Alrite, time for my first "I'm a noob to standard" question .

I seem to be having either a hard time choosing a gear to pass on the highway or I'm just so used to the feel of automatic I might be nutts. I was doing 90km/h tonight and was in low 5th (about 2000RPM) and got tired of waiting for mr "I'm terrified of night driving" to find the gas pedal. So, I dropped into 4th gear and came out somewhere around 2700RPM and hit the gas (not quite full throttle though I've done it full throttle before). Just a note, the A/C was on so obviously I'm going to lose some power. As I pulled into the left lane I was at about 3000RPM and kept accelerating until 3500. I threw it into fifth gear at about 3500RPM and came out at about 120km/h (woops ) but it felt like I got more of a pull coming into 5th then I did when I hit the gas in 4th.

My question is...should I have actually dropped into 3rd gear in that scenario and given it ****, switched to fourth later on in the left lane (like 4000RPM or somethin) and then went into 5th to go back to crusing (was aiming for 110km/h) once I got into the right lane...or am I just too used to an automatic where you slam the gas and get tossed back and I actually made the right choice? I guess the same would apply if I'm doing 80km/h in fourth gear and go to pass...at that point I'm only at 2500RPM so I would assume 3rd would be the best to get the most pull possible.

to the power of the noob!

Thanks,

Permafried-

 

I typically pass in 5th if I’m going 70-75mph, but ill go to 4th if I need to do it a little faster. I would not use 3rd on the highway unless it's really necessary, otherwise it's overkill.

 

I have an 05 Base Coupe... If i am doing about 50-55-60 and have a short distance, I drop into 3rd and nail it, slam 4th and by then that car is moving. If I have a looooong stretch, no worries, either leave it in 5th or drop back into 4th. The box in my car is butta... real slick. Never worry about missing gears in that car.
If you are worried about over-revving, just keep an eye on your tach. That's what it's there for.


Scott

 

well im the dumb one who always does over kill so ill drop into third no matter what lol

 

Thanks guys both replies make sense...I think it also has something to do with how I downshift because I'm god friggin awful at rev matching (did you know it's possible to squak if u blip too much from 3rd to 2nd ). When going from 5th - 4th I don't bother because it's smooth enough without doing it, but I'm also losing those couple hundred RPM by dropping the gear which I need to make back up. I'll get the hang of it one day it's just gonna take me some time.

My buddy suggested I go out on the 401 (which has a speed limit of 100km/h) and when no one is around (not sure when the last time he was out there but that happens almost never) drop into 3rd gear and see how far I can push it before I start to get nervous. I'm sure I'd come up with the same results as you Adirondack_Cobalt (mine's an LS coupe) in that if it's a quick pass and I feel like giving it **** then it's ok but for the most part 4th seems to "feel" right...I'm just too used to automatic still.

Yay for the overkill...this engine feels like it just wants to go like a bat outta hell whenever you don't want it to (like in all the 60km/h zones here when I'm doin 70km/h) so why not give 'er on the highway .

Permafried-

 

i try to stay in 5th as much as possible, dont know why, just my style

5th gear is more like an overdrive, its not built for acceleration
hence, why the LS's hit their top speed in 4th gear

 

Interesting never really looked at it that way but it makes more than enough sense. The biggest reason behind dropping the gear since I have passed in 5th before was it was 11:30 at night and overcast and I couldn't see if a damn thing was coming on the highway (deer or cars) so I wanted to get out and back in as fast as possible.

See I learn something new every day .

Permafried-

 

Personally I prefer manual. Of all the cars I've had, I get to know them all including max speed and RPM for each gear. My Acura for instance is an automatic. I can be going 60 and punch it, the auto will drop from fourth to third, and RPM will jump to 4 grand. I can get it up to 75 at 5200 RPM, and still got 1500 RPM of rev before hitting red. I usually don't go past 5,500 RPM regardless unless it is a desperate maneuver.

I had a 1998 Chevrolet Malibu. Those are notorious for their sloppy, bucking transmissions. If I was doing 60 or 65, the tranny for some stupid reason would drop into second and hit 5700 RPM. This put me in the dotted red line area. If I had cruise control engaged on the highway and went up a steeper incline, the RPM would drop to 5500+ RPM and would go into the solid red line and upshift at 6100 or 6200 RPM, one reason I never used cruise on that car.

If I get a cobalt, I will have to get used to the gear ratios. Since the S/C seems to have strong gears, I myself wouldn't hesitate to drop to third at 65 MPH if I was getting impatient behind someone. I'm estimating you can get 40 out of first, around 60 in second, third could be good for 80, and fourth maybe 130 and then fifth carries the rest of the line to top end.

Whatever you do, don't miss 4th and hit second on the highway! LOL this can be utterly jaw wrenching. When I first learned to drive a standard, I was pulling away from a light in a 92 Protege, floored in second gear. I went for third, but hit first gear instead. Since I have always watched the tach more than anything else, I knew I fucked up once I saw the needle fly past 7,000 and almost hit 8,000 (redline is at 6,000). I managed to drop the clutch as hard as I could keeping the tach needle from pegging out (hit about 7600 or 7700). 1 mile down the road my engine felt like it had no power, possibly a vacuum leak. After checking around the engine, I found the problem. I had severely blown the rotor in the distributor cap. I was safe and replaced the entire distributor cap, spark plugs, and wires. Thank god it wasn't a rod that blew. Because I was doing about 50 when I accidentely dropped into first.

