your foot to the floor, and the engine computer will trip into a decidedly inefficient "max power" mode where it shoves somewhat more fuel into the engine than is needed, in order to make best use of the available air... where in 4th you might not have needed to do this. By the way, what car is that? The gearing difference between 4th and 5th seems remarkably extreme. Usually the top two gears are quite a bit closer than that (the relative difference between gears typically getting smaller as you change up), it sounds more like 1st and 2nd / 2nd and 3rd (except at much lower rpm) than anything else. Some kind of sportscar with tight gearing in the lower range and a "motorway" gear? In your case, I'd say it would stand some experimentation, maybe drive around normally not going above 4th for a quarter tank or so (not making a special trip for this, just as part of your everyday routine), fill up, measure your mpg (miles, divided by litres, times by 4.54) .... then use 5th gear also for another quarter and measure again. Rather unscientific and imprecise, but I've used it to see the gross effects of different driving styles, gear use, etc in my own cars before. If you have a trip computer / instant MPG readout on your dashboard, use that instead. Certainly if you bait the cameras ~34mph, or you do any significant driving on 40mph roads, 5th will be almost guaranteed to make you a small but significant saving there. At higher speeds, even more so, particularly at 55+ where your listed 4th gear will be heading decidedly out of the typical economic rpm range. Main rule of thumb is, if it feels/sounds like the engine is struggling or you're having to use full/nearly full throttle to maintain speed, change down - it won't be doing the motor, the environment or your wallet any good (3/4 - 4/5ths throttle is ok, and about optimal when accelerating... yes, it's ok and even beneficial to have brisk acceleration (uses engine more efficiently, gets you into high gear sooner), so long as you're not over-revving or completely flooring it!). And another is to experiment yourself and find the best for your own car because I've found an AWFUL lot of crap is talked about this subject ... even by myself sometimes, so take things with a bit of salt! NB: Diesel engines, and very modern/pricy petrol engines, are another case as well as traditional petrol ones - most diesels and some advanced (BMW/Honda, i think) petrols don't have a throttle valve, their power output is solely based on how much fuel is injected into the engine ... so they actually tend to be "most efficient" at maximum power, at least for light truck ones I've seen data for (as they're going to do a lot of max-output hauling uphill, they're designed for it... and this appears to hold true across the entire usable speed range, though it drops slightly near idle and redline). This however doesn't necessarily mean "highest MPG", but "most horsepower per fuel used on each combustion", and travelling faster/running at higher rpm/having the throttle wide open uses and produces more HP, so it uses more fuel anyways. Answer? Use highest gear and widest throttle that you can get away with, without destroying the engine :-)

Answer 13

the tach should not even be that helpful with driving. i did not hardly use mine for the most part. i went by ear or feel.