Our Qashqai is a 1.33l 4 pot. When I drive I change gears as follows 0-10mph 1st gear, 10 mph - 2nd gear, 20mph - 3rd gear, 30mph - 4th gear, 40 mph - 5th gear, anything over 45mph - 6th gear. This was the way I was taught back in the day. When V drives, she rarely gets into 5th let alone 6th gear (she’ll be doing 40mph in 3rd most of the time). My mileages are rarely less than 45mpg but V’s are never, ever more than 30mpg for the same journey simply because of the way we use the gear box.
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Its the initial cost to buy that will put many prospective customers off. Add the that all the problems of home charging and many will be reluctant.
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Agreed it needs to be factored in over the life of the car .
My 1.4 Astra does 55 MPG ish if I’m sensible , the new Crossland I’m picking up is comparable according to the write up, thats a 1.2 -130 horses worth with 3 cylinders.
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A few of things to remember about economic driving besides efficient use of gears:
- Make sure you check and maintain your tyre pressures to that specified by your car manufacturer on a regular basis (at least every month or two).
- Do not keep loads of heavy stuff in the boot that is not needed on a regular basis.
- If you have a roof rack fitted, can you remove it if you are not using it?
- Ditto if you have a roof box fitted.
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Also make sure the paint finish is always highly polished as a dull finish adds to wind resistance.
It’s a 1.9 Litre n-tech Diesel Qashqai LongDriver and the gizmo on the panel tells me when to change gear. Like you (which I do) I listen to the engine when driving. Cars have a power range, the point at which there is good acceleration available. Revs in relation to speed and gears.5th gear at 40 mph would be well outside the optimum power range for my vehicle. Therefore at just over one thousand revs at 40 mph in 5th gear I would be found wanting for acceleration. 4th Gear at two thousand revs = 50 mph = shit off a shovel!
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I have found that parking my car after I return from shopping on a Thursday morning and completely ignoring it until the next Thursday, when I do my shopping again, has enabled me to achieve a remarkable reduction in my fuel consumption. Who would have thought it? 
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Covid was such a nasty virus, but you ought to see the amount of money it saved me…
[quote=“LongDriver, post:11, topic:89400”]
My wife’s little Suzuki has a dashboard indicator displaying when to change either up or down for the most economical motoring.[/quote]
What Suzuki model please?
Every cloud, Foxy. 
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Nonsense. Absolutely not even the slightest bit similar. A bicycle gearbox" is at the wheel end of the chain. A differential is after the gearbox its action and power is related to the speed of the wheels not engine speed. The differential speed/stress has nothing to do with the gear selected.
I don’t need an explanation on what a half shaft or axle is, I broke a half shaft on my 1947 Hillman Minx, British cars have a reputation for weakness in that area.
On other issues…
My gearbox will not allow me to select an unsuitable gear.
My Uncle had a new Cortina, he constantly complained that 30mph speed limit was too fast for 3rd and too slow for 4th the gears were badly designed
I am on a bicycle often enough to have no need of imagining it between times. 
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I struggle with the same problem now Bruce.
Yes it’s mid range. Here’s me receiving the keys when I’d just bought it.
It’s 6 years old now. Wouldn’t change it - love my Fiesta. 
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I don’t, the gearbox does it all for me, my last car didn’t even have gears just CVT, when I first bought this car I found it quite disconcerting to hear it change gear. only disadvantage with the CVT was going down hills the cars just gathered speed. There was absolutely no engine braking at all unless you put it in “sports” mode but it was very economic. Only had a 1.5L engine
Fine, you obviously know best. I was just giving you my personal knowledge based upon many years working in recovery of cars, vans & commercial vehicles & around leased vehicles & professional workshops.
The bicycle comparison was not intended as a direct mechanical comparison between a cars drivetrain & a bicycles, but to try & explain why the wrong gear puts strain on the whole drive train, not just the engine The strain of the wrong gear is mainly on the engine, but the job of a gearbox is to match the speed of the engine with the wheels, if that fails due to poor driving habits, then it puts strain on the whole system.
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Sounds about right to me Gee. Using the wrong gear on a bike to say climb a hill, means the human body will feel the same as the engine feels when driving in the wrong gear.
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A car does very low mileage by comparison to say a bus/coach (PSV) or an HGV. So any damage is minimised by that low milage within a car. But if you think about a bus which may be on the road from 6 am till midnight 6 or 7 days a week or an HGV which will cover probably 600 miles per day over 5.5 days & which may even be run both day & night & over weekends. So both the bus & the HGV are easily capable of covering the annual mileage of a car within a month. Thus, any extra stresses, even minor ones, do build up & cause failures, despite the law requiring PSV’s & HGV’s to have regular maintenance & that it is recorded to show they are kept in good condition.
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Yes, it is a pity you don’t understand the different parts of the drive train, what you say is true for parts forward of the gearbox ie clutch, engine etc but it is not true for the drive train after the gearbox which includes universal or CV joints, differential and axle.
Just ask yourself what happens to the drive shaft, differential etc when you change gear. Does its speed change? You will realise that it does not, it is completely unaffected by gear changes.
That is correct but irrelevant to a car drive train, in a bicycle the gearbox is (mainly) on the rear axle. The gearbox certainly changes the mechanical advantage for all parts before it (like the cyclist and chain) but the parts after the gearbox are completely unaffected by gear selection.