The Car Thread

[AKIRA]

Well, I decided i'd make a car thread anyway...if it dies, it dies, if it doesn't then hoooray


I put it in the video/image section cuz obviously people are gonna want to post videos/images of cars.


I'll start off by asking a question:

People say that manual cars are faster at accelerating than autos...I didn't find that to be true unless I'm driving manual wrong.

The way I do it is I'm in neutral stopped at a light, then when it turns green, i shift from neutral to first (0-20km/h), then 2nd to 3rd (20-40km/h), then 3rd to 4th (40-60km/h) then from 4th to 5th (80 km+). This is the way I do it, but i find that it takes a while for me to catch up to automatic cars usually 3rd or 4th gear i catch up to them.


What if I wanted to drag race someone,is there a way to drive a manual so that I acceleratee really fast??


sorry for the n00b question

 

[Dalamari]

HEEL-TOE

fo sho nigga

 

[AKIRA]

elaborate plz

 

[CyberPitz]

I don't understand your way of numbers *lol*, but I find myself accelerating a lot faster than autos, especially off the launch. On my Turbo, I rev it up to 3, then dump the clutch/floor it at the same time, and that gets up up ahead fast. You could double clutch or whatever they call it to save your clutch/trannys life, but I've never done that/understand wtf it is.

It all really depends on the powerband of your car as well. My powerband ends at redline *7k* so I shift at 6-6.5, to keep me in tip acceleration.

 

[xcellerate]

automatics will always shift faster than manuals. What kills most automatics is their torque converter, look at clutched automatics or dual-clutch automatics (like DSG). When you get into top of line stuff (like powerglide transmissions (in drag racing), DSG style transmissions, and single-clutch sequential gearboxes) you'll see they're all a lot faster than manuals.

The DSG equipped VW's are faster than their manual counterparts, but some people just have more fun driving manuals. I still believe DSG is the fastest shifting transmission with an 8ms shift, that's even faster than an F1 gearbox. Although to be fair F1 is regulated to only run a single clutch setup while VW is not.

You could double clutch or whatever they call it to save your clutch/trannys life, but I've never done that/understand wtf it is.

Double clutching is how you have to drive when your car as a transmission with no synchronizers. Which means it doesn't apply to anybody who drives a manual created after 1960 basically. A lot of cars (like my gti and my friend's supra) don't have syncro's for first gear or reverse, which is why if you're going 10mph you may have to blip the throttle to get it to slide into first from a roll.

Basically it's the same idea as the heel/toe downshift, you just need to keep the rpm's in the place their going to be when you move up a gear. So going from 2nd to 3rd, you'd want to:
1.) press in the clutch
2.) move to neutral
3.) modulate throttle to hold rpm's to where they need to be for a 3rd gear shift
4.) press in clutch
5.) shift

It all really depends on the powerband of your car as well. My powerband ends at redline *7k* so I shift at 6-6.5, to keep me in tip acceleration.

Well, to determine optimum shift point you really need to run a few dynos of your car in different gears. That way you can determine when the power that your making in your current gear at your current rpm is less than the power you would be making in the next higher gear at whatever rpm you would be at when you shift. It's normally pretty close to redline anyway, which is why people just run to around redline.

That's really just a fun fact for the day, I've run across some people who think shifting at 8k is fastest way to go...when really it may not be.

 

[CyberPitz]

Pfft, showoff.

 

[sinkoman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpHC8HQyKgE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjiWnDmmgeM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tc1qYR7Oyw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuSebFdLUWI

Thread over. I win.

 

[lePobz]

Some autos are designed to be quicker, but the majority of autos are slower. Plus, autos generally shift too early (theres more power at higher revs) and they don't know when you're planning on putting your foot down, so generally they're in the wrong gear at the wrong time and have to shift down a gear or two when you put your foot down.

Also, i'd have a manual in a drag race any day. If you want to get a quick getaway off the line, control your wheel spin with the clutch (dont just dump the clutch, ease it down so the tyres grip) and make sure you shift gears at the optimal RPM.

My big heavy 1.8 vectra has put expensive automatic cars (and their businessmen drivers) to shame at the lights.

 

[AKIRA]

lol i tried doing what you said today on th way to school, and wow haha i blasted off it was amazing

Thanks for answering my q's.

I personally will never drive an automatic again, bah they're so boring and slow. Manual FTW.

 

[Anthraxxx]

Wooo! Car thread!!! What we really need is an automotive subforum. Anyway, Manuals are generally faster than autos, but I think there are a few autos that are faster than their manual counterpart simply because the auto is electronically shifter, and can shift much faster than any human. BMWs maybe?

edit: car and Driver has their top 10 list up.

http://www.caranddriver.com/bestcars/14358/2008-10best-cars.html

not sure if I agree with all of it, but a few did suprise me. Malibu?

 

[xcellerate]

I think we need to just layout that in terms of econo-box cars the manual version will most likely be faster, for mid-range cars it will be a coin toss depending on the car, and for high-end cars the automatic will generally be faster.

I mean saying "manuals are faster" is sort of like saying "motorcycles are faster"; it's true motorcycles are faster for the most part, but then you reach that point where the cars will start beating the motorcycles.

And what makes a lot of automatic transmissions boring is that they are programmed for either mpg 'performance' or comfort, there's some auto's that will start in 2nd just so they can be more smooth. Audi's tiptronic has a sport mode which won't shift under normal acceleration until 4k and will hold the gear a lot longer if you let off the throttle, it also gives better throttle response, but even it has issues. I really like vw's DSG transmission because when you hit up or down, it actually goes up or down. The control on a lot of the auto's I've seen is WAY too slow; coming into a turn I can blip it down 5 or 6 times, but it'll only downshift once because it takes so long to process each 'blip'.

But there's still something about pressing a pedal, moving a stick, and doing it well that gets people excited, there's just a connection you can't replicate with a computer and there's a lot of people who aren't ready to give that up...no matter how good the automatic may be.