A CAR expert has revealed a hidden feature that can change your motor from automatic to manual at the touch of a button.
Driving whizz Xiao Qiao took to TikTok to share the handy hack with her followers.
Xia Qiao revealed a hidden manual mode in automatic carsTikTok/chequanxiaoqiao
Put your car in driver then shift to the left to engage the manual transmissionTikTok/chequanxiaoqiao
In the clip, Xiao, from China, was demonstrating the function of each gear in an automatic car when she unveiled the little-known feature.
Automatic drivers may notice that there are usually four gears, marked by the letter D, R, P and N.
Xiao explained that these stand for drive, reverse, park and neutral respectively.
However, some cars have a fifth gear, marked with an M with a plus symbol above and a minus symbol below.
This activates a hidden manual mode for the car, allowing motorists to take control of their transmission and experience the connection with the engine that fans of manual cars crave.
Just put your car into drive and then pull the stick to the left towards the M to activate the mode.
Then you can change up and down with a flick of the gearstick.
Xiao said: “M is manual mode on automatic cars.
“Plus and minus signs are increasing and decreasing gears.”
A manual mode can give the car a sharper edge in terms of performance and give greater flexibility to how you drive.
For example, if you need to carry a heavy load, you can place your car into manual to keep the gear low and the revs high to increase torque.
Best of all, though, once you’re done you can pop it straight back into automatic mode and not have to worry about shifting while cruising along at speed or in stop-start traffic.
Social media commenters loved the handy trick.
One wrote simply: “Thank you.”
Another added: “You saved my life.”
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