Hi, I'm new to this forum and very unfamiliar with the Tiptronic transmission. Might I mention, I have no idea how to drive manual. So, this is all very new to me. I just bought a 2005 Acura TL about a week ago and have some questions about when to downshift and upshift. While I'm in second gear, I usually upshift at 5 or 6 rpm to get to third gear. Am I upshifting at the right time? While I'm in third gear, when do I downshift to second gear? At 20 mph? 2 rpm? And, do I really need to worry about downshifting to first gear, since the car does it automatically when its in second?

Thanks in advance,
Louise

 

You actually can't switch from second into first while in tiptronic it won't let you.

 

hmmm. I'm pretty sure mine lets me down shift from 2 to 1 but I have an 07 tl-s so maybe it's different? Although I could be wrong mistaken though, I'll have to check tomorrow morning. I just do it automatically so maybe i'm losing it

 

Just put it in D5 and drive until you see when the car shifts on its program based on speed and throttle position
It will save gas for you
3000 rpm is normal shifting

 

07's will let you do that^, but shifting at 6k RPMS is burning alot of fuel, shift at around 3.5K if you wish. Don't worry about downshifting as the car will do it for you if it seems necessary, reving at 1k and then slowing down, it will downshift itself.

 

I feel there is no need to use tiptronic unless you are racing, or trying to keep it in a certain gear

 

The only time I really use it is on the highway.

 

In which case, there is also "no need" for a 6MT. Except for the "fun" factor. Well, and the "control" factor.


In addition to the advice offered above on shift points, when cruising around town, you'll normally want the car in whatever gear will give you ~2,000 - ~2,500 rpm at constant throttle.

When you've got a chance for fun, run the revs up there. It'll hit a limiter if you get 'em too high. And it won't let you downshift if the downshift will put you over the limiter (for example, at 60 mph in 3rd gear, the car won't let you downshift to 2nd). So there's some protection built in for you.

If you're on the road, doing a comfortable 60 mph or so and want to pass, drop it into 3rd and hit the gas, all that slow-moving minivan will see is tail lights.


Evader - the '07 MY is the first time they've let us control the up or downshift between 1st & 2nd.

 

I just use the gas pedal for that and leave the Sport Shift alone.
Even though it's Drive By Wire, the throttle seems to have adapted to me (or vice versa) pretty well, so I can tell where throttle travel will cause one downshift or two. Even without a downshift, the TL tends to leave other traffic pretty far behind.

The Sport Shift/Tiptronic is useful for holding gears when driving closer to the edge of the envelope than the regular "D," but I haven't gotten that close to the edge to use SS advantageously. I think I only like to shift when I have a clutch...

 

x2

 

i haven't have a feel for the TL yet cause its not broken in yet, but most of the automatics ive driven have a pretty noticeable delay when i use the gas pedal to make it down shift so i can take off. ive also notice they shift down one gear. hang there for half a second and then realize it needs to downshift some more.

also i use the sport shift on hills, cause i dont like the transmission shifting up and down so much. but then again the grade logic on the TL seems to hand it well, but not to my full liking.

i also love down shifting before a turn and keeping the revs around 2-3k that way as i come out of the corner there is instant power when i get on the throttle, where as in auto mode the revs would likely be around 1k and take some time to rev up.

damn i wish i had a manual car

 

When its at 3000 rpm and the car is in third gear, is it okay to downshift to second gear?

 

As long as the gear you're about to enter does not exceed redline you should be fine, but you'll be wasting gas.

If you were in 3rd gear at 5k RPM you obviously wouldn't want to hit 2nd gear as you would immediately toast your engine, I don't think the auto will let you do that if it knows you're going to exceed max engine speed... ? I have a stick so i'm not sure.

 

Sure. No Problem. Question is why? To Slow down? To Speed up to pass? If it's just to "cruise" at higher rpm, it's a waste.




You, sir, are correct. If the downshift will cause the engine to redline in the lower gear, the car WILL NOT allow the shift - the gear number in the guage cluster will flash at you, but otherwise the car ignores the request.

Read the Owners Manual on this, it gives the max mph that you can downshift in SS mode. IIRC (check your manual to be sure) it's:

49 mph for 1st
60 mph for 2nd
?? for 3rd
149 mph for 4th (Yes, it really says this in the owner manual - LOL).