Bulk changing

[prangerman]

On a trailing throttle, say approaching traffic lights at red, I will often change down from 6th to 4th to 2nd matching the dwindling engine speed rather than racing up to the lights and standing on the brakes.

 

But I also sometimes bulk change when upshifting, for example in semi urban areas where it's clear that a full on blast through the gears will quickly come to an abrupt and frustrating end with traffic ahead, lights, road furniture etc. !st,2nd,4th and 6th is a not untypical pattern. I take care to ensure that there are enough revs not to bog the engine down and I'm not aware of any untoward transmission shunt.

 

What's the BC view of the wisdom of such bulk changing in terms of mechanical sympathy etc?

 

Peter

 

Peter

[Jonathan Kay]

I don't think there's any mechanical problem as long as you are tuned into how happy the engine and transmission feel.

 

It can also prevent boredom.

 

My wife's Jazz has up and down shift lights! Does anyone know what the algorithm is? My guess is that it's sensing throttle position, manifold pressure and rpm to see how fast you want to accelerate. If you accelerate lightly the only way to keep the upshift indicator OFF is to go 1,3,5.

 

Jonathan

[Bob L]

Fully agree and do this alot where 'pressing on' is not an option. Also saves wear on the clutch and fuel (if the later is a concern)

[Gavin H]

I've always done this where appropriate, in some cases going from 2nd or 3rd to 6th - e.g. getting up to speed on a slip road through the gears then into 6th once doing the same speed as traffic I am going to merge with.

 

In a lot of cases it is unnecessary to go through all the gears (unless you have a sequential gearbox of course!).

[6speedmanual]

No problem

 

Sympathetic awareness of rev matching and the operation of the synchromesh will allow this to be done without any more wear and tear (to clutch and gearbox) than normal through-each-gear-in-sequence shifting.

 

Peter

[Sheds Moderator]

As others say, there is no problem provided you select a gear which is correct for whatever speed you happen to be travelling at. In most cases you can skip one or even two without any incident, it's no different from having a wide-ratio box as opposed to our close or very close ratio (6 speed) boxes.

[anthonym]

I do it all the time.

[paul jacobs]

This exactly the reason that I chose not to use the 6 speed box on my CSR260. What is the point of a 6 speed box when, in everyday driving you miss out on half the ratios. I had an excellent 5 speed BGH box built into a nice Quaife alloy housing and with a 3.3 diff. it is just perfect. I use all the gears most of the time, although i do block [i've never heard of bulk changing before] change down at lights and road junctions etc. but that's just standard practice in any manual car.

 

Paul

[6speedmanual]

Before this thread I'd never heard it called bulk changing.

Block changing, I've heard but not sure it is very clear as a description either.

I refer to it as "skip shifting". Gears are "skipped" when going up or down.

 

Peter

[Stationary M25 Traveller]

Do it all the time in both cars. With the 2.3 engine in the Mazda, usually go 1 2 4 6 or 1 2 3 6.