Auto Gearing

[kam]

Why did Honda choose to make the auto's gears so long? i mean, 80kph in 1st gear? come on

most other auto cars ive driven 1st gear goes upto around 40 or 50.

takes the enjoyment out of trying to push the euro. i know, some might say get a manual, but im sure if the auto gearing was shorter, itd be a lot quicker.

[xiang]

well doesnt the gearing decide when to change gears on how hard you push it?
or are you saying that when u push it, 80kph is too much?

if gearing is too short wouldnt you just fly through the gears really quickly and get to 5th and end up only going like 120k's..

i dunno i drive a manual.. get a manual! :P

[fadz]

isnt ther a way to make the gears shorter in an Auto?
if ur sayn first gear goes to 80....WOW.

[Duddles]

i think it onjly goes up to 60 ish man

[Spec83]

nah by the time you shift into second on the sequential with your foot flat your already doing 100.... we went on a mountain cruise not long ago thru the sc hinterland and found that an auto euro can keep up with integra's and the like quite well... one dc5 type r owner went out of his way to come up and say "it doesn't go to bad for an auto luxury car" :)

You just have to keep in mind with the auto that when your doing spirited driving on the twisties always use a gear lower than what u think :) in a straight line the manual would win 9/10 times but on a real road i think the auto may just get the win - much easer to chuck into a corner when u use left foot braking :)

[kam]

about mountain runs, say you leave it in 1st most of the time, since 2nd is too weak, thus your constantly from 2k - 6k rpm range, is this bad for the engine ?

and fadz, yes, the auto euro 1st does go all the way to 80.

[Spec83]

Its hard to leave it in first all the time but u can use it to your advantage... to drive a FWD fast you need to really throw it into the corners (slow - late turn in, power thru the apex and out). This is where 4-5k in first is good as the engine breaking slows u alot in the auto but still allows you to be spinning in the engines peak band on exit... manuals dont have this advantage as their first is a bit too low i think - mid corner - exit is where i was making a lot of ground on the type-r's!!

Theoretically it should reduce the operational life of your engine due to the components being stressed much more in the 4.5-7k rpm range than in the 2-4.5k range...

But think about it - honda offers 5 yrs full factory warrenty that applies no matter how you drive the car... it has to be designed to cop having the ass thrashed out of it continiously for that period otherwise honda would go broke due to all the warrenty claims if components kept failing... a car generally has a 5 yr or so development cycle and i can guarentee you that the factory test drivers will go alot harder than any of us ever will...

Plus there is all of the electronic controls and limiters these engines are equiped with to stop them from blowing up... so at the end of the day short of no water, bad fuel or no oil in the engine i think its highly unlikly anything will come of a once a month spirited driving session....

Also these engines are designed so that they rev to make their power... you can't have a rev happy engine and not be able to use it ;)

[clowdz]

isnt ther a way to make the gears shorter in an Auto?
if ur sayn first gear goes to 80....WOW.

Not sure if it's an option, but you could change your final drive?

[MiSloVic]

the auto gear in the euro is actually quite intelligent and impressive.. once, i was following lesuirely behind a row of slow moving cars, spotted an overtaking opportunity, pressed hard on the accelerator [it took a sec before it decide to kick down 2 gears] and off i go.. it is even smart enough to hang onto the gear for a few seconds, after the overtaking manouver and enough for me to make another overtaking move.:thumbsup:

[exISeuro]

Plus there is all of the electronic controls and limiters these engines are equiped with to stop them from blowing up... so at the end of the day short of no water, bad fuel or no oil in the engine i think its highly unlikly anything will come of a once a month spirited driving session....

Also these engines are designed so that they rev to make their power... you can't have a rev happy engine and not be able to use it ;) My Auto tranny was replaced due to this sort of driving :o
Mainly due to relying on 1st & 2nd gears in normal traffic but also regular spirited drives over a year and half period.

Honda described it as a once off, never seen before situation.
Took 6 weeks to diagnose, 2 failed repair attempts (replacement of bearings, then gears) and finally a replacement tranny to fix the problem.

