downshift to 1st gear

dudesky

hey guys,

I usually don't downshift to 1st gear unless I show off

However, I heard downshifting to 1st gear is bad for the transmission.

Is it true? (I never hit the redline, not that stupid)

I just want to make sure if it's bad, I won't do it anymore.

I just love the sound of 1st gear downshift

oro

Don't. 2nd gear should give you enough power to do whatever your heart desires.

fairladyZ34

ur auto and under warranty. so f*ck it, downshift into 1st and redline that ish all the time, its only a car

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red6spd

In a manual you never really use first unless your at a stop or maybe doing a really really slow roll and want to get rid of driver error of a launch (not that I street race or anything lol) Not sure about an auto, its probably the same.

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Gunzero

if you do it in the manual you can hear the transmission whine
i tried it once, but will never do it again
sounds harsh for the trans

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Davey

It depends. If you have to stuff it into gear and you hear the trans spinning up a lot/for a long time before the gear shift will move, you're abusing the synchros. This is true in ANY gear, though - not just 1st. But it's very likely to happen in 1st even moving 10 mph.

The Z has enough torque to get moving in 2nd gear easily. If you compare, say, running to 60 from a rolling start, and you're going fast enough that it's hard to get into 1st, I bet it is just as fast to punch it in 2nd as it is to downshift to 1st and have to make an extra shift. That is, unless you are just banging it into 2nd and sidesteppping the clutch, in which case, hey, might as well cram it into 1st, too if you're going to abuse things in the name of a few tenths.

dudesky

Thank You for the replies guys!

I really appreciated!

B.A.Q

the problem is if the transmission was damaged during the warranty from that stuff and screwed after the warranty ends

specially if your planning on dropping the warranty with a tune or lsd

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onefastz

For some reason I'm always paranoid about my 7AT transmission. Sometimes I feel like its shifting kindof hard or very slightly "jumps" into the next gear. I also feel the same when I use sport mode and shift with slight aggressive driving and think it has a small hesitation or bump in the shift up or down...I hope its normal cause I'm paranoid about it all the time. Sorry for being a little off topic.

TongMan

I think that the car kind of prevent you from shifting into first gear if your car is still rolling. At least that is true in a manual transmission. I have tried to put the shifter in first while the car was still moving, but the shifter would lock and not be able to go into first gear until I had slowed down to almost a stop.

In a manual transmission, second gear has plenty of power to push you forward. Avoid going into first gear while your car is in motion.

import111

Not true. In the 370Z, STi, Scion TC, and many other manual trans cars I have driven I can downshift into 1st gear at 20mph. You just need to rev match the down shift correctly.

dudesky

onefastz-hey my automatic does the same thing everytime!
it lags so much....
like sometimes when I downshift, it won't go right away but instead, it downshifts two times by itself and i hate it.
I should have got a stick shift lol. only reason i got auto is that there is mad traffic here

Red__Zed

That's because you were cramming it into gear when the center shaft wasn't up to speed.

CharleyGFX

I'm starting to feel the same way.. I kinda want to trade mine in for a stick. but than again.. I live in the capital.. too much traffic! and hills here just well everywhere.

back to the subject at hand. I usually don't down shift into first unless I am in a parking lot or slowing down for red lights. This is because I also want to show off.. cause my car so far is stock. I don't think you should shift it into first unless your 20mph and under.. cause anything higher.. it seems too harsh!

as far as the double down shift goes? does anyone know why our cars dow that? cause that **** is annoying. and when you want to shift back up.. there is a slight lag in response with the car -.-"

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wilsonp

In the 7AT, it automatically downshifts as revs get below 1500 or so, but unlike shifting with the paddles, the display doesn't seem to show it's made a shift decision before the shift occurs (when you flip a paddle, the display changes immediately, then the transmission shifts), so it is pretty easy when you are slowing down to request a downshift after the computer has already decided to downshift.

I think the computer should ignore the downshift paddle in the period between deciding on an automatic downshift and actually executing the shift.

I think the best that can be done is to learn to downshift above 1500RPM - if you aren't, you probably don't need the manual downshift anyway and should just let the computer downshift.

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