I'm planning a vacation in the UK, and I most probably will rent a car to move around in. Now... I wonder if the gear layouts in a normal cars (manual) is the same regardless of the fact that the seat is on the right hand side, or are they mirrored? I was sure they where the same, but a workmate said no way, it got to be mirrored.

So, is it?

Let's wait for someone who really knows it. But far as I know they are just the same as they are over here..
Exept a few special models have the gearbox on the right side! But I don't think you'll be renting one of those

Quote from X-Ter :

I'm planning a vacation in the UK, and I most probably will rent a car to move around in. Now... I wonder if the gear layouts in a normal cars (manual) is the same regardless of the fact that the seat is on the right hand side, or are they mirrored? I was sure they where the same, but a workmate said no way, it got to be mirrored.

So, is it?

Its the same. But in some cars the reverse is left of 1st gear.

Quote from niall09 :

Its the same. But in some cars the reverse is left of 1st gear.

That's on regular cars over here too, I thought he meant about in England, first gear would be on the right...

Thankyou

Quote from sgt.flippy :

That's on regular cars over here too, I thought he meant about in England, first gear would be on the right...

Why? That is silly, you're counting gears, and as we read left to right going the other way would be rather daft.

Quote from sgt.flippy :

That's on regular cars over here too, I thought he meant about in England, first gear would be on the right...

Oh, and Ireland is also the same as England...why would we have different gearing layouts if we drive on the same side of the road?

Don't all attack me! Firstly I didn't look at where you were coming from niall, so sorry.

@psychoman: his question was if the gearing would be reversed.. I answered!

Quote from sgt.flippy :

Don't all attack me! Firstly I didn't look at where you were coming from niall, so sorry.

@psychoman: his question was if the gearing would be reversed.. I answered!

dont be sorry, I should have added a smiley in there, so sorry Also, I could have worded it a bit better

1st on the left, Top on the right.

1st is either left and up, or left and down, although mostly the former. Reverse is sometimes left THEN LEFT again THEN up (possibly with a pull up collar on the lever), or right and down. Depends on number of gears and which manufacturer mainly.

But you won't have any problems.

The only thing to be aware of is that cars from a left hand drive country tend to have the indicator/light stalk on the left, and that is carried over to reduce costs when converted to RHD. In cars from RHD countries (Japan, UK, States) it's on the right. This is to do with ease of signalling whilst steering and changing gears, and is what most people 'get wrong' when changing cars. Of course, it only means you wipe your windscreen instead of indicating, and flash people instead of washing your windscreen, so usually isn't too serious

My car has

R 1 3 5
...2 4

I have no pull up thing, you just push a bit harder.

Sometimes, Reverse is "below" 5th and to the right on 4th.

If it is 6 speed, then it will have the same layout as the diagram, but with 6th "below" 5th.

I have never seen any different.

Some cars have

R 2 4
1 3 5

Some cars even have

R 2 4 6
1 3 5

These are known as dog-leg first gearboxes. Favoured generally by italians, and gone mostly out of fashion in recent years as the public are now too stupid to cope with it, and drive backwards at traffic lights by mistake.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Some cars have

R 2 4
1 3 5

Some cars even have

R 2 4 6
1 3 5

These are known as dog-leg first gearboxes. Favoured generally by italians, and gone mostly out of fashion in recent years as the public are now too stupid to cope with it, and drive backwards at traffic lights by mistake.

I think Porkers use that layout as well to give a better 2-3 change, or they used to. I knew people with old 944s and 928s, I am sure I remember that was the layout, could be wrong.

Yup, it's because you only use 1st at a standstill, and any sensible driver prefers a simple, faster 2-3 and 4-5 shift. Most race h-pattern gearboxes are dog-leg first for this reason.

But somewhere along the lines the 'racing improves the breed' thing got lost, and so we've got this nasty (in principal) 'standard' that everyone is scared to leave.

Try a dog-leg first gearbox, get used to it, and you won't WANT to come back!

VW uses that R beside 1st, you push the shifter down to get into R, misshifting is almost impossible.

Most common road 'boxes are:

1 3 5 or R 1 3 5
2 4 R ____ 2 4

Other combinations are around but they tend to be restricted to sports cars.

There are a few older racing cars with really weird gearing patterns but AFAIK none that use an exact reverse of the drive gears. If you haven't driven RHD cars before you should find them pretty easy to get used to, at least I've never had issues with the odd LHD car I've driven.

Quote from sgt.flippy :

Don't all attack me! Firstly I didn't look at where you were coming from niall, so sorry.

@psychoman: his question was if the gearing would be reversed.. I answered!

Well just think of the costs, switching a car from RHD to LHD requires a few relatively cheap parts to be changed, but to change the gear box, that gets costly fast.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Some cars have

R 2 4
1 3 5

My old Datsun 160J SSS had a box like that, damn I wish I still had that car............

Quote from tristancliffe :

The only thing to be aware of is that cars from a left hand drive country tend to have the indicator/light stalk on the left, and that is carried over to reduce costs when converted to RHD. In cars from RHD countries (Japan, UK, States) it's on the right. This is to do with ease of signalling whilst steering and changing gears, and is what most people 'get wrong' when changing cars. Of course, it only means you wipe your windscreen instead of indicating, and flash people instead of washing your windscreen, so usually isn't too serious

lol!!

In any case, the first time I drove a RHD car in the UK, I got used to it immediately.

Well, when I say immediately, I mean after I first did a turn in an intersection. Because, on the first time, after I turned, I placed my car on the right side of the road, and took the oncoming cars by surprise.

But I mean it seriously, after the first turn you'll be fine.

Quote from X-Ter :

I'm planning a vacation in the UK, and I most probably will rent a car to move around in. Now... I wonder if the gear layouts in a normal cars (manual) is the same regardless of the fact that the seat is on the right hand side, or are they mirrored? I was sure they where the same, but a workmate said no way, it got to be mirrored.

So, is it?

It would be stupid to mirror the gear layout, you would have to redo all the linkage.

Our LHD Focus 1.8L Petrol (the 2.0 ST170 got 6 gears, as opposed to all other variants having 5 gears, though i'm not sure about diesels) has a
1 3 5
2 4 R
layout.

I can't really understand why we keep telling our gear layouts, but here's mine:

R 1 3
_ 2 4

And the other gearbox what is waiting to get in:

1 3 5
2 4 R

...yay...

My gearbox is:
1 3 5
2 4 R

In our other cars it's the same (all ford), but when we get the new Mondeo, don't know what layout it has, it's a 6 speed.

My gear box is:

P
R
N
D
3
2
1

Laziness ftw.