Kia Sportage: Good driving practices
- Never take the vehicle out of gear and coast down a hill. This is extremely
hazardous. Always leave the vehicle in gear.
- Don't "ride" the brakes. This can cause them to overheat and malfunction.
Instead, when you are driving down a long hill, slow down and shift to a lower
gear. When you do this, engine braking will help slow down the vehicle.
- Slow down before shifting to a lower gear. This will help avoid over-revving
the engine, which can cause damage.
- Slow down when you encounter cross winds. This gives you much better control
of your vehicle.
- Be sure the vehicle is completely stopped before you attempt to shift into
reverse. The transaxle can be damaged if you do not. To shift into reverse,
depress the clutch, move the shift lever to neutral, then shift to the reverse
position.
- Exercise extreme caution when driving on a slippery surface. Be especially
careful when braking, accelerating or shifting gears. On a slippery surface,
an abrupt change in vehicle speed can cause the drive wheels to lose traction
and the vehicle to go out of control.
- Always buckle-up! In a collision, an unbelted occupant is significantly
more likely to be seriously injured or killed than a properly belted occupant.
- Avoid high speeds when cornering or turning. High speed cornering and turning
increase the risk of vehicle rollover. Rollover accidents are violent and unpredictable.
- Never exceed posted speed limits.
The manual transaxle has 6 forward gears.
This shift pattern is imprinted on the shift knob. The transaxle is fully synchronized
in all forward gears so shifting to either a higher or a lower gea ...