I think I heard on the show this week that one is supposed to park a manual in reverse, not first gear. Did I hear this correctly, and what is the reasoning behind this?
That’s because reverse is ‘shorter’ than first (like first is shorter than second), takes more effort to turn the engine over, provides better resistance to movement.
I agree with texases that it is shorter on a lot of transmissions, but it is also mechanically weaker and can easily be broken on a lot of transmissions. I still recommend first gear when parked.
If you’re parking on level ground…then put it in reverse.
If you parking uphill…then put it in first. If you’re parking down hill then put it in reverse.
But no matter what gear you use…make sure the parking brake is on.
The direction doesn’t matter. The lowest gear is still the lowest gear, whether it’s reverse or first on a particular car.
The direction does matter. It’s a factor in which direction the transmission will rotate the engine’s crankshaft if the car starts to move. On some cars, turning the crankshaft in the wrong direction gets very expensive.
That’s the first time I’ve ever heard of that.