Jim Holloman

I don't have my car, nor my owner's manual, yet so would like to ask a basic question.

I presume that the D3 position on the AT restricts the transmission to the first three gears? Let me know if that is not correct.

When I drove the demo car, I noticed that the 'N' LED on the dash would NOT always be on when the shift was in the Neutral position. I would gain speed, then move the shift level to the Neutral position (as if I wanted to coast down a hill) and unless I would jiggle the shift around, the 'N' on the dash would not be lit. I presume that it just needed an adjustment, but was wondering if anyone else has seen the same.

On trips across the Smoky Mountains on Hwy. 441, I can travel for 15 miles without touching the brakes nor the throttle -- providing there is no other traffic. I control the speed by shifting gears, including using Neutral. It is a technique that I will often use in the mountains.

dzuy

d3 limits the gearing to go up only to third.

Dan Martin

I thought it was just like D but three times faster?

jcg878

D3 gives you one-third of the fuel economy of D. It's really supposed to be D/3.

blackjackman

You can just shift right in D3 while the car is engaged in D and moving, right ?
(like when come to an uphill)

jcg878

elduderino

D3 on a 4AT keeps you out of overdrive... in this case, I assume it keeps you out of 4 and 5.

BTW, Jim, in California, it's actually a violation of the vehicle code to have your vehicle out of gear on a public highway while in motion. Not sure about NC.

Dan Martin

How does that work? There are a lot of AT transmissions that switch to neutral to maximise fuel economy when coasting downhill.

dzuy

how would anyone know if you were out of gear going down a hill anyway?

if i see a downhill - i floor it after all, the owner's manual says to take advantage of a downhill, so i am

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

They don't actually switch to neutral, do they? They just switch to the highest available gear to maximize fuel economy so that it will coast and still be in gear, don't they?

ClutchPerformer

Wouldn't switching to a LOW gear (engine braking) maximize fuel economy? Isn't that what the AT actually does on downhills?

There's no way it goes to neutral. That's not very safe.

Jim Holloman

I have heard that that was the case in some states. But, I don't know about NC. I fail to see the logic, or reasoning, behind it unless:

1) It was believed that some people would have trouble getting the car back into gear on steep grades; particularly with manual transmissions. Many years ago, it was sometimes difficult to get a manual transmission, especially in trucks, to synchronize when trying to downshift -- or shift from neutral into one of the lower gears. That was back when double-clutching was common -- it did serve a purpose.

2) It was implemented back when brakes were not so reliable and brake failures were all too common. My mom had brakes fail on her twice. Fortunately, neither incident resulted in an accident.

In any case, I will check the law and see what it says. I have never heard of anyone being cited for such a violation -- pretty hard for anyone to detect or prove.

I downshift a lot instead of using the brakes, so I am going to love the tap shift feature of the Acura. Using neutral is, to me, just another logical use of the gears. It would be interesting if the tap shift would allow one to shift all the way into neutral; 5-4-3-2-1-N and then N-1-2-3-4-5. But, that probably would cause some issues with the authorities.

ClutchPerformer

3). Taking turns in neutral is not safe.

Jim Holloman

Can you elaborate? What makes it unsafe? The engine could be pulling under power -- or it could be holding the car back and serving as a brake when there is no power being applied (no throttle). You are apparently saying that either of these conditions makes the car more safe than having the wheels neither pulling nor braking. On slick roads, it seems that having neither power, nor braking, would provide the least chance of a lost of traction.

ClutchPerformer

Exactly.

I'm speaking about normal roads. You have greatly reduced control over your car when it's in neutral. This is accentuated in corners (especially on a FWD car). Take your favoite corner in a gear (any gear), and then take the same corner at the same speed in neutral. See if it doesn't feel spooky.

On slick roads, it doesn't matter what gear you're in--if your tires go, that's it.

dzuy

D3 = don't drive downhill.

blackjackman

ric

My old Saab 93 used to have a clutch that disengaged while driving down hill or decelerating, although you had a choice..... could lock the disengage in or out. If you allowed the transmission to go into neutral, you could gain about 10-15% in fuel economy, but you burned out the brakes quickly. It was actually a bit hard to manage, because you had to pick the right moment to re-engage or really throw the transmission into gearshift hell. Headed down the right hillside, you could really pick up momentum and rocket up the next hill before re-engaging the clutch. The Saab 93's had manual four-speeds, no choice, and were powered by a two-cycle three-cylinder engine - sounded and acted like a riding lawnmower, but those Saabs had great handling characteristics, and were very popular with off-road ralley freaks.

observer

Wow, I never tried doing that. This would be an interesting experiment tomorrow.

ClutchPerformer

Let us know how it goes.

Dan Martin

If you are cornering at the maximum g's your tires will allow, you should neither be accelerating or braking so it shouldn't matter if you're in neutral.

ClutchPerformer

I'm not talking about being at the limits of grip. I'm talking about any ol' corner.

And if you are, and your tires break loose, it'll be a heck of a lot harder to get your car back in line if you're caught sleeping in neutral.

Edit: Dan you have a 6MT, you must know what I'm talking about!

teg_to_bike

Hmm... actually you are BOTH correct. In theory the tires will experience maximum grip when the car is neither accelerating nor braking, so driving in neutral and not using the brakes would be ideal. But this is assuming perfect 50/50 weight distribution, and doesn't take into account that the car is actually decelerating when it is neutral due to friction and air resistance.

So perhaps a small amount of gas, just enough to keep the car's speed constant, is best. Or maybe since TSXs have 60/40ish weight distribution, a little bit of acceleration to shift some of that extra weight to the back would work well too.

Dan Martin

People shouldn't make it common practice to corner while in neutral but it really doesn't do any harm. I agree with teg_to_TSX's post about maintaining constant throttle through the corners.

jlukja

I used to enter a corner in gear but with the clutch in. It didn't feel dangerous to me. I let the clutch out and accelerated out of the corner. No big deal.

rsx_r04

Switchign to a low/lower gear (engine braking) will cause the RPM to go up, thus causing your MPG to go down.

It won't maximize fuel economy. Quite the contrary, i presume.

sauceman

I don't know about Dan, but I sure as hell don't!

I can't see how it's being riskier not cornering at the limit in neutral than at the limit.

And another thing while we're at it. I've been here since well over a year now, and I read people saying from the beginning "they heard" that it's illegal to coast down in neutral, without anyone bringing up evidence about it. Would you all stop insinuating things and actually come up and show the real deal?

sauceman

Wrong again. https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...5&page=2&pp=25 Read from post #28 and on.

jcg878

Sauce, it's a well-known fact that your car transmits secret, encoded data containing your car's current gear selection and current angle of ascent/descent on a frequency monitored by the various highway patrol departments of North America. In fact, there is a proposal to have the added datasets of what your are listening to and the content of Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone conversations rolled into these covert transmissions, and to possibly have sensors placed on the rear tailgates of SUVs to detect the presence of soccer ball magnets to signal a need for increased vigiliance to the local authorities.

Get with it!

ClutchPerformer

Thank you, sauce.

sauceman

Dayum I didn't know I had THAT much catching up to do from my last month away!

rsx_r04

Thanks Sauce and CP! Wow, that's some good piece of information!