A utility vehicle (UV) is a vehicle , generally motorized , that is designed to carry out a specific task with more efficacy than a passenger vehicle . It sometimes refers to a small truck with low sides.
77-669: The Reliant Fox is a small four-wheeled glass-fibre utility vehicle manufactured between 1983 and 1990 by the Reliant Motor Company in Tamworth, England . It used Reliant's own 848cc aluminium inline four-cylinder engine and a galvanised chassis based on that of the Reliant Kitten . The Fox was one of several small four-wheeled economy vehicles produced by Reliant, a manufacturer well known for its three-wheeled cars and trucks . The Fox could be configured as
154-414: A countershaft (also called a layshaft ) and an output shaft . The input shaft is connected to the engine and spins at engine speed whenever the clutch is engaged. The countershaft has gears of various sizes, which are permanently meshed with the corresponding gear on the input shaft. The gears on the output shaft are also permanently meshed with a corresponding gear on the countershaft; however,
231-575: A "fun in the sun vehicle", similar to those made by other manufacturers. Like the Kitten, it used the standard Reliant 848cc engine. The Greek Fox weighed 521 kg (1146 lbs) and had a rear axle ratio of 3.55:1. Reliant Fox In 1983, the first year of UK production, the Fox used Reliant's usual 848cc aluminium inline four-cylinder engine of 40 hp, which drove the rear wheels through an all- synchromesh four-speed manual gearbox. The rear axle ration
308-507: A car chassis, but built to resemble sport utility vehicles. They have limited off-road capability but sportier on-road behavior than SUVs. May also be referred to as a "Sports Activity Vehicle", as is the case with BMW's X-range of vehicles. Vehicles like the Kawasaki MULE in which a flat bed is added to an all terrain vehicle . Generally used as a maintenance vehicle. A jeep is a type of light off-road vehicle , originally used by
385-708: A column shifter and more practical, as the gearbox was mounted in front of the engine. The linkage for the shifter could then be positioned on top of the engine. The disadvantage is that shifting is less comfortable and usually slower to operate. Newer small cars and MPVs , like the Suzuki MR Wagon , the Fiat Multipla , the Toyota Matrix , the Pontiac Vibe , the Chrysler RT platform cars,
462-417: A column shifter are the ability to switch between the two most commonly used gears—second and third—without letting go of the steering wheel, and the lack of interference with passenger seating space in vehicles equipped with a bench seat . Some smaller cars in the 1950s and 1960s, such as Citroën 2CV , Renault 4 and early Renault 5 feature a shifter in the dash panel. This was cheaper to manufacture than
539-527: A column-mounted manual shifter. Outside North America, the column-mounted shifter remained in production. All Toyota Crown and Nissan Cedric taxis in Hong Kong had the 4-speed column shift until 1999 when automatic transmissions were first offered. Since the late 1980s or early 1990s, a 5-speed column shifter has been offered in some vans sold in Asia and Europe, such as Toyota Hiace , Mitsubishi L400 and
616-407: A conventional manual transmission, but are shifted automatically. Alternatively, there are semi-automatic transmissions . These systems are based on the design of, and are technically similar to, a conventional manual transmission. They have a gear shifter which requires the driver's input to manually change gears, but the driver is not required to engage a clutch pedal before changing gear. Instead,
693-411: A gear while the transmission requires the driver to adjust the throttle so that the transmission is not under load, and selecting a gear requires the engine RPM to be at the exact speed that matches the road speed for the gear being selected). Most motor vehicles use a pedal to operate the clutch; except for motorcycles, which usually have a clutch lever on the left handlebar . In most vehicles with
770-425: A gearshift without fully disengaging the clutch). Larger differences in speed between the input shaft and the gear require higher friction forces from the synchromesh components, potentially increasing their wear rate. Even in modern transmissions where all of the forward gears are in a constant-mesh configuration, often the reverse gear uses the older sliding-mesh ("crash box") configuration. This means that moving
847-619: A manual transmission but have added components (such as computer -controlled actuators and sensors ) which automatically control the timing and speed of the gear shifts and clutch; this design is typically called an automated manual transmission (or sometimes a clutchless manual transmission ). Contemporary manual transmissions for cars typically use five or six forward gears ratios and one reverse gear, however, transmissions with between two and seven gears have been produced at times. Transmissions for trucks and other heavy equipment often have between eight and twenty-five gears, in order to keep
