1St Gear

[mungbeanz]

Why is 1st gear such a short ratio gear in a car? My car will do about 40 in reverse, so why cant first be like that? Also it seems difficult to stall in reverse. Anyone know why?

[Buenchico]

Discussed here:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=646491

. . . and if you're doing 40mph in reverse, please tell me when and where so that I can be somewhere else!
;-)

[FredPuli43]

In the good old days of British Leyland, my family's dealership took delivery of a new car which the mechanics found a little difficult to drive. Examination revealed that the gearbox had , quite literally, been fitted so there was one gear for forwards and the rest for reverse. Only BL could achieve such a masterpiece ! Goodness knows how they achieved that; it sounds impossible.

And some Lotus cars could do an extraordinary speed in reverse, but I think that was deliberate.

[hc4361]

What car are you driving? The Guinness world record for driving in reverse is 55mph and that is in an electric car that doesn't have gears.

Most manufacturers limit the reverse speed because it doesn't do the car much good to go fast in reverse.

[mungbeanz]

Thank you Bunchico. That link makes answers my question. I fear there may have been some hyperbole in my description as 40mph does seem excessive. I've never looked at the speedo whilst traveling in reverse so I don't know if I could accurately record the speed. I suppose I would have to reverse through a speed camera in a 30 zone to see if I would set it off.

[TWR]

If you have reached 40mph in reverse, you need you head testing.

[Hopkirk]

If you didn't have first gear as it is, how could you pull away uphill with all your fat friends in the car?