Hi all,

Since ive owned my vette ive always used "D" and have been annoyed by the continuous shifting that occurs. It seems that around town im always at 1200 rpm after the shifting completes.

When you stomp on it it takes time to downshift and adjust.

Over the last couple days ive been playing around with "3" and "2" and its like I have a new car.

I use "2" while trying around the city and shift to 3 once i get up in speed. I dont see any point in using D unless your crusing on the highway.

I havent tried using "1" yet, will it shift to 2 once the limiter is reached in 1? when would someone use this?

Comments? how do you drive? problems with using 2/3 ??

 

I just put mine in drive a go.

 

I've played with 2 and 3 in town driving. I've read a few people use 3 while in city driving and D for highway. I've played with 2 when I want it to sound like I have a manual upon take off and want others to hear the car.

-Alex

 

I've always heard that it's bad to shift the car manually with an automatic (aka 1..2..3..D) all day long. I know there isn't a problem with leaving it in a certain gear (cruising around all day in 3) because my GM owners manual specifically states that towing something with my SUV, the car should be in 3, not overdrive.

 

It will not shift from 1st to 2nd automatically if you have placed the shifter in first, you must move it to 2nd. I would not recommend playing around with 1st at all just because it goes away quickly. 3rd around town should be a non-issue

 

Sometimes for fun I shift manually if I'm getting on it real hard but then again my trans is built for it otherwise I would never do that. Normally though I just keep it in D

 

I chose an auto to avoid shifting.

I use Park, Drive and Reverse.

Mike
Portland Oregon

 

3rd in city and d on the hiway.

 

In the US I never used anything other than D. Wide open roads and no real need to shift. In Vegas traffic the A4 was a dream

This may not make sense to those who have not driven in Europe but in the UK on the narrower roads the shift points are frustrating. On the back roads I often drop to 3 or even 2 to stop the car upshifting (protect us from the gas guzzler tax) on corners and the inevitable twitching. I find the car wants to upshift when I want to keep the revs on through the bends. The kickdown is clunky so I normally manually shift if I'm overtaking and I want the power instantly. Its even more relevant driving on the left because I have to move a long way out to see if the road is clear before overtaking.

After some advice here I watch the transmission temps but yes I use the box quite a bit

 

First and foremost, if your trans has not been tuned, have it done. A friend tuned mine and it is a completely different car. We basically moved all of the upshift points higher up in the RPM range. Conversely, we lowered all of the downshift points further down on the RPM range (i.e. no more lag waiting for the car to downshift) Now, as soon as you press down on the gas pedal it immediately downshifts and starts flying. We also changed all of the shift times to .250 seconds. We did not change the shift pressures at all.

The Coupe used to feel like a "grandpa's" car. Now, even during normal driving it feel like a sports car.

Secondly, I manually shift my A4 all of the time. The only two things I don't do are:
1. I never downshift into 1st while still moving.
2. I try to avoid the downshifts that generate high-revs (>3K) .

I don't run a trans cooler and my trans temps have never been higher than 205. (even during outside temps > 90 degrees).

I don't understand why people are afraid to shift the A4's. It has to be done by something/someone. I just like to control when they happen during cornering.

I hope that helps.

Happy Shifting.

 

Not long ago, I had read all the posts on all the C5 forums on this subject/did the search. The consensus was/is, upshifting is ok, however, using the shifter/transmission to downshift is not a good idea though the computer won't allow it in some circumstances. This sentiment is echoed on every car/auto/truck forum out there, that unless the car/truck was made to shift manually, it is/was not the designers intent to have the user shifting automatics as if they were/are manuals. The flipside to this is, I have yet to, and challenge anyone to find someone who had been using their automatic like a "stick", aggressively shifting up and down, and find that their transmission went to hell.

I remember riding around in an 85 Corvette back in 87/88 and between the lugging and the constant up/downshifting that transmission went through back then, it was about mandatory for the driver to use the lower gears in city traffic.

I drop my A4 down to 3 once off the highway and only use the "Circle-D" for the highway. Depending on how rush-hour traffic is going, I might even go down to 3rd to lock out the frequent 2-3rd gear shift at around 18-21 mph and let the motor rev a touch past 2,000 rpm, no big deal.

When I first got my car, and as I had a 90-day/3750 warranty starting on Feb 20th, 2009, I was in and out of all the gears for the first few days just to make sure everything was on the up and up, and having a blast all through the rev-range, feeling the cars performance and getting used to the car and its power for when it came time to "race", ha!, and now with 5,200 miles, I know I'm good and mostly just leave it in 3 off the highway and in D on.

 

 

You guys are killing me......

Now you know why those of us purchased ours with 6-speeds.... You can't beat driving a car like this and rowing through the gears !!

 

 

If you start out with it in 2nd gear, the tranny is actually starting in 2nd gear and does not go into first gear.

This was designed into the tranny for winter driving.

 

My choice was A4 Vert or MN6 coupe

I chose the Vert and I can live with the problem

 

Very seldom use 1 or 2.

 

never said it was a problem....

 

hmmmmmm good to know... looks like im stuck using 3 in the city...

 

Unfortunately, I live in a very densely populated area and it sucks driving around in a six-speed most of the time.

I started out with an auto tranny, converted to a six-speed and now I'm going back to an auto again.

Next vette will have the paddle shifter option.

You're lucky to live in a place where it's not wall to wall traffic most of the time.