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Originally Posted by stateofidleness
ahh. I have a MY00 base.
another question that may or not be related is, when I have the car in "auto" mode (stick in "D"), the car will be in 1st gear when cold (not been started at all for the day yet). after that, the car always starts in 2nd gear on the indicator.
does it do this if you start out in manual mode and what is the reasoning behind it going straight to second when in auto mode?
seems like i'm missing out on the power available in the 1st gear, when in auto.
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i believe MY00+ has the temporary manual mode even when in auto. so even if you're in auto mode you can hit the button to downshift. ( which is what i believe sparked your original post ).
you're correct. after the car has moved a short distance ( for me from the garage to the end of the block ) it never goes to 1st unless i mash the accelerator from a standstill. ( one of the reasons i'm usually in manual mode ). if you're in manual mode and let the car downshift for you it'll do the same thing. i won't go back down to 1st. why - i guess because that's what the designers decided. i suppose it might be easier on gas since it's a lot harder to do a "jackrabbit" start in 2nd gear.
the other reason i don't stick with auto mode is stop/go traffic. there have been times the car is in 5th gear at 25mph. that's just not acceptable to me. as far as learning it seems to have short-term memory. once you start driving more docile it'll go back to "grandma mode" in auto.
as far as when i shift? though by no means definitive, i've noticed for me:
to 20/25 = 1st
to 45/50 = 2nd
to 75/80 = 3rd
above 80 = 4th/5th
not always true, but generally true unless i'm just "cruising".
since i learned to drive using a manual and most of my cars have been manual i tend to shift "when it feels right" depending on what i'm doing - overtaking, on/off highway i'm more aggressive. otherwise not so much. side streets are less than above.
here's an onramp situation (and yes i know i was in 4th @50 ):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8OQKWWhfBs