I test drove the TL-S the other day and was suprised to find it is only a 4-speed sport shift. The car is always automatic from 1st to 2nd. Someone posted that it shifts at redline anyway. If you put the petal to the metal, the automatic should shift at or very near redline anyway through all gears.

So this begs the question, does the sport shift actually improve the acceleration performance or is it basically just a gimmick to make the car seem more fun to drive, closer to a manual? I'm guessing the latter.

By the way, the dealer tells me the CL-S and the new RSX both have sport shift that is manual for ALL 5 gears. The TL-S is the only one that auto shifts from 1st to 2nd. I'm wondering if there will be a performance chip that might override the auto shift?

I'll have to say one thing though, the suspension is AMAZING on this car. The dealer told me to take the loop-around freeway onramp as fast as I wanted and that I virtually couldn't break it loose. I thought I was going to crash the car.

 

Both. The SportShift is much quicker than the full auto mode when switching gears. But I think the 1-2 upshift was made more for leisurely driving than fast acceleration.

You can force the car to redline in first gear by selecting the "1" position. Upshift by shifting to "2", then "D3", "D4", etc.

 

Ah yes, non-sequential sport shift basically. I'm wondering then if you can basically take it from 1 to 2, then put it in the sequential shift position from there? However, I remember there was not a separate slot for 1 and 2, it was labeled 1 - 2, so what do you do to upshift it from 1 to 2, click in sideways once?

 

Okay with the sport - shift you have better driver feel then in the automatic mode. The 2000 TL model transmission was upgraded to 5 speed. The 99 model is 4 speed that let you shift from 1st to 2nd in sport- shift mode. The sport- shift allows you to have somewhat better control of the gears. With a taller 5th gear the TL cruising RPM is lower for reduced engine noise& fuel consumption on the highway. The 2000 TL got an extra 1 mile per gal in highway fuel economy over the 99. I think ACURA changed the way the transmision worked to prevent redline in 1st gear. The ACURA Sport -Shift Transmision is one of the best in the Auto Industry. The gears selector has 1&2 then D3- D4- D5 then you can click it over to sport -shift &the car will be in the proper gear at the speed you are going.The 1&2 on the bottom of the shifter are automatic mode not sport-shift mode.

 

Well, like many car dealers, yours is wrong (or at least half wrong). The CL-S has the exact same sportshift as the TL-S, which means it autoshifts from 1 to 2 just like the TL-S.... feel free to hop over to the CL forum... I'm sure you'll hear some of them biching about it!!

 

People on this forum run 0.2 - 0.5 in sport shift.

In my Prelude it is 0.6 faster in sports shift than in manual.

 

You mean 0-60 times are 0.2 to 0.5 faster using the sequential sport shift as opposed to the regular automatic in the TL-S?