bowersan

Alright, so after four months have passed driving my TSX to London and back and downtown and uptown and to Grand Bend and back and to Haliburton and back.... I just got one question....

How am I supposed to use the 6th gear correctly? Is it just a cruising gear, that when im driving on the highway at a constant speed I should just slip into? What happens when I want to accelerate, should I shift into fifth? Everytime I get on the highway, should I ulitmately aim to be in 6th?

Teach me, sensei...

J.

fdl

If I know I am just going to be cruising, I go for 6th gear so I get the best gas mileage. This is usually on the highway, but I will do it on any road if I am cruising fast enough. If I need more power, 5th and 4th is there for me.

AdamC

Strictly cruising gear for good gas mileage.

MikeL

Really depends on how fast you're going. Like any other gear, as long as you're not lugging the engine or overreving (unlikely), it's in play. If you're going fast enough on the highway that you can pass using 6th (i.e. revs are high enough to give you power), then by all means go for it. In that case also make sure to keep an eye out for cops.

Visorboy

This actually came up in another discussion about 5AT and 6MT on gas mileage.
What I've noticed is that the 6th gear still has enough to accelerate starting from 100 kph. Our gears are very close.
The 6th feels more like 5th, IMO.

TsXtian

i'm just being paranoid.....there's no way to accidently put it into reverse right?

Bear Trap

No, there's a lockout from reverse when moving forward. I was paranoid myself for the first few days until I read this in the owner's manual.

fdl

Yes there is a lockout for reverse. So if anything you should be worried about 4th, not reverse.

wishiwere

Hi. Does the lockout only work when going from 5th -> 6th? Or is it smart enough to know that when you are moving forward, it should never let you go into reverse? I'm wondering about a situation where maybe you are cruising on the highway, and you put it into neutral for some reason or another - if you go to put it back into 6th, will the reverse lockout still work?

gomez_regina

Now be honest...how many of you people have accidentally put the car into 6th and stalled it out when you meant to go into reverse?

The first time I did that was actually on a test drive in an RSX Type S and I was with the salesguy ("How To Feel Like A Dummass in 1 Easy Step"...lol).

provench

Usually when I know I am gonna go 50+ for a while... I go for 6th. Now this assumes flat ... 50-60 MPG in 6th up a hill begs for downshift to 5th. All in all ... just have to feel out if the car is bogging down and in a natural place without requiring too much gas (out of power band ... under 3K RPMs).

wishiwere

Haha - that's pretty funny. Maybe they should have a 6th gear lockout when you're not moving?

Actually, I have cars where you have to push down on the shifter to get it into reverse, and I think when it's in the pushed down position, you can't get it into any of the forward gears. I'm guessing the rsx doesn't have this?

ClutchPerformer

That's a good question. The manual doesn't really address that. To be safe, I suppose you could put it in 5th for a second and then pull 6th (clutch pedal pressed throughout this whole process). Or just put it in 5th regardless. I don't think there's many situations where 5th would be overrevving. At least I don't drive that fast....

Edit: Oh yeah, Bowersan. Use 6th just like any other gear. If you're in 5th and you feel like you need an upshift, it's there for you. Let the car tell you when to shift. The talk about "overdrives" spooks some people into thinking there's something special about those gears. They're not special (and technically 5th is an overdrive, too). So don't worry. Use the 6th Luke! Enjoy.

dabuda

i only shift to 6th if I go over 60 on the highway...never gone to 6th during regular street driving

Jason

One note of caution guys: during my road trip this week I did a lot of cruising in 6th gear. It's great and there's no problem. But I've never owned a 6MT before, and after I broke my car in I went to downshift from 6th to 4th, and instead I went from 6th to 2nd! I was being very cautious, so as the RPMs raced up I caught it at 6000. If I had been less careful I would have blown my engine. The rest of you may be a lot smarter than I am but I don't think this is that farfetched. Shift_nice.

ebcheon

i believe in the manual... it tell us to come to a complete stop before putting the car in reverse. or else you'll mess up the transmission. but on top of that, i believe its meant that if the car is moving, it'll give you a lockout into reverse.