[Duddles]

so basically u transhed the hell out of it? .
what do u mean by spirited drives man.... lol

[Duddles]

was there something u did that caused it , liek redline every day?i drive tip tronic everyday..

[Spec83]

Spirited driving - giving it a bit on a nice piece of road once in a while:) not 1st gear for 40mins in traffic every day...

They are machines so you are going to have failures every now and then - but u get it fixed under warrenty :)

Triptronic every day is fine - i use it all the time too

[Duddles]

well im sure every gives it a hit lol.. what was the problem but like do you know what cause it? i use tip tronic alot these days... but i just change at like 3 k and stuff...

[MiSloVic]

My Auto tranny was replaced due to this sort of driving :o
Mainly due to relying on 1st & 2nd gears in normal traffic but also regular spirited drives over a year and half period.

Honda described it as a once off, never seen before situation.
Took 6 weeks to diagnose, 2 failed repair attempts (replacement of bearings, then gears) and finally a replacement tranny to fix the problem.

mind if i ask what are the symptoms of a failed/failing auto transmission?

[BusterSonic12]

i love my 06 auto :-) i basically use semi auto thingy, everytime i get on the car. but when is it best shifting point for normal driving?

[exISeuro]

mind if i ask what are the symptoms of a failed/failing auto transmission? Only noticeable symptom was a supercharger kind of whine heard when releasing foot off the accelerator or shifting in tiptronic.

This whine was intermittent at first, but then became constant over time, with the sound gradually getting louder and louder.

Functionality of the transmission was not affected, it shifted fine in auto mode and tiptronic ... it just sounded wrong.

Eventually there was a seperate, constant loud & unorthodox noise coming from the engine bay @ idle, the bearings apparently.

[aaronng]

My Auto tranny was replaced due to this sort of driving :o
Mainly due to relying on 1st & 2nd gears in normal traffic but also regular spirited drives over a year and half period.

Honda described it as a once off, never seen before situation.
Took 6 weeks to diagnose, 2 failed repair attempts (replacement of bearings, then gears) and finally a replacement tranny to fix the problem.
The auto trannies don't fail from your style of driving. I think you had a transmission problem and it so happened that you drive with that style. Look at all the TSX owners in the US testing out their top speeds and redlining everyday when the get on the on-ramp to the freeway.

[Duddles]

well said!

[MiSloVic]

Only noticeable symptom was a supercharger kind of whine heard when releasing foot off the accelerator or shifting in tiptronic.

This whine was intermittent at first, but then became constant over time, with the sound gradually getting louder and louder.

Functionality of the transmission was not affected, it shifted fine in auto mode and tiptronic ... it just sounded wrong.

Eventually there was a seperate, constant loud & unorthodox noise coming from the engine bay @ idle, the bearings apparently.

thanks for the info.. i've noticed an occassional hesitation in the transmission.. as in.. in between shifting (left in 'D'), the gears can be disengaged, engine rev rise and after half a second or so, the gear engages itself.. hope it is just a 'bug' and not something serious.

[kam]

i try not to use tiptronic mode - i like to use the auto mode to teach the ecu that i want it to be a fuel saver lol

at the moment, it holds the gears too long, like, up to 3k, i like changing between 2k and 2500k :D

[BiLL|z0r]

thanks for the info.. i've noticed an occassional hesitation in the transmission.. as in.. in between shifting (left in 'D'), the gears can be disengaged, engine rev rise and after half a second or so, the gear engages itself.. hope it is just a 'bug' and not something serious.

I've noticed that. I think it's just an auto thing as all other auto's I've had have done it too to some degree. If I know I'm gonna want to thrash it I'll whack it in Tiptronic and change down just before I hit the throttle.

[Unkie]

Only noticeable symptom was a supercharger kind of whine heard when releasing foot off the accelerator or shifting in tiptronic.

This whine was intermittent at first, but then became constant over time, with the sound gradually getting louder and louder.

Eventually there was a seperate, constant loud & unorthodox noise coming from the engine bay @ idle, the bearings apparently.

Damn! I got a similiar whine from the engine bay, and a raspy noise under acceleration (sounds like a metal brush going over metal). Hope mine isn't another "isolated" transmission case :eek: