This is the ideal shift pattern. You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like.

"I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker" (qaaaaa) 08/25/2018 at 09:58 • Filed to: None

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I stole this from wikipedia

I posted about this a while ago, and someone said that dogleg shift patterns aren’t great in the city because you’re frequently moving from 1-2.

Well, I live in the city and that is a straight up lie. Yes, there’s constant stop and go traffic, but I’ve still found that a majority of my shifts are 2-3, not 1-2. Also, most of my stop and go traffic comes to an almost stop, but when it comes time to get moving again, I’m still rolling a little, and cannot get into 1 as my car locks me out of 1 if I’m not moving because there’s no synchro. I just ride the clutch in 2 until I’m up to speed, which... whatever.

Yesterday, I was parallel parking. Since I have a VW, my shift pattern looks like this:

also stolen from wikipedia

Moving from 1-R and R-1 is a royal pain in the ass with this pattern. A dogleg pattern would be a vast improvement.

When I was learning to drive stick in my Golf, I also noticed that every single person who drove my car had trouble getting the shifter into the spot for R with it all the way over by your knee. This is a purely ergonomic problem specific to my car- with throws that are roughly two feet, the shift knob is physically touching my knee when I’m in reverse or touching my passenger’s knee with it’s in fifth. If there were a dogleg pattern, the side to side range of movement of the shifter would be about three or four inches less, eliminating this annoyance.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 08/25/2018 at 10:18

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Junkrat aka Rick Sanchez: Fury Road Edition > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 08/25/2018 at 10:29

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I prefer doglegs as well, I never shift to first unless I come to a complete stop. I got introduced on tractors and army 2 1/2 and 5 ton trucks.

ihm96 > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 08/25/2018 at 10:35

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Never driven a dogleg but I really don’t have any issues switching from reverse to first in my five speed bmws. Parking speed  isn’t really a concern for me with my transmission haha I prefer more about how it feels on the road. I’d love to try a dogleg though

daender > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 08/25/2018 at 10:40

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Not for autocross...unless you have short gearing!  I love being able to just slam it into 2nd and leave it there for the rest of my run!

404 - User No Longer Available > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 08/25/2018 at 10:40

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I too dislike that R placement. It’s the same on my 6MT and when I first got the car I accidentally shifted into R at a stop a few times, moving from my 5MT with R in the lower right corner.

*crawls in corner in shame*

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > 404 - User No Longer Available 08/25/2018 at 10:42

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Do you not have to push the knob down or something to get in to reverse? Mine is locked out.

aquila121 > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 08/25/2018 at 10:47

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Those look like shitty, uncooked fries.

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 08/25/2018 at 10:49

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drove a mog at work a while back

wouldnt have got far without the guy next to me saying not that one....

but obviously this mess of shifters is best pattern

i had lots of fun

404 - User No Longer Available > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 08/25/2018 at 10:49

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Nope. Just push harder and you feel an extra “step”, then you know push up is reverse . Took a while to get used to.

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 08/25/2018 at 10:55

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Used to have a car (Hyundai) with the same 5-speed pattern as your VW. I really liked the placement of R. My Subaru had R next to 6 and it makes 3-point tuns a pain. Worst reverse ever IMO goes to the 6-speed XTerra. It’s way off and to the right of 6, and you still have to press the whole lever down to get through a lockout too it.  I backed my friend’s into a telephone pole trying to figure it out once. 

M.T. Blake > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 08/25/2018 at 10:59

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This man speaks the truth. Listen to him. 

Kiltedpadre > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 08/25/2018 at 11:00

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This is the closest thing  I’ve driven. I hated it. My hatred had more to do with the beat to shit dump truck it was in than the shift pattern though.

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > Kiltedpadre 08/25/2018 at 11:05

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Was 1 a crawler? Obviously, a truck is gonna drive like a truck. 

aquila121 > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 08/25/2018 at 11:08

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Respectfully, I disagree. Yes, on tighter racetracks you may be doing a lot of shifting between 2 and 3, but once you’re comfortable with a given shift pattern, the difference between this:

and this:

probably isn’t particularly substantial (assuming a good smooth layout of the gates—gated shifters would slow me down). Even if you elect for a dog-leg layout, what if you’re at a fast track in a really slow car where you’re doing most everything in third and fourth? Then the benefit is moot. You have a great point with the placement of reverse, though. It would make parallel parking a breeze, and all else being equal, I’m not a fan of a reverse gate that doesn’t have some sort of lockout.

In my opinion, having the simple, common layout of the first picture is easy for anyone to pick-up and use, requires no brain-power to remember where first gear is because most people default to that layout, and the fractions of a sec ond in longer shift times would only matter in a competitive race environment—a nd a pro racer could likely mitigate the difference in lap times between the two patterns.

TL;DR, I say put 1st in the top left, avoid [below] and you’re good .

nermal > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 08/25/2018 at 11:16

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I have this one and it works pretty well. Usually skip 1st and start in 2nd unless you’re doing something slow.

Kiltedpadre > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 08/25/2018 at 11:16

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No, first wasn’t a crawler. It was in a beat to hell 1989 Ford  F700.

It had clutch problems, brake problems, the doors didn’t latch properly and occasionally popped open in turns, the headlights rusted out of their buckets, and we used a switch to activate the brake lights. I don’t work there anymore, but the powers that be thought it was good for two more years.

Chariotoflove > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 08/25/2018 at 12:26

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I am probably the last person who should comment on this post, but when I was driving stick so many years ago, I remember spending very little time in first before shifting, except maybe on a steep hill. 

Chariotoflove > Kiltedpadre 08/25/2018 at 12:27

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That looks like serious work. My shoulder is hurting just thinking about it. 

Maxima Speed > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 08/25/2018 at 12:33

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Kiltedpadre > Chariotoflove 08/25/2018 at 15:25

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The shifts were LONG. I’m 6-4 and had to lean forward to get fifth.

Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 08/25/2018 at 16:34

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All but two of the manual transmission cars I’ve had, had reverse up behind first. It was never an issue for me, but I’m weird like that.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > farscythe - makin da cawfee! 08/25/2018 at 17:44

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On an unrelated note, part of me wonders how difficult it would be to drop a small block C hevy into a U nimog. Because, reasons.

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > BaconSandwich is tasty. 08/25/2018 at 17:46

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space wise... shouldnt be an issue

doubt it will play nice with the rest of the drivetrain tho

im thinking it’d be a pretty major job

BaconSandwich is tasty. > farscythe - makin da cawfee! 08/25/2018 at 18:09

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I don’t doubt it would be a major job. :P

Die-Trying > Kiltedpadre 08/25/2018 at 18:56

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WITH the 2 speed rear end.........

Die-Trying > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 08/25/2018 at 19:04

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those are what are called “working 5 speeds”, and first is usually something around 3.50 - 4 to 1, and the two speed rear has a high and low range....... the flywheel on those engines usually weigh about a hundred po unds, and the inertia helps get them rolling, you can pretty near just ease out of the clutch in 1st, and low, and SOMETHING is going to move.......

Tohru > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 08/25/2018 at 22:56

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IIRC, on Top Gear, Clarkson said dogleg sucks because of the 1-2 shift. And May kept forgetting that the car was a dogleg and was backing into cars at intersections.

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > Tohru 08/26/2018 at 08:15

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Yeah, but those guys are idiots. 

Tohru > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker 08/26/2018 at 10:37

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amusing idiots.