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#1732791809798924-438: A manual transmission, the flywheel is attached to the engine's crankshaft , therefore rotating at engine speed. A clutch disc sits between the flywheel and the transmission pressure plate which is attached to the transmission input shaft, controlling whether the transmission is connected to the engine or not. The clutch pedal controls the pressure plate ( clutch engaged – the clutch pedal is not being pressed) or not connected to
1001-421: A manual transmission, the driver selects gears by manipulating a lever called a gear stick (also called a gearshift , gear lever or shifter ). In most automobiles, the gear stick is located on the floor between the driver and front passenger, but some cars have a gear stick that is mounted to the steering column or center console. The movement of the gear stick is transferred (via solid linkages or cables) to
1078-400: A mechanism is needed to stop the input shaft, such as using the synchronizer rings for fifth gear. However, some vehicles do employ a synchromesh system for the reverse gear, thus preventing possible crunching if reverse gear is selected while the input shaft is still spinning. Most transmissions include a lockout mechanism to prevent reverse gear from being accidentally selected while the car
1155-482: A partner abroad to obtain type certification, for which the procedure was much easier for vehicles that were already certified in another country. Reliant was the obvious choice and it played a significant role in the final development and certification of the version. After the Fox was no longer being built in Greece, Reliant reused the design for itself instead of shelving it. The UK version had many details changed from
1232-523: A pickup with a hard or soft top, an estate car, a van or a convertible, as desired. Reliant had exported technology and designs to several companies and in several countries, including those of the Reliant Robin and Reliant TW9 (aka The Ant) to MEBEA in Greece . But in the case of the Fox, a "reverse" course was followed. In the late 1970s MEBEA attempted to develop a "passenger-utility" vehicle,
1309-441: A switch or pressing a button on the gearshift knob or on the steering column, or automatically by momentarily lifting the foot from the accelerator with the vehicle traveling above a certain road speed. Automatic overdrives were disengaged by flooring the accelerator, and a lockout control was provided to enable the driver to disable overdrive and operate the transmission as a normal (non-overdrive) transmission. The term 'overdrive'
1386-484: A synchromesh and teeth on each side in order to lock either gear to the shaft. Unlike some other types of clutches (such as the foot-operated clutch of a manual-transmission car), a dog clutch provides non-slip coupling and is not suited to intentional slipping. In order to provide smooth gearshifts without requiring the driver to manually match the engine revs for each gearshift, most modern passenger car transmissions use 'synchromesh' (also called 'synchronizer rings') on
1463-411: A three-speed manual transmission. This transmission, along with many similar designs that it inspired, was a non-synchronous (also called sliding-mesh ) design where gear changes involved sliding the gears along their shafts so that the desired cogs became meshed. The driver was therefore required to use careful timing and throttle manipulation when shifting, so the gears would be spinning at roughly
1540-491: A type then very popular in Greece, as laws allowed such cars to be taxed as "commercial vehicles" at a rate lower than passenger cars. Because of the law, several companies built such vehicles in Greece, including Namco , Autokinitoviomihania Ellados , MAVA , Automeccanica and others. MEBEA, which had already built the Robin under licence, modified the four-wheel chassis of the Kitten to carry greater weight and developed
1617-439: A typical hydraulic automatic transmission , which uses an epicyclic (planetary) design, and a hydraulic torque converter . An automatic transmission that allows the driver to control the gear selection (such as shift paddles or "+/-" positions on the gear selector) is called a manumatic transmission, and is not considered a manual transmission. Some automatic transmissions are based on the mechanical build and internal design of
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#17327918097981694-454: A wide range of applications. They typically allow easy conversion between multiple combinations of passenger and luggage capacity. Traditionally, these are vehicles similar to a station wagon , but built on a light-truck chassis and equipped with four-wheel drive or all-wheel drive amongst other off-road hardware. Their primary purpose is to display better off-road and towing capabilities, with higher seating capacity. Station wagons based on
