I was just curious how often you guys use SS? I rarely use it, maybe once a month. Also, does SS compare at all to stick? I know stick is better, but does SS even come close to it?

marc

 

I used to use it almost 50% of the time, but lately it's down to maybe 15%. When I want to be "sporty" I go to SS, but as almost everyone has noted, it's not the same as manual due to the slow response time. YMMV

 

"how often you guys use SS?" Hardly ever.

"does SS compare at all to stick?" Sure, if you suck at stick shift !!!!

"I know stick is better, but does SS even come close to it?" NO !!!!

Shawn S

 

I'm in SS about 95% of the time if not more. Its no where close to a standard. The only cars I've owned are standards. I'm in SS all the time because I've got nothing better to do.

 

We have a non-sport shift???

I have mine in SS 95% of the time.

 

90%, because it make it fun to drive.

 

I'm in SS mode 99% of the time. I traded from a 98 prelude to this and I miss the manual. SS does not even compare.

 

I use it to pass on the highway when someone is poking in the left lane.

 

i drive alot on SS mode, but also toss it down to AUTO 1st gear for handling reasons.

 

When I race I use SS in about 50% of the races. I wonder if people that use SS alot have tranny problems?

 

I forgot had Sport shift...........So I guess very rarely

 

Maybe once every two or three months, it is more of a hassle and an annoyance than anything. Unresponsive slush-box it is, a poor attempt at a manual simulation. My previous car was a manual, I opted for this car knowing it was an automatic so my reasons may differ. I don't want another manual car, unless in a few years I decide to go with something that actually resembles a sports car or I move out of a high-traffic metro. I also have my suspicions that SS; either in the design or implementation, is resposible for the apparent "above average" rate of transmission failures.

 

I use the sport-shift about 30% of the time, primarily when accelerating on the freeway.

As for whether it is like a manual, I would say "absolutely not."
The response time is awfully slow, as other people have pointed out, but there is another problem. No clutch control means no control regarding whether, how much, and how smoothly you engage during a downshift. In a straight line the primary concern is slow response time, but flying through a canyon you need the ability to control the engagement.

There is nothing like approaching a corner at a high rate of speed, applying brake pressure, downshifting, easing the clutch out to get some engine braking, late apex, upshift and throttle away.

I'm no racer, but just my experience after driving a manual for 12 years, and living for two-lane highways, canyons, and even cloverleafs.

 

alot more than i did before. sometimes alot sometimes a little. I may bite the bullet and trade this one in for the 6spd manual when it comes out.

 

how often - about 30% of the time

compared to stick - no contest. but that probably wasn't the intent...

its nice for that little boost dropping to 3 or 2 on the highway.

city driving & bumper to bumper - i'm in auto D5

 

I used to use it all the time, but I noticed it made me drive more aggressively, this lowering my MPG, so I use full auto about 95% of the time now. Averaging 1.5 - 2 more MPG per tank in auto.....

 

i use it 99.9% of the time... the rest is the time it takes me to get there... if i drive a normal D5 or any other i sometimes shift it up to neutral on accident.. thats how use to it i am

 

More and more all the time. Probably 65-75% of the time. In traffic it's great to be simmering in 2 or 3 for when you need it. It probably isn't helping my mileage, but that's the tradeoff.

 

I use ti 15% of the time. Its nice to have for passing, drop into a lower, high rpm gear, wait for the right time, then punch it and pass. The kick of the car when ur in VTEC barely accelerating is sweet.
If I'm takin on someone on the road, I punch it let the tranny drop into its lowest gear then throw it into SS. It really cuts down on shifting from 5th-3rd, especially in SS mode.
But as for the comparison to Manual, sry doesn't come close. Only cause the SS don't have a clutch that we could play with. If only the car manufactures could only make an SS mode with an SS clutch then mabey driving would be alittle more fun .
But for me driving Auto is much more relaxing. Its hard to keep ur left at ten and u right on the back of her head in a manual .

TRELOS

Oh Fabzakos ga-mai Kat-chi-ka

 

I use it 80% of the time...

 

i rarelly use ss mode.unless when i want to pass cars or encounter the uphills or racing.. unlike my stupid friend.he use his ss mode whenever he wants,even in the local under normal driving condition.he just like to keep shift to ss mode and normal mode very very often. he is really a moron.and he thinks he knows cars.

 

very rarely... when cruising i'm just in auto mode... only in SS when i wanna kick some ass

 

If the car is moving forward, I'm in SS. Otherwise, R or P do fine. True, SS is no replacement for a stick. I'm just trying to keep my brain's shifting node active until I can get back to a real stick.

 

I use SS up in the hills. Otherwise, I just leave the shifter in D5 (or D4).

IMO -- The SS is way slow for braking tricks into corners.

Without a Level 10 beef-up/rebuild, I wonder how long the tranny would last with super fast "sport mode" clutches?

 

When I launch the car hard, I was told by my salesperson at the dealer that you can launch harder and more precise shifting through the gate.

the gate shifts seem to be more responsive and will hit the revlimiter instead of shifting. Also is is possible to override the 1st gear downshift if you are at 20-30 MPH ie you can gate shift into first.

