has anyone noticed that 1st gear is annoyingly short
maybe its just that this is my first manual car
but i take a turn from a stop, with normal throttle, and i have to shift during the turn

and as far as acceleration goes, forget 1st gear, its so shorttt

and im talkin on the LS coupes in case you wondered

 

try driving my Mazda 323! It has a 4.10 gear ratio, 13" tires and a 3.416 first gear.

You have a 3.58 first gear and 3.58 transaxle ratio.

When I test drove the Cobalt I thought that you can really stretch out first gear.

What rpms are you usually doing the 1-2 shift?

My 323 I usuallyshift at 3-4K

 

So start in 2nd. Unless its uphill it shouldnt be an issue.

 

Well, it's shorter than my 2002 Z24. I think it's a 4.05 final ratio on these SS's. Is that right?

 

its not short at all, lol. its cause its your first manual car. on turns just use 2nd gear.

 

I run mine up to 6k rpm in first then shift.

 

It is a bit short, but you should not be in first gear for a turn anyway. First gear is just to get the car going from a stop.

 

what?!
id say shift before 3g for best gas milage. and yeah if u roll a stop use second.
i know what ur talking about, it IS annoying sometimes.
this is what determins if i'm getting an auto or maunall cobalt.

 

I agree, i find 1 st gear extremely short and can you really start in 2nd gear and have no problems?

R

 

motor doesn't make any power till above 3k. Man I bet I am loosing a ton of gas savings running it up another 3k rpm for about 15 seconds.

 

After coming from an 03 4 cyl s-10....1st gear goes a whole hell of a lot faster now in the SS.

 

Yeah starting it second wont cause any problems to the car or anything. Like I said, if its uphill, you might wanna go to frist, otherwise you'll probably roll it back a bit. Also, you wont produce a whole lot of power just starting out in 2nd gear, so I wouldn't use this method if you're racing or need to get up to high speed very quickly for some reason, but for regular driving around town driving, starting in 2nd if perfectly fine.

 

NO thanks I like my clutch.

Tranny shops will be thanking you for that reply though.

 

Yes.. starting from a stop in second will really eat away your clutch.

I agree with everyone else. Use 1st when stopped to get going, second should be fine for everything else.

There does seem to be a little 'hole' in the power of the SS since second gear is so damn wide and first is short. You start out and rev your car to say 2-3K for normal acceleration.. 2nd drops you to 1500-2K.. the car is weak right here until you get over 2K. I sometimes find it annoying because I actually tend to fall into that 'weak' spot fairly often. That's probaly my driving habits though.

It is interesting though to be abel to accelerate to highway speeds in second gear though! Once you hit 35-40mph it really starts to pull.

 

i agree, that low RPM area kills me
i alwas drive around in 5th gear for the better gas mileage, when i wanna do a fast turn or accelerate, i never pick the right gear and i end up in that low torque spot

 

lol same here, im new to manuals and first is annoying!

 

WOW, I'm glad I'm not the only first-time manual owner here, there's lots of us it seems!!!!!!! I find the whole 1st gear thing to be annoying. I usually take it through first and shift a little higher, around 3500, and that seems to eliminate a lot of that "dead spot" in second, then everything else I shift between 2500 and 3k.

I had my first 2 experiences with downshifting while driving to get more power. First was to pass a mass transit bus on a short straight and then I drove it through a tunnel and downshifted to hear the *awesome* exhaust sound echo.

Now, if I could only manage to get the car started on hills without stalling it every time, I'll be all set!!!!!!

 

I'm not sure what you're talking about, starting in 2nd is a common technique, if applied correctly, it creates very little clutch wear, and you also have to remember, its one less shift which compensates for even more of said wear. Its never been a problem, even with applying 150K+ miles to a clutch.

 

I am sorry but I have to slip the crap out of my cluch to start in second from a dead stop. starting in first and shifting to second still is less clutch use then trying to start out in first.

 

Agreed. On SOME vehicles, you can start in second with no additional clutch wear, but NOT in the SS. You can practically let out the clutch without giving it any gas in 1st gear, but try to do that in second and you can't. 2nd gear is just too wide to start from a stop without slipping. A roll.. ok.. you can do it.. try it stopped and you're looking at more clutch wear.

 

I have noticed this also in my LS Automatic Coupe. I know the SS is geared more for this than my LS, but I have noticed the loss also.