1771-429: Is also used to describe a gear with a ratio of less than one (e.g., if the top gear of the transmission has a ratio of 0.8:1). Vehicles with a manual transmission can often be push started when the starter motor is not operational, such as when the car has a dead battery or when the starter motor itself has malfunctioned and is unable to deliver sufficient rotational energy to turn the engine over. When push-starting,
1848-427: Is connected via a pinion gear at the end of the counter/output shaft. In a modern constant-mesh manual transmission, the gear teeth are permanently in contact with each other, and dog clutches (sometimes called dog teeth ) are used to select the gear ratio for the transmission. When the dog clutches for all gears are disengaged (i.e. when the transmission is in neutral), all of the gears are able to spin freely around
1925-445: Is moving forwards. This can take the form of a collar underneath the gear knob which needs to be lifted or requiring extra force to push the gearshift lever into the plane of reverse gear. Another design of transmission that is used in older cars , trucks , and tractors , is a non-synchronous transmission (also known as a crash gearbox). Non-synchronous transmissions use a sliding-mesh (or constant-mesh, in later years) design and have
2002-727: Is small four-wheel off-road vehicle. It has a side-by-side seating arrangement, and UTVs often have seat belts, roll-over protection and a storage box at the rear of the vehicle. In 2017, the UTV category was added to the Rally Dakar . Manual transmission A manual transmission ( MT ), also known as manual gearbox , standard transmission (in Canada , the United Kingdom and the United States ), or stick shift (in
2079-404: Is used to reverse the direction in which the output shaft rotates. In many transmissions, the input and output shafts can be directly locked together (bypassing the countershaft) to create a 1:1 gear ratio which is referred to as direct-drive . In a transmission for longitudinal engined vehicles (e.g. most rear-wheel-drive cars), it is common for the input shaft and output shaft to be located on
2156-674: The Honda Element , the Honda Civic , the Daihatsu Sigra , and the Honda Avancier , may feature a manual or automatic transmission gear shifter located on the vehicle's instrument panel, similar to the mid-1950s Chryslers and Powerglide Corvairs . Console-mounted shifters are similar to floor-mounted gear shifters in that most of the ones used in modern vehicles operate on a horizontal plane and can be mounted to
2233-998: The US military , with four-wheel drive for general utility work that required travelling over rough terrain. Vehicles featuring a coupé passenger compartment with an attached cargo bed. All-steel-bodied, sedan -cabined utility vehicles, more commonly called utes , were popular in Australia. Utility trucks or sport utility truck (SUT), commonly known as pickup trucks in the United States , are similar to coupé utilities. The main difference being that they are either built specifically for purpose or based upon sport utility vehicles rather than being produced by modifying existing passenger vehicles. They combine elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. The Side-by-side (SxS) , also known as utility task vehicle (UTV),
2310-427: The splines on the shaft, forcing that shaft to rotate at the same speed as the gear hub. However, the clutch can move back and forth on the shaft, to either engage or disengage the splines. This movement is controlled by a selector fork that is linked to the gear lever. The fork does not rotate, so it is attached to a collar bearing on the selector. The selector is typically symmetric: it slides between two gears and has
2387-415: The stereo system or HVAC system , to help prevent accidental activation or driver confusion. More and more small cars and vans from manufacturers such as Suzuki , Honda , and Volkswagen are featuring console shifters in that they free up space on the floor for other features such as storage compartments without requiring that the gear shift be mounted on the steering column. Also, the basic location of
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2464-471: The 1948 Ferrari 166 Inter and the 1953 Alfa Romeo 1900 Super Sprint . Five-speed transmissions became widespread during the 1980s, as did the use of synchromesh on all forward gears. Six-speed manual transmissions started to emerge in high-performance vehicles in the early 1990s, such as the 1990 BMW 850i and the 1992 Ferrari 456 . The first 6-speed manual transmission was introduced in the 1967 Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale . The first 7-speed manual transmission
2541-601: The Fox had a number of modifications from the Greek version, the most noticeable of which was that the front of the vehicle gained a "skirt" for better aerodynamics at speed. Wheels were 12-inches in diameter instead of 10-inches and the brakes had also had some alterations. Beginning in its second year of production, 1984, the Fox used the Reliant HT-E "economy" engine, as was fitted to the Reliant Rialto , and which
