What Does ‘E’ Mean On A Manual Gear Shift?

Manual transmission vehicles once dominated the roads in countries around the world, but as automatic transmission technology improved, stick-shifts began to disappear. However, there has been a resurgence of manual transmissions, which has some newbies wondering what the letters are on the gear shift in some older cars. For example, “E” on a gear shift stands for Economy.

Economy is essentially a fuel-saving feature. It operated like a higher gear option, so instead of 5th gear, a shifter could have first through fourth, reverse, and E. The economy setting was meant to keep the engine revving lower during longer drives, so the vehicle would use less gas and thus run more efficiently. It would also reduce undue strain on the motor and encourage drivers to shift up as early as possible, instead of winding out the gears excessively. This would inevitably cause a smoother power delivery as well.

The reason that many people don’t know about the economy setting is actually pretty simple. “E” happens to be one of the gear shift letters that are just not seen that often. The same is true for “G,” as well as “B,” among others. Automatic transmissions can also have some curious markings as well, including “S,” as well as the +/- symbol, which allows the driver to manually shift the vehicle during operation.