7-14
Starting and operating
pery surface can lead to wheel locking; as a
consequence, control of the vehicle may be lost
and the risk of an accident increased.
The following table shows the maximum speeds that
are possible with each different gear.
Never exceed the speed limit below for each gear po-
sition except for brief acceleration in an emergency.
The tachometer’s needle will enter the red area if
these speeds are exceeded. Failure to observe this
precaution can lead to excessive engine wear and
poor fuel economy.
mph (km/h)
Never exceed posted speed limits.
Driving tips
Do not drive with your foot resting on the clutch pedal
and do not use the clutch to hold your vehicle at a
standstill on an upgrade. Either of those actions may
cause clutch damage.
Do not drive with your hand resting on the shift lever.
This may cause wear on the transmission compo-
nents.
When it is necessary to reduce vehicle speed due to
slow traffic, turning corners, or driving up steep hills,
downshift to a lower gear before the engine starts to
labor.
On steep downgrades, downshift the transmission to
4th, 3rd or 2nd gear as necessary; this helps to main-
tain a safe speed and to extend brake pad life.
In this way, the engine provides a braking effect. Re-
member, if you “ride” (over use) the brakes while de-
scending a hill, they may overheat and not work prop-
erly.
The engine may, on rare occasions, knock when the
vehicle rapidly accelerates or rapidly pulls away from
a standstill. This phenomenon does not indicate a
fault.
Gear Non-turbo models Turbo models
1st 31 (50) 29 (47)
2nd 52 (84) 48 (78)
3rd 74 (119) 71 (114)