2618-610: The Fox was built in the UK until 1990. According to the Reliant Kitten Register , which keeps track of all small four-wheeled Reliants, "Fox production topped the 1000 mark between 1983 and 1988", a number that conflicts with the "just over 600" claimed by The Reliant Motor Club as having been built between 1983 and 1990. Relatively few Foxes seem to have survived. Autocar magazine reported in 2017 that official motor vehicle registration data for 2015 showed just one Fox on
2695-481: The Greek version, with Reliant reportedly spending £500,000 on modifications for the domestic version. Reliant started producing the Fox in its Tamworth factory in 1983, as an "informal successor" to the Kitten. After UK production ended in 1990, a restyle was planned, using the hatchback from the forthcoming Robin and a front end design similar to that of the Reliant Metrocab. But this never got further than
2772-533: The U.S. and Canada had a 3-speed column-mounted shifter—the first generation Chevrolet/GMC vans of 1964–70 vintage had an ultra-rare 4-speed column shifter. The column-mounted manual shifter disappeared in North America by the mid-1980s, last appearing in the 1987 Chevrolet pickup truck . Prior to 1980, the GM X platform compacts (Chevrolet Nova and its rebadged corporate clones) were the final passenger cars to have
2849-514: The United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission system where gear changes require the driver to manually select the gears by operating a gear stick and clutch (which is usually a foot pedal for cars or a hand lever for motorcycles). Early automobiles used sliding-mesh manual transmissions with up to three forward gear ratios. Since the 1950s, constant-mesh manual transmissions have become increasingly commonplace, and
2926-1146: The Vantique van were built on Kitten or Fox chassis, as either kit cars or factory-built, after the Kitten and Fox went out of production. Other vehicles built on Kitten/Fox running gear are the Cipher, the Jimp, the Salamander, the Asquith van and the Liege sports car. Utility vehicle Military light utility vehicle, or simply light utility vehicle, (LUV), is a term used for the lightest weight class military vehicle category.[1] A Jeep-like four-wheel drive vehicle for military use[2] by definition lighter than other military trucks and vehicles, inherently compact and usually with light or no armour, with short body overhangs for nimble all-terrain mobility, and frequently around 4-passenger capacity. The military also use armored utility vehicles. These are larger vehicles which can tackle
3003-411: The clutch) or both of these functions are automated ). Most manual transmissions for cars allow the driver to select any gear ratio at any time, for example shifting from second to fourth gear, or fifth to third gear. However, sequential manual transmissions , which are commonly used in motorcycles and racing cars , only allow the driver to select the next-higher or next-lower gear. In a vehicle with
3080-484: The collar from bridging the locking rings while the speeds are still being synchronized. This is achieved through 'blocker rings' (also called 'baulk rings'). The synchro ring rotates slightly because of the frictional torque from the cone clutch. In this position, the dog clutch is prevented from engaging. Once the speeds are synchronized, friction on the blocker ring is relieved and the blocker ring twists slightly, bringing into alignment certain grooves or notches that allow
3157-463: The cone-shaped sleeve on the dog collar so that the friction forces can reduce the difference in rotational speeds. Once these speeds are equalized, the dog clutch can engage, and thus the new gear is now in use. In a modern gearbox, the action of all of these components is so smooth and fast it is hardly noticed. Many transmissions do not include synchromesh on the reverse gear (see Reverse gear section below). The synchromesh system must also prevent
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3234-438: The dog clutch to fall into the engagement. Common metals for synchronizer rings are brass and steel , and are produced either by forging or sheet metal shaping. The latter involves stamping the piece out of a sheet metal strip and then machining to obtain the exact shape required. The rings are sometimes coated with anti-wear linings (also called 'friction linings') made from molybdenum , iron , bronze or carbon (with
3311-427: The dog clutches require the input shaft speed to match that of the gear being selected; otherwise, the dog teeth will fail to engage and a loud grinding sound will be heard as they clatter together. Therefore, to speed up or slow down the input shaft as required, cone-shaped brass synchronizer rings are attached to each gear. When the driver moves the gearshift lever towards the next gear, these synchronizer rings press on
