I've been doing it for quite some time: start driving in first gear, and shift up and down as necessary. I've definitely got the hang of it. Why do I do it? Because I'm smarter than a transmission, that'* why. It'* about as close as I'll get to a manual transmission without dropping a few grand to convert mine over (one of my friends did it).

But I don't think I'm shifting up at the right time. What I'd like to learn how to do is when to shift up and down for maximum acceleration, for those times when you meet your friend at a red light or need to escape from a collapsing tunnel or exploding fuel tanker. (Hey, it could happen.)

I usually shift up when the engine speed gets over 3500 RPM (when accelerating, usually, I shift up at > 2500 RPM). But I usually feel a "bump" as the car upshifts, which is telling me that I shifted too late for the most ideal acceleration. (On a graph of RPM-speed, you'd see speed taper off before shifting into second.) I usually downshift when the roads are bad, I need more power or when someone cuts in front of me without using their turn signals and I need to slow down quickly. But I never shift down more than one gear at once nor shift down when I'm > 3000 RPM (usually, I've kinda learned each gear'* appropriate speeds/RPM'*).

I'm sure there are more people like me who prefer a semi-automatic transmission. Anybody want to share some tips, or is this whole concept just a load of bull shift?

I see a tranny taking a dump pretty soon

Why would you ever "manually" try to shift an automatic tranny? Only time I do that **** is in the snow, if I got to slow down real fast or going down a hill. Your talking about having a semi-automatic tranny, well I dont believe these sedans are built to do that kind of stuff, I know what your talking about because I drove one that was in a Chrysler 300M.

The clutch automatically engages and disengages, so wouldnt shifting in the middle of accelerating grind or at least stress something out? I know automatic transmissions are a lot more complexed then manuals, its quite amazing really, if you ever seen the insides.

yeah i got yelled at when i told these guys i was downshifting on hills...

my tranny is toast right now

just get a chip

BC OWNS J00! (BC Owns HaroFreak)

Yea, get the PCM from intense, youll love it!

I was going to write a nice post but I will just say:


YOU GOTZ A ELECTRONIK TRANZ HOMEEY, YA DONT NEEDZ TO SHIFT DAT SHIZT, IT NO'* WHEN TA DO IT FOR YA

When my dad was getting the GTP tranny rebuilt, the tranny seemed to still function perfectly. At the track and on some occasions on the street, he would manually shift it. When the tranny guy took the tranny apart, he asked him if he manually shifted it a lot because of some damage that was done to the inside. I don't know what kind of damage it causes, but I guess its not good for it.

I manually shift my car because driving around my subdivision and whatnot it will keep shifting in and out of 3rd gear, so I drop it down to 2nd. But I figure thats better for it than it shifting a bunch of times. But my tranny isn't electronically controlled either. I also always shifted my STE manually because the stock redline was 5500 and with the cam it always wanted to rev WAY past the 6212rpm limiter, since it is a vacuum controlled tranny, I can't change when it shifts without messing with the valve body, so I just hold it in gear longer. But let me remind you that I'm on my 3rd tranny in that car as well...

I wouldn't manually shift it except on rare occasions. For normal driving it knows what to do better than you do, whether you think so or not.

Shawn

<--- used to manually shift tranny trying to get that extra edge...


<--- learned not to after 3 tranny was installed. :?

Just to nit-pick, automatic trannies don't have a clutch. The torque converter is the "clutch" in an automatic.