just wondering if the tranny is suppost to downshift to 3rd gear at all speeds within the 3rd gear limit(up to 105mph)OR is the only way to get that vtec power on the freeway (above 80) is to SS it? IT REALLY SUCKS getting caught off gaurd by a 3 series or g35 and being stuck in 4th!!!!!

 

From my experience, here is what I noticed:

When driving in D5 at speed above 80mph, WOT will only down shift to D4, not D3. If the speed in below 80mph, WOT will downshoft to D3 but it will quickly shift to D4 once you get above 90mph.

So, the best way to control the shifting is through SS but you still cannot downshift to 3 in SS if the speed in above 80mph.

Just my $0.02.

Cheers !!!

 

Correction. You CAN downshift to 3rd in SS above 80mph. Here's how you do it: Once you realize you're above 80mph and that 330ci or G35 is coming up strong behind your tail, let off the gas for a split second. While your foot is off the accelerator, immediately downshift to 3rd in SS. After the gear indicator confirms you're in 3rd...punch it! That Beamer or Infinity will get a nice surprise. :wow:

If you keep your foot on the accelerator and attempts to downshift to 3rd, the indicator will just blink at you and goes back up to 4th.

axleback

 

sportshift is more of a sales gimic... i won't even start bashing it...

anyhoo... to answer ur question... leave it in regular automatic mode... cuz the most important thing is to be able to drop from 5th to 3rd...

the TL auto tranny's "sweet spot" for third gear goes up to 85mph... any bit higher than that (86mph)... will land you 4th gear...

3rd gear VTEC range on the freeway is around 70mph~85mph... so those are ideal cruising speeds as you wait for someone to come up

and just on a trivial note... 4th gear VTEC starts at 115mph :P

which actually leads me into another bashing mood on complaining how tall 4th gear is... 4th and 5th are too close together... 5th is supposed to be the "over-drive" for highway cruising...

2nd gear VTEC connects smoothly to 3rd gear VTEC... but then you have a range in between 110 and 115 where 4th should be...

i figure its Acura's way of saying "hey man... time to slow down..." but ain't that a shame for a SPORT SEDAN............

so anyway... Acura guys... lower 4th gearing ratio please~

2 cents for free


ps: oh yeah... one last note... after you whomp on the gas and kick it into 3rd... you might want to pop the shifter into SS mode then... thats the only time when SS is actually useful... to keep the car in 3rd gear even if u let off the gas if there's slow traffic... but then the poor tranny'll be spinning at 6500rpm the whole time...

it's really up to you :P

 

Based on my experience, if you are above 80mph and in SS, you can let go of the gas pedal and then shift from 5th to 3rd. Then floor the gas pedal.

 

hey thanx all for the replies, i was aware of the off the throtle and downshift trick, just trying to make sure it was all of us suffering from the same lack of 3rd gear use on the freeway,WAS THIS HONDA'S LAST DITCH EFFORT TO SAVE THE 3RD GEAR CLUTCH PACK??? imagine if downshifts into 3rd followed the same rpm pattern as 1st and 2nd.The NH?? would have for sure issued a total recall with all the blown trannies.
dont get me wrong i love this car

 

Really, a lot of automatics suffer from this problem. My friend's 2k3 Maxima SE does not usually want to downshift when we run sometimes. He has to gate shift to even keep up. Also, I have heard about the G35 guys complaining that their cars don't want to shift to 3rd gear on highway speeds.

 

speaking of blown trannies.......guess........ well it's not blown yet but its brown and smells bad(burnt) this one has 16k miles on it and was put in the end of last year.

with obx header do you think the dealer will hassel me?