3388-534: The drawing board stage. Greece The car was produced in Greece as the MEBEA Fox beginning in 1979. When the law favouring such "passenger-utility" cars was changed in 1983, sales declined and production ended after about 3000 Foxes had been built. That number may have been "inflated" by the manufacturer, though, as automotive historian Labros S. Skartis writes that the true production number may have been closer to 1000. The UK After production ended in Greece,
3465-413: The early 1950s, most cars only had synchromesh for the shift from third gear to second gear (drivers' manuals in vehicles suggested that if the driver needed to shift from second to first, it was best to come to a complete stop beforehand). Up until the late 1970s, most transmissions had three or four forward gear ratios, although five-speed manual transmissions were occasionally used in sports cars such as
3542-407: The energy generated by the wheels moving on the road is transferred to the driveshaft, then the transmission, and eventually the crankshaft. When the crankshaft spins as a result of the energy generated by the rolling of the vehicle, the motor is cranked over. This simulates what the starter is intended for and operates in a similar way to crank handles on very old cars from the early 20th century, with
3619-435: The engine ( clutch disengaged – the clutch pedal is being pressed down). When the engine is running and the clutch is engaged (i.e., clutch pedal up), the flywheel spins the clutch pressure plate and hence the transmission. The design of most manual transmissions for cars is that gear ratios are selected by locking selected gear pairs to the output shaft inside the transmission. This is a fundamental difference compared with
3696-456: The engine speed within the optimal power band for all typical road speeds. Operating such transmissions often uses the same pattern of shifter movement with a single or multiple switches to engage the next sequence of gears. Many of the first automobiles were rear-engined, with a simple belt-drive functioning as a single-speed transmission. The 1891 Panhard et Levassor is considered a significant advance in automotive transmissions since it used
3773-399: The fifth selector on the main shaft. This means that when the vehicle is stopped and idling in neutral with the clutch engaged and the input shaft spinning, the third-, fourth-, and fifth-gear pairs do not rotate. When neutral is selected, none of the gears on the output shaft are locked to the shaft, allowing the input and output shafts to rotate independently. For reverse gear, an idler gear
3850-526: The first-gen Fiat Ducato . Many European cars had manual column shifts and the Renault 16TX had a 5 speed. Column shifters are mechanically similar to floor shifters, although shifting occurs in a vertical plane instead of a horizontal one. Because the shifter is further away from the transmission, and the movements at the shifter and at the transmission are in different planes, column shifters require more complicated linkage than floor shifters. Advantages of
3927-442: The forces required or provide a faster shift time . The first car to use a manual transmission with synchromesh was the 1929 Cadillac . Most North American marques had adopted synchronized manual transmissions, usually for second and high gears, by the mid-1930s. In 1947, Porsche patented the split ring synchromesh system. The 1952 Porsche 356 was the first car to use a transmission with synchromesh on all forward gears. In
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#17327918097984004-401: The forward gears. These devices automatically match the speed of the input shaft with that of the gear being selected, thus removing the need for the driver to use techniques such as double-clutching . The synchromesh transmission was invented in 1919 by Earl Avery Thompson and first used on production cars by Cadillac in 1928. The need for synchromesh in a constant-mesh transmission is that
4081-418: The front-wheel-drive transaxle's ring gear. This allows for a narrower transmission since the length of each countershaft is halved compared with one that contains four gears and two shifters. The fixed and free gears can be mounted on either the input or output shaft or both. For example, a five-speed transmission might have the first-to-second selectors on the countershaft, but the third-to-fourth selector and
4158-437: The gear shift in comparison to the column shifter makes console shifters easier to operate than column shifters. In the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, fuel-efficient highway cruising with low engine speed was in some cases enabled on vehicles equipped with 3- or 4-speed transmissions by means of a separate overdrive unit in or behind the rear housing of the transmission. This was actuated either manually while in high gear by throwing
4235-410: The gearshift lever into reverse results in gears moving to mesh together. Another unique aspect of the reverse gear is that it consists of two gears—an idler gear on the countershaft and another gear on the output shaft—and both of these are directly fixed to the shaft (i.e. they are always rotating at the same speed as the shaft). These gears are usually spur gears with straight-cut teeth which—unlike
