(No, no, this is about my _car_...)

So I'm heading in to the train station this morning in the Bonneville (which is _not_ my preferred train-station commuter car but I can't get anyone to buy the blasted '93 Escort on which I'd let the plates expire because I didn't think I'd be stuck with it that long since it really is a decent little car that someone should buy so I can get another car to go to the train station with so I don't have to drive the Bonneville which is where I think I came into this comment so let'* continue now), and I had the cruise control set to 50 mph, and the road led into a slight uphill curve where the traffic speed usually drops by 5 mph. (No, the limit was not 50 mph to begin with.) (No, I'm not going to tell you what the limit is; never mind that part. )

So anyway, I dialed down the cruise by 5mph -- tapping the button on the end precisely five times will do that for you; I love that feature. This brought me down to 45 mph as we went into the uphill curve. This is also 2 mph below where overdrive/TCC lockup engages when you're accelerating, and if I'd touched the brake or even gone just a bit slower, it would have let go as usual, but I thought I'd ride it out at 45 mph uphill on cruise control, and see what would happen.

Under this scenario, my Trans Sport would have kicked down and gone to 3000 long ago, but this car wasn't going to let go of lockup: instead it hung on, and as the load went up I watched it swing over into mild SC boost, the RPMs dropped to something like... I dunno, maybe 1300 or something ludicrously low, the car grunted with the effort, but it hung in there, held its speed, and we pulled up and over the hill without ever once downshifting. Good puppy!

That'* the coolest thing about boost. RPM'* hold strong, right down low where you started at the bottom of the hill, and it lays on the boost to maintain. Freaks people out when they see it for the first time.

Sounds very cool! I'm a N/A guy, though!

In that scenario, my car would let RPMs keep dropping and then start surging. Of course I have no power adder, but it sucks to hear about cars that are running right...

Naw, that'* really cool. I need to see that someday. I still haven't had the "supercharged experience."

MY 97 SE did that on atrip to New Mexico this past summer....hill climbing torque is incredible! ALL that and a high of 34 mpg! Heck.i set the cruise at 90 on a deserted stretch of NM desert highway....felt like i was going 30! I drove 1,100 miles in one day on the way back....could have done a few hundred more...but, to tell you the truth ..I was seeing painted lines in my sleep! A wee bit tired...

Don't do it unless you want to buy a */C'd car. Once you go supercharged you can never go back.

That is the best, when you accelerate fairly quickly without kicking out because the boost takes over. Or, are able to maintain speed on an incline without kicking out because of the boost.

Our 3800 n/a GP GT is good too, but it is geared differently and runs @ 2,300 at 70 where my SSEi is turning about 2,050, so the GP has some mechanincal advantage.

Jay

i really love it when she does the unexpected dont u andy