VAN-COMPARATOR Guide
Driving a motorhome in the mountains: engine braking, the golden rule
Gradient percentages, engine braking, overheated brakes: the simple method for climbing and descending passes serenely with 3.5 tonnes.
3.5 tonnes launched down an 8% descent means brakes absorbing the equivalent of several emergency stops per minute. Mountains in a motorhome are not dangerous — they are technical, and the technique fits in one rule.
Reading gradients, painlessly
5–6%: motorway gradient, a non-event. 7–9%: classic pass, method required. 10–12%: serious — low gear and low speed. Beyond 12%: ask yourself whether this route belongs in a rental itinerary at all — there is almost always a gentler main road.
The golden rule downhill
You descend a pass in the gear you would use to climb it. The engine holds the vehicle back, not the brakes: engage the lower gear AT the summit (3rd, even 2nd), and let the engine growl at 3,000 rpm — it is built for it. The brakes serve only for brief, firm applications to trim your speed, never continuously: sustained braking overheats the discs (fade) and the pedal goes soft at the worst possible moment. Lengthening pedal, hot smell? Full stop for 15 minutes — and no handbrake cranked hard if the discs are smoking.
Automatic gearbox: the forgotten mode
Nearly all automatics have a manual mode or an L/B position: use it downhill exactly as you would a manual. Leaving it in D — which upshifts the moment the gradient eases — is mistake number one in recent rentals.
Uphill: revs and temperature
A steady gear, 2,500–3,000 rpm, air conditioning off if the engine temperature climbs, and use the pull-outs to let traffic past — ten vehicles trapped behind you is the other way to ruin a mountain day. Our Alps road trip flags the most drivable passes, and the first time behind the wheel guide lays the groundwork before you take on real relief.