4312-410: The helical teeth used for forward gear—results in a whining sound as the vehicle moves in reverse. When reverse gear is selected, the idler gear is physically moved to mesh with the corresponding gears on the input and output shafts. To avoid grinding as the gears begin to the mesh, they need to be stationary. Since the input shaft is often still spinning due to momentum (even after the car has stopped),
4389-645: The late 1930s and became common during the 1940s and 1950s. If a U.S. vehicle was equipped with overdrive , it was very likely to be a Borg-Warner type, operated by briefly backing off the accelerator pedal when above 28 mph (45 km/h) to enable, and momentarily flooring the same pedal to return to normal gear. The control simply disables overdrive for such situations as parking on a hill or preventing unwanted shifting into overdrive. [REDACTED] Later, European and Japanese models began to have 4-speed column shifters with this shift pattern: [REDACTED] A majority of North American-spec vehicles sold in
4466-399: The latter usually reserved for high-performance transmissions due to their high cost). Mechanical wear of the synchronizer rings and sleeves can cause the synchromesh system to become ineffective over time. These rings and sleeves have to overcome the momentum of the entire input shaft and clutch disk during each gearshift (and also the momentum and power of the engine, if the driver attempts
4543-459: The mechanical linkage for the clutch pedal is replaced by an actuator , servo , or solenoid and sensors , which operate the clutch system automatically when the driver touches or moves the gearshift . This removes the need for a physical clutch pedal. A manual transmission requires the driver to operate the gear stick and clutch in order to change gears (unlike an automatic transmission or semi-automatic transmission , where one (typically
4620-462: The nickname "crash" because the difficulty in changing gears can lead to gear shifts accompanied by crashing/crunching noises. Vehicles with manual transmissions use a clutch to manage the linkage between the engine and the transmission, and decouple the transmission from the engine during gearshifts and when the vehicle is stationary. Without a clutch, the engine would stall any time the vehicle stopped, and changing gears would be difficult (deselecting
4697-428: The number of forward ratios has increased to 5-speed and 6-speed manual transmissions for current vehicles. The alternative to a manual transmission is an automatic transmission . Common types of automatic transmissions are the hydraulic automatic transmission (AT) and the continuously variable transmission (CVT). The automated manual transmission (AMT) and dual-clutch transmission (DCT) are internally similar to
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#17327918097984774-406: The other shaft, with a bearing located between the two shafts. In a transmission for transverse engined vehicles (e.g., front-wheel-drive cars), there are usually only two shafts: input and countershaft (sometimes called input and output). The input shaft runs the whole length of the gearbox, and there is no separate input pinion. These transmissions also have an integral differential unit, which
4851-489: The output shaft gears are able to rotate independently of the output shaft itself (through the use of bearings located between the gears and the shaft). Through the use of collars (operated using the shift rods ), the speed of the output shaft becomes temporarily locked to the speed of the selected gear. Some transmission designs—such as in the Volvo 850 and S70—have two countershafts, both driving an output pinion meshing with
4928-424: The output shaft. When the driver selects a gear, the dog clutch for that gear is engaged (via the gear selector rods), locking the transmission's output shaft to a particular gear set. This means the output shaft rotates at the same speed as the selected gear, thus determining the gear ratio of the transmission. The dog clutch is a sliding selector mechanism that sits around the output shaft. It has teeth to fit into
5005-651: The prototype of the light utility vehicle which would become the Fox, complete with glass-fibre reinforced body. For the body design, the Fox appears to have been inspired by an Italian car, the Fiore 127 Gypsy (which was based on the Fiat 127 ). In order to produce the Fox, however, MEBEA had to deal jump the hurdle of obtaining "type certification". The process was particularly complex for locally developed "passenger cars", but less so for other types of vehicles. Thus, "MEBEA did what other Greek companies had also done": it found
