Gear Change Indicator

[Filby]

Has anyone else noted some strange quirks with the IQ gear change indicator? On my car (IQ2 09/2011), when I am cruising at 40ph in 5th it is quite happy, but if I accelerate (gently) to 43mph it suggests I should change down(??)

[Ian Birks]

Sounds right to me. You are going from coasting to putting a load on the engine. For a bit of fun watch the realtime mpg figures and see how it is more efficient to be in 5th than 6th at these lower speeds. In short, I guess, sixth is like a overdrive so let the lower gears do the work getting up to speed. fyi: I am averaging 54mpg in a manual iQ3. Hope this helps.

[DFish]

Us iQ2 owners dont have that fancy 6th gear. :P

But back to the OP, if the engine is starting to 'struggle' then yes it does ask you to go back down the gears.

Fish

[craggle]

Yes, as has been said it does tell you change down when you don't think you need too but you will get better economy if you do. Of course I don't drive purely on those lights as you know as soon as you do change down it will then tell you to change up again so sometimes I ignore them but they are a useful addition.

6 gears in mine too, Nice.... :)

Craig.

[atkiman]

i just ignore the wretched thing, tells you a load of cods most of the time.

[s44gtw]

Being a VVTi engine it does like the Revs, to produce torque where its most needed.

(Variable Valve Timing)

Possibly also being in the correct gear at the correct rev range helps economy!

(it does actually, no possibly about it.)

Its why the CVT can actually produce better economy with the VVTi engine than the official figures suggest.

Well it can, without much understanding, thought or input from the driver.

Why so many vehicle manufacturers are going Autobox and the death of the Manual box is near when the Euro 6 and 7 engines come in and emission levels need to be slashed.

george

[Soeley]

I have changed down when the lights say so and I see the MPG get worse! I ignore them and drive by the feel and sound of the engine.

[surfcitylocal]

*sigh* With the Scion iQ we only have the CVT. No 6 speed available.

[Filby]

Only 5 on mine so 5th is top. What I mean is happening is that i can be in 5th at about 37mph and there are no gear change lights. With gentle pressure on the accelerator the speed increases slowly and when I reach 43mph it advises changing down.

I agree that the best idea is to ignore the lights if they don't seem reasonable but i am wondering how the algorithm that displays the gear change advice works.

Does anyone where there is a published torque curve for the 1.0l VVT engine? Or does the VVT mean that you can't draw a torque curve? 4,800prm is quite high on the rev range for max torque, or is that a feature of the VVT? (Not had a VVT engined car before)

[Lainy]

Hiya everyone,

I've just bought a 2011 iQ with 15,000 miles on the clock. The gear indicator has been driving me nuts as it wants to change up before I do. When I am in 3rd it want to go to 4th then 5th straight away. I followed the lights and then have to go straight back down again. I didn't realise the light was only an indicator and I could ignore it!

Pleased I came across this forum, it may save me from more Blonde moment's

Lainy

[FROSTYBALLS]

Gear change indicators will become mandatory for all new vehicles on sale within the EU from November this year, and they're meant to encourage drivers to drive in a more economical way.

EU legislation only asks for a visual indication of when to change gear, although this can be supplemented by an audible indicator as well. The effects of gear change indicators will be subject to further compulsory testing by manufacturers to prove the benefits of the indicator system - comparing when the vehicle is driven 'normally' and when it is driven according to the indicator system.

Think we're lucky in that most manufacturers have just stuck with a visual system rather than having both a visual and an audible gear change indicator.

Otherwise it will be just another beep to add to the seat belt reminder, the lights-on reminder, the door open reminder, etc.

[Soeley]

I think it is a silly waste of time, I don't even notice it there any more. When I first got my iQ I tried following it, but coasting at 60 mph on a slight decline in 6th gear it want me to change down to 5th ??

Also they can't see the road ahead. It will want to to change up to top gear, but up can see a hill just ahead so know changing up will be a waste of time.

[Cyker]

Gawd, it would drive me mad if it made a noise! With the way I drive it'd be bonging all the time!!

The problem with these gear indicators is the same as a lot of semi-autos; they have no idea what's going on outside and can only pick a gear based on a fixed table. If you followed it religiously on anything other than a straight flat road, you'd end up changing gear every 5 seconds as conditions change!

I really dislike all these sorts of things; Surely if you have to rely on such things you should seriously think about taking a few more driving lessons!!

[tarquin]

Is this not brought about by the "eco" obsession governments have and manufacturers competing for the lowest printable mpg? I have a motto " just because you can, doesn't mean you should". I came up with using this when the first watches came out with calculators on them and you were stupidly trying to press the minuscule buttons. Feeling obliged to keep changing gear because it advises is mad.

David

[FROSTYBALLS]

The EU legislation has been on the cards for a while, and manufacturers have introduced systems early in advance of it becoming compulsory on new cars.

[aaronfife]

When I bought this car back in Autumn 2012, I started ignoring it as I know what the car CAN achieve. I stuck to this indicator, within reason for a full tankful. Managed 330miles from £33. Second time around, filled up £33 exactly as soon as the light started flashing as per last tank. Got 308miles from it. Second time around I ignored it and changed when I thought was needed and coasted in 3rd at 30mph when needed, not in 4th or even 5th.

Conclusion - the gear shift indicator obviously only can tell so much. In the real world, I was happy to lose 20miles o365r so to have more fun driving it. I've achieved 365 miles looking back at previous efforts but that was 90% motorway to my old work, now it's more like 30% motorway to my current work :( That being said, my fiancé has the Fiat 500 S edition, it also has a shift indicator and is FAR more realistic than the IQ one. But they are both completely different cars to drive and hers takes £41 max to fill returning 340 - 370 miles of what she's told me.

[atkiman]

Told me to change down once,

was going just over the hundred at the time