People are only just realising what the E on your gear stick actually means

And here's why you don't see them as often

In the gear sticks of most cars, there will be an ascending series of numbers and an ‘R’ for reverse when they need to scoot the car backwards, so an ‘E’ is what plenty of folks have never seen.

There is no ‘E’ on there for automatic drivers, even though they will be familiar with 'P', 'N', 'D' and 'R', and perhaps also 'L', that's 'Park', 'Neutral', 'Drive', 'Reverse' and then 'Low' if you need it.

An audience was asked by Supercar Blondie if they knew what it was and some wise motorists stumped up the solution, which isn't something you'll get with modern cars, as it's ‘E’ for ‘Economy’.

An older car might have an ‘E’ gear which will still work like a top gear but try and save a bit of fuel consumption on the car as it keeps engine revs low, reduces RPM and might also shut down some cylinders.

But why do so many people no longer see it these days?

Greater fuel efficiencies in modern car engines means it was a very short-lived addition to the gearstick and that's why so many people no longer see it.

Typically, the letter ‘E’ these days denotes that it’s an electric car.

And since they all drive like automatics, there's no need for anything other than a basic gear stick.