[phungy]

Hey all, I have an auto tC (parents made me get it =\) anyways lately everytime i start braking i shift from D to N. My friend said he use to do it in his bimmer but found out that its actually bad for the tranny. Is this true?? I thought that downshifting to help the braking was bad but was ok when shifting it into neutral. Thanks!!

 

[chipmOnk]

let the engine do its job... and by putting it in neutral, you're wasting more gas than to just leaving it in gear. there is no reason to shift to neutral anyway...

 

[Zygote55]

I agree with chipmonk...I'm not really sure why you're putting it in neutral.

 

[moriarty]

^^^

i'm not really sure that's a good idea.

if anything dropping it into 3 then 2 would be more helpful.

 

[basilisk4]

Originally posted by moriarty@Oct 10 2004, 02:47 PM
if anything dropping it into 3 then 2 would be more helpful.

I actually do that sometimes when I need to slow down quickly and don't want to kill my brakes.

 

[imasaf]

Hmm... sometimes when i pull into a parking spot.. and I step on the brakes, put it into park, and pull on the hand brake... it makes a loud noise. I donno if I'm stopping too quickly or what... but i've been told to try putting it into neutral then to pull the hand brake... does that make sense?? I havent tried it yet.

 

[basilisk4]

My father always told me to shift into neutral before putting on the parking brake anyway.

 

[phungy]

same

 

[jrcadieux]

There is no need to put an automatic transmission into neutral before applying the hand brake or when braking. Also, if you have to step on your brakes hard enough to worry about "killing" you're brakes, how do you have time to shift it into 3rd or 2nd? I don't think you will seriously harm your car by shifting it to neutral or whatever, but I don't understand why you would want to.

 

[ricoo25]

Actually, I have heard that coasting in neutral in an auto IS bad for the tranny. I believe that when the tranny is not engaged and the wheels are turning, fluids are not dispersing throughout the tranny like they are supposed to, which can lead to heat and wear.

 

[FrostbytetC]

I dont think that putting an auto tranny in Neutral woudl be bad, but I just don't understand why. And cin, whats with your putting your car in park before you come to complete stop? Good way to drop your transmission.

 

[moriarty]

dropping a transmission might not be that fun. maybe even a little costly.

 

[phungy]

i did it only cause ive seen alot of other ppl do it. but ive stopped now.

 

[FrostbytetC]

Good idea... better to be on the safe side.

While pondering this whole thing further, i find myself more and more confused! Don't most people buy autos so they don't have to shift? They can just put it into drive blindly and press the gas and go. I mean, if people want to shift... they should have bought the tC with 3 pedals!

 

[poopee514]

Hi, I'm new to this forum. I'm thinking about buying an auto tC since my wife will also drive it. I've never owned an automatic car, and from the pictures I've seen, the automatic tC shifter looks different from a "traditionally" placed auto vertical up and down shifter. So my question is, was it purposely placed in such a way that it would be easier to shift between D-3-2? If so, what are the benefits of shifting between these gears on an automatic?

Also, in my opinion, they should have made the automatic a sports sequential shifter like the Mazda3.

 

[Plissken]

Welcome to the site! I don't know if they designed it to allow easier "manual" shifting but I know i don't do it. It is easy to go from 3 to D but i only use that for downshifting.

 

[basilisk4]

Thanks for bringing this up. Could someone explain to me how the auto on the tC is different from what they call a "sport shift" auto on other cars? In both cases, you have access to all four gears, but it's still an auto. Thanks.

 

[serleba1]

a sport shift or sequential shift auto has a special gate (a separate alley if you will) where you can "shift" through the gears without the use of a clutch and without actually moving the shifter from the 1-2-3 or D positions. Basically you move the shifter into the sport gate and just push up on the shifter to up-shift thru the gears or pull down on the shifter to down-shift thru the gears. Each time you "shift", the stick returns to a neutral position. The auto on the tC is different in the fact that if you wanted to up or down shift, you must actually move the stick into the 1-2-3 or D positions.

There's a pic of a sport shifter in the link below... you can see the sport shift gate in the middle on the left. There's a + on top for upshift, and - on the bottom for down shifting.

http://www.savvymotoring.com/cars/2002/011...tls_shifter.jpg

 

[basilisk4]

Okay, so that's exactly what my girlfriend's RSX has. So, other than requiring a little bit less motion (and being more like a video game), how is it different? It still acts like an automatic (i.e., downshifts when it thinks it needs to), so you're basically just driving an auto with fewer gears.

 

[poopee514]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but on an automatic, you usually shift to Low gear or 2nd gear when you drive down a steep hill, right? Or when you're towing something, right? So what is the purpose of downshifting from D to 3 in the tC? Better cornering without braking? I'm just trying to get an idea of how to efficiently drive an automatic, but the answer would most likely be to let the transmission do the work and leave it on D, right?

In a sports sequential shifter, I thought that shifting through the lower gears when going on city limits would actually help with gas mileage. I could be wrong, though.