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| 04-14-2014, 08:10 PM | #23 |
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I understand the necessity to look down while shifting, especially when learning, but keeping your eyes off the shifter, cluster, or steering wheel while driving separates good drivers from great. Always look up and ahead.
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| 04-15-2014, 07:38 AM | #25 |
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Brigadier General
 
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We're talking about whether an indicator would be a good thing for a manual transmission, not "eyes on road". Especially if something is going on around you, I think we all know (or should) to pay attention to the road. But we also all pay attention to our radios, passengers, many of us have to divert attention to phones occasionally and our gauges. The question is whether it would be worthwhile to have an indicator for our gear. My contention is it is not necessary because a glance at the gearshift position should eliminate all doubt about the gear. If that doesn't do it for you, look at the rpm. 3rd and 5th position for the gear shift is fairly similar but the rpm isn't. 5th and 6th are plenty dissimilar for the gearshift position.
I also don't think I care for the heads-up displays. You don't have to look as far away to see them but it still takes your attention off the road. If things are calm, I can look at them but it takes at most a split second longer to look at the dash. If things are busy, I don't have time to look at either. The question is not whether we ever look at something other than the road. I believe we all do. We need to learn to only do it when we can without significantly increasing risk. So we do, but what do we look at to know our gear. We really should know, we put it there, but suggesting we never need to confirm isn't real life.
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| 04-15-2014, 07:40 AM | #26 |
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Major General
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Not really needed IMHO. Just put your hand down on the shifter, should be able to tell instantly what gear you are in, no looking required?!?!?
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| 04-15-2014, 11:26 AM | #27 | |
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Civil Rights Activist
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The answer is (for right now) no, there isn't a way to code the car to indicate what gear you're in on the dash. No it's not a stupid question or a stupid idea. Formula 1 drivers get to know what gear they're in on their steering wheel (not comparing the kind of driving they do to the kind that we do), but the pro drivers on this forum wouldn't dare to look at such information if it meant taking their eyes off the road. They might miss that blonde in the Jetta going in the other direction if they did. (Please no one reply to this, it's sarcasm meant to hurt your feelings.) But yes, there is a lighted shiftknob, they are in some of the M cars. You can find them on ebay for about $100. That might help you in the dark. http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/310913783675?lpid=82 I'll admit it if no one else will, sometimes I have to think for a few seconds about what gear I'm in - because sometimes (if you can believe this) I have the audacity to drive at the same time as thinking about things other than driving. I didn't sleep well last night in case you can't tell.
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| 04-16-2014, 06:24 PM | #28 |
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Lieutenant Colonel
 
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Is this real life?
You know what gear you're in because a) YOU selected it b) vehicle speed vs. engine speed is a dead giveaway, and c) you can look down at the gear lever. Good day.
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| 04-16-2014, 10:39 PM | #29 | |
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| 04-18-2014, 04:03 PM | #30 |
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You can feel what gear you're in.
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| 04-18-2014, 05:22 PM | #31 |
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There have been times I've driven for a long time in 5th gear not realizing I wasn't in 6th...
You could always clutch-in, and take the car out of gear for a second and let it fall back to neutral to figure out what gear it was in... Then just move it back.
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| 04-18-2014, 08:31 PM | #33 | |
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