ClutchPerformer

Not at all. I've put it from 5th to 4th (intending to get 6th) three different times. And when you're upshifting, you're not as cautious with the clutch as on a downshift. Not good times. Bad times.

Good "catch", though.

fdl

Going from 5th to 4th instead of 6th is likely, and you need to be careful because of the of the way shifters naturaly center. Going from 6th to 4th should NOT be a problem for the same reason. 3rd and 4th are the easiest gears to find. Just be gentle with the shifter..rest you hand on top and let it center itself.

joedokes

ebcheon is right, if you are moving forward you are locked out of reverse.

I find that the reverse in my car is pretty picky. Sometimes, it is the easiest if I am starting the car in first, I turn it on and put in neutral and let the clutch out, put the clutch back in and then put it in reverse.

Also if you are having problems of puting it in 6th instead of reverse, make sure and move the shifter horizontally all of the way to the right and then down.


Joe D

rb1

The TSX 6th gear (ratio) wise is very much like 5th gear in many other cars, maybe a hair taller than some, but not much. There are plenty of cars out there whose 5th gear is taller than 6th in the TSX, too.

I can second comments about accidentally shifting into the wrong gear. I went from 5th to 4th accidentally on my first test drive, but RPM wise this is fairly harmless as far as the TSX goes at any legal highway speed.

(This is one thing I like about 5 speeds: If you use the correct hand positions, they can *always* be shifted with 100 percent accuracy without even looking)

Iceman

I'm pretty sure there is a rev limiter, at about 300 rpm past redline.

Colin

Let's put this one to rest right now and nip it in the bud. There is no protection for a mechanical over-rev. Believe me, we've gone through this on the S2000 board, then on the RSX board etc. You need to be careful. If it's worth anything to you, I've now been driving a 6-speed since November 1999 and I still never try to execute a 6 > 4 shift. I always go up to 5th first then down to 4th. Doing a "u-turn" in the gearbox is difficult and it's REAL easy to go too far and get 2nd.

Roadrunner_RENAMED

Just my .02 worth.
Yes Colin is 110% right. That was one thing I was going to address but he has covered it. Mechanical over-rev = Boom!
One of the guys on the NSX forum let his friend drive his car
and he missed the shift going 3 to 2 while at max rev in 3rd.
Lots of damage with bent valves etc.
Be careful letting friends drive!
The 6th speed topic:
The book page 202 mentions shift speeds.
5th to 6th is listed at 56 mph. I can't summarize wether they
feel 56 is the limit or not.
The NSX book actually states you can cruise at 52 in 6th.
Different engines, different torque, so you decide.

fdl

Read mypost above. If you go to 2nd instead of 4th, you are not using proper shifting techniques.

Jason

Yeah but that's not what Colin is saying. All he's saying is that it's not difficult to go from 6th to 2nd and to be careful. I think it's good advice b/c I know if I had been careless I'd have ruined my car already. If you are really good at 6th to 4th I say more power to you.

id888

Howsabout we revive the "why-isn't-6th-straight-down-from-5th" thread??

Jason

I did a 6th to 3rd shift today. That was real nice. Cruising in 6th at 60 mph on the freeway, needed some giddy up, 6th to 3rd is perfect. It puts you at around 4500 rpm so it'll scoot for ya. That and there's no danger of putting it in first.

rb1

Colin asserted this was dangerous because of the risk to accidentally dropping into 2nd, but the following occurred to me:

In theory, the shifter should be directly in line for 3rd and 4th gear if in neutral (without your hand on it).

So, to do a 6 to 4, you could just pop it out of 6th gear, briefly release the shifter so it assumes the neutral position, and then pull straight down on it for a guaranteed shift into 4. (Or push forward for a downshift into 3rd.

fdl

Exactly what I am trying to tell these guys.

donutchow

yeah, it's just straight back. hell, even my girlfriend doesn't even mess that up

rb1

Yes, you did. Silly me for not carefully reading the entire thread.

fdl

Well you explained it better than I did.