5082-503: The road in the UK, but noted that this figure could be higher as it did not include Foxes on SORN (Statutory Off Road Notice). However, another website says that in 2017, UK vehicle registration data showed 37 Foxes licensed for road use and 123 on full- or part-time SORN. Mebea Fox The Mebea Fox was created around the Reliant Kitten chassis and its low weight, glass-fibre body, 10-inch wheels and 145 X 10 tyres helped make it
5159-401: The same axis, since this reduces the torsional forces to which the transmission casing must withstand. The assembly consisting of both the input and output shafts is referred to as the main shaft (although sometimes this term refers to just the input shaft or output shaft). Independent rotation of the input and output shafts is made possible by one shaft being located inside the hollow bore of
5236-441: The same speed when engaged; otherwise, the teeth would refuse to mesh. This was difficult to achieve, so gear changes were often accompanied by grinding or crunching sounds, resulting in the gearboxes being nicknamed "crash boxes". Even after passenger cars had switched to synchronous transmissions (i.e. with synchronizers), many transmissions for heavy trucks, motorcycles and racing cars remained non-synchronous, in order to withstand
5313-422: The selector forks within the transmission. Motorcycles typically employ sequential manual transmissions , although the shift pattern is modified slightly for safety reasons. Gear selection is usually via the left-foot (or, on older motorcycles; right-foot) shift lever with a layout of 1–N–2–3–4–5–6. During the period when U.S. vehicles usually had only three forward speeds, the most common gear-shifter location
5390-484: The transmission. FF (front-engined, front-wheel drive) vehicles, RR (rear-engined, rear-wheel drive) vehicles and front-engined vehicles with rear-mounted gearboxes often require a mechanical linkage to connect the shifter to the transmission. Some vehicles have a gear lever mounted on the steering column. A 3-speed column shifter, which came to be popularly known as a "three on the tree", began appearing in America in
5467-451: The vehicle more suited to commercial uses. The top speed of the Fox was 78 mph and it was able to attain 60 mpg with the yellow top engine. However, a second website quotes much lower mpg for the Fox. Fuelly.com has compiled information on Foxes driven in real world conditions and found a 1984 model that delivers 37.8 mpg and a 1985 that returns 35.4 mpg. Both vehicles are in regular usage. The Reliant Tempest 850 two-seater sports car and
5544-467: The vehicle's transmission in much the same way a floor-mounted shifter can. However, because of the location of the gear shifter in comparison to the locations of the column shifter and the floor shifter, as well as the positioning of the shifter to the rest of the controls on the panel often require that the gearshift be mounted in a space that does not feature a lot of controls integral to the vehicle's operation, or frequently used controls, such as those for
5621-490: Was 4.1:1, which allowed the vehicle to carry a 380 kg (840 lb) payload in a "surprisingly large loadspace" measuring 1180 mm (46.5 in) in length by 1250 mm (49.0 in) in width. The body was "rust free GRP" and the chassis "rust resistant galvanised steel". The Fox's overall length was 3380 mm (133 in), its width was 1540 mm (60.5 in) and it rolled on 155 X 12SR radial tyres. Reliant noted that its 7.62 m (25 ft) turning circle
5698-466: Was introduced in the 2012 Porsche 911 (991) . In 2008, 75.2% of vehicles produced in Western Europe were equipped with manual transmission, versus 16.1% with automatic and 8.7% with other. A manual transmission has several shafts with various gears and other components attached to them. Most modern passenger cars use 'constant-mesh' transmissions consisting of three shafts: an input shaft ,
5775-399: Was known as the "yellow top" because of its colour. While still displacing 848cc, it produced 37.5 bhp instead of the 40 bhp from Reliant's standard "red top" engine. The yellow top also had more low-end torque and by lowering the Fox's rear axle ratio to 4.1:1, it was able to pull additional weight. Heavier springs and a more robust tie bar on the front suspension were added to make
5852-461: Was on the steering column, a layout that was sometimes called "three on the tree". By contrast, high-performance cars, and European vehicles in general, mostly used a four-speed transmission with floor-mounted shifters. That layout was referred to as "four on the floor". Most FR (front-engined, rear-wheel drive) vehicles have a transmission that sits between the driver and the front passenger seat. Floor-mounted shifters are often connected directly to
5929-623: Was the same as that of a London taxicab, making it "equally at home making deliveries in city traffic or out on the farm". The Fox handbook gives its unladen weight as 640 kg (1410 lbs). The Fox went on sale in the UK in May 1983, after being shown at the 1982 British Motor Show . Reliant hoped that it would "fill a niche" left by the British Motor Corporation taking the Mini Moke out of production. The UK version of
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