1w ago

Those who drive stickshift, what is your most (and least) favorite reverse gear position?

Let's only focus on the reverse gear position, I believe there are as follow:

all the way to the right and down.
all the way to the right and up.
all the way to the left and up.
knob pull then shift to left and up.

For me, if I drive an old 5 speed then 1).

For modern cars with 6 speed, I prefer 4). It makes me feel confident that I am definitely in reverse.

A 6 speed with 3) imo is just terrible. I know many BMWs have this pattern. The idea is to really push to the left so you engage reverse and not 1st. Tried it on a friend's car and I was quite nervous: what happen if I yank too hard and damage the shifter?

30 comments

I have a newer Honda and the manual transmission is a dream but 6th gear is in exactly the same position as reverse, so the first time I threw it into reverse I nearly shit myself. Terrifying.
- My 8th gen Accord V6 6MT had the same pattern, I generally liked it a lot. The reverse gear is gated in some way such that it should not be possible to shift into reverse when traveling at speed. I don't ever remember accidentally going into 6th when I wanted to reverse. My muscle memory says that to shift into either I always just pushed as far to the right and down and trusted the car to put it into the correct gear.
  
  I trust it now, it was just the first couple of times that really freaked me out. My first car was a 3 speed, and not even hydraulic. The next a 4 speed, then a 5 speed (said 4 and "overdrive"), this is a 2014 I bought new and the first time I've had a 6 speed, first time there wasn't a dedicated spot for reverse.
  Overall this one is perfect though, so forgiving and easy to drive. Love it. All the tech I want and none of the tech I don't.
  
  That Accord was my first manual and as you said very forgiving. I actually think it's an almost prefect car to teach someone driving a manual in. Because of how much torque it has you could just let the clutch out somewhat slowly and you would start going without stalling or touching the gas at all, which means the person doesn't have to learn how to operate the gas and clutch at the same time.

30 comments