 

every day, all the time...even at 5:30 in the morning when i'm goin to work...part of the reason i got the car was b/c of the sportiness of SS as opposed to just a plain, boring automatic, so y would i want to take away from the sportiness??

also, regarding the brake trick downshift into corners, if u're an expert at our car's timing to switch gears in SS, then u can time it pretty well goin into a turn by giving yourself maybe an extra 10 - 20 feet than when u would NORMALLY downshift in a regular stick to compensate for the lag...it's annoying, yes, but it's better than coasting into the turn in auto...besides, i'd rather have the torque in SS to back me up halfway into the turn than have the slam the gas just to get the torque in auto...in driver's ed, they taught us that we can make a sharper turn by accelerating through the turn, and SS seems to b better at doing that...that's how i c it

 

That's a very good point.
I guess you could really carve if you got used to the lag timing.
I've only had the car for 850 miles and most of it was break-in driving, so I haven't really gotten a chance to push the car yet, but I'll give it a shot.

My only concern is that even if you are timing the lag, no clutch control leads to abrupt gear changes, which leads dramatic weight shifts, and understeer. But heck...I'll try it.

 

i guess the object is to maintain speed upon entering the turn yet at the same time increase speed but at a controlled rate as u're in the turn, so here's a good way to accomplish both methods...as u know, when there is a downshift, torque rises and slows u down, so u must guage how much more gas is needed to maintain that speed...for ex, at 30MPH in 2nd, the tach should b at 3K give or take a little, and at 3rd, the tach should b near 2K give or take, so if u wanna take a turn goin 30 in 3rd, when u drop it to 2nd, u know u gotta give enough gas to b as close to 3K on the tach to maintain speed, otherwise u'll slow down and may run into understeering depending on how fast u're taking the turn...now controlling the turn...in order to control a turn as best u can, u should stay in the gear u're in and vary the RPM's as little as u can...in automatic, u run the risk of downshifting if u push too hard on the gas, whereas in SS, u'll just crank up the RPM's but still stay in gear...this method will help avoid gear hunting which could potentially result in oversteer from the sudden bursts of speed...here is one way SS mode helps u a lot...hope that helps some.

 

all true...but once you've got the timing down, it's a very nice method of travel and it does work very well...

 

I wonder what effect D1->D2->D3 has on the life of the tranny. Just a thought...

(I could see using the D1->D2->D3 if racing for pink slips, but wonder if the extra .1 second on the D1->D2 is worth the clutches lasting longer, but the gears and bearings being bashed harder)

 

You get used to the timing...

However, when the speed is high enough on a twisty road and that 3rd eye isn't planted on the manual, it gets kinda dicey timing the way-too-slow SS clutching and the sometimes-it-happens-no-down-shift near redline. I can see trail braking in a manual, but timing the weight transfer from a late SS shift (with braking) just seems a bit radical (just my opinion) at the limit. The weight transfer unloading the rear can swing the rear out at limit if the road camber is nasty enough (and/or if the road has some junk or water on it).

 

I thought it didn't matter which side of the gate you used since the tranny is electronically controlled. I thought the shifter was fly by wire and won't do anything damaging.

 

I'm not sure about that.

I know the SS has the slow clutches and response time, but there is no rule that says Acura must use the same response time when using D2->D3->D2 vs. the SS pushing forward and back.

So, I've stayed away from D1->D2. I have used D4->D5 and it seemed to shift quick.

I just don't know what Acura Care's position is on tossing the gears via the D1,2,3 detents. IMO -- it merits further inquiry.


BTW -- it was your quote of "the gate shifts seem to be more responsive..." that prompted by comments.

 

Really? I don't remember saying that. I use SS all the time now. For a while I used D4 and D5. But I never shifted through 1,2,D3,D4,D5.

 

No, you didn't, that was from BBsAcuraRacing (sorry). I had a couple of replies that got blended. So, redirect last line to BBsAcuraRacing...

 

My understanding from the dealer--correct me if I am wrong--is that the trans is shifted electronically. even in hte gate shift, microswitches control the shifting, not direct mechanical linkage....

Previously on the board, some people had trans problems caused by a "pop spill" in the shifter area. The micros were sticking and preventing shifting...or just plain being in the wrong gear...

 

It is shift-by-wire...

Comment -- I don't know about you, but I've gotten a ton of bogus info from the dealers (I don't want to waste the 13 pages here.)

However, Acura didn't say that the shifts in SS would be the same as D1->D2 etc. (micro switch or not).

At least the SS was intended by Acura to be used dynamically. (I didn't see any references to the use of D1->D2 for "fast" take-offs in the owner's manual.)

Just ‘cause they use micro switches doesn’t mean the car's electronics package can’t differentiate between SS(up<-->down) and D1,2,3,4,D5 signals.

When I get a chance later, I'll look at the service manual (or someone else here probably will)...

 

Almost never.

I manually shift most of the time.

Maybe if they came out with a better functioning SS system I might use it.

The main gripes are that the shift changes going down are too slow because you have to run through every gear. And the first to second gear shift offers no true "drive" control. It shifts itself at 6500RPM. Way too early for a serious driver.

RUF