Forgot to add something, it always helps to check your cars specifications. Max HP output is usually at 5,000 something RPM. Like the Cobalt S/C has max HP output at 5600 RPM (if I am not mistaken), I would recommend limiting your throttle to 5600. Anything over that is unproductive, potentially harmful, and causes undue stress on the engine. Why go 6,000 when you can get max power at 5600 and shift at that. I don't understand why people who race take the RPM to redline or into redline when most likely the max power is lower. This is probably costing tenths of a second easy in quarter mile times.

 

You won't get to 40 in first, usually I'll run out of gear at 25mph.

1st gear in the Cobalt is pretty quick and I beleive is limited to 5psi.

 

About the worst I did to the car was the first day I picked it up. I'd only driven standard for a whopping our and some before making the purchase so natrually I was nervous as all hell. On top of that I was nervous driving the new car out onto a busy road my first time out with it. Well first gear didn't stall...so I figured hell the worst is over, 3000rpm to second. Time to get cocky, 3000rpm in second switch to third. About then is when I realised I'd gone second to first and my car was slowing down in a real hurry...now tell me I didn't **** a brick .

MarcS is right, first gear in the car is really short. If you check the gear ratios you'll see it...the SS especially will get up to the red line in one hell of a hurry. I've never tried pushing mine to redline in 1st so I'm not sure how fast it'll go...maybe once I get to the track I can figure it out.

Permafried-

 

Really? So you gotta go easy in first. Which gear is the best for opening up the throttle, hammering the accelerator? Also known as the "sweet gear." Second or third right?

 

To me it feels like second or third which is why I was leaning towards passing in third gear next time...but you can really feel the pull when you get higher up in second. This is on the LS so it could be different than the SS but I think overall 3rd feels like my sweet gear.

Permafried-

 

Thats what happened in the 92 Protege I had. You got lucky my friend. I was opening up in second, doing 50, I switched from 2nd to 1st, except the car didn't even have time to slow down. The needle flew well into redline, almost maxed out at the 8000 mark, and probably would've pegged the needle as well, THANK GOD I only blew the rotor in the distributor cap. If your gonna hammer it in second, make sure you shift to 3rd and NOT 1st.

 

I think the only reason nothing happened was because I was so nervous and slow with standard that I was easing the clutch out and giving it like next to no gas so the tranny and engine had time to slow down and catch up. I also think the stick being so ridiculously stiff (car only had 191km on it) had something to do with it as well. I sure as hell couldn't open the car up...it was too hard to control the stick at first cause it had 0 give. Plus, if you mean 50 miles I was nowhere close to that....40 - 50 km if I was lucky.

Believe me I KNOW I was lucky...my heart jumped into my throat .

Permafried-

 

Just make sure you take care of your car. Nothing like having a new car with the new car smell. My 96 Acura reeks of cigarette smoke, no hint of new car smell.

I've made a resolution that when I get a new car (most likely a Cobalt S/C), I WILL NOT SMOKE in it. Nor will anyone else. I've also been known to leave people stranded 250 miles from home for burning holes in my seats, especially if it's a new Cobalt.

 

i said the same thing it lasted for about a month i still try not to but sometimes i do dont really have to worry bout the smoke smell no cloth hear lol

 

The new car smell to me is like sex. You can never get enough of it! Why ruin a wonderful moment of sniffing the new smell, when you can always have a cigarette afterwards! No pun intended.

 

See "fastest you've ever driven" by better than bad...............

 

i don't know if it would be considered passing when i put it into 3rd on the freeway. i usually just stay inf fifth, but on the occasion i drop it to 3rd, but before i do i always slow down to 55-60mph. that is around 4000rpm in third. it makes for a nice run up to 90+mph but that's only done if someone is antagonizing me to race or something

 

Do you drop it to 3rd stright from 5th or do you hit 4th first, then 3rd? Just wondering because I want to know what to expect when I start to drive mine hopefully in a month from now...hot girls BTW in your other thread!!

 

I go 3rd and rpm match then bam pass the sob and back into 5, all done find at hwy speeds dropping into 3 gets the car right into power and then I can do what I need....altho if you are going at like 75-80 4th is fine but if your passing 80mph and need to downshift then well you know....lol

 

Well I'll explain, theres a very good explaination as to why you shift at redline during a race

Even though the power of the engine may peak before the redline, its actually going to slow you down if you shift at that point. The reason being that after you complete the shift, the RPM's drop down below the power peak, sometimes even completely out of the powerband. When you shift at a higher RPM above the power peak, after the shift the RPM's fall right back down into the powerband, so the engine makes maximum power after each shift and pulls strongly to the redline.

Also note that running to the redline is not harmful or bad for the engine. Thats why its there, to show the maximum safe operating speed of the engine. If shifting at redline was bad for the car, then the redline would not be there in the first place. Any RPM at or below the redline is not going to cause any damage to the engine, its merely there to show that anyting above that RPm could potentially cause damage or excessive wear

 

Very good point. And to add to this, if you consistently drive an engine to redline for which the engine was not designed for (non-HO motors) then I would have to argue that over time you will reduce the life of that motor. Some engines are just not designed to operate at such consistently high temps - IMO.

 

I guess it depends on if your are talking a divided highway or a two lane with on coming traffic.

Divied highway just leave it in 5th--whats the rush?

On comng traffic undivided highway---I'll go to third and get around as quickly as possible.

 

That's the thing....it's a two lane highway with oncoming traffic and since it was so late at night I just wanted to get out then back in as fast as I could. Seems to me fourth/fifth is a safe bet when I'm not in a particularly huge rush but I'm itching to try third just to feel how well the car runs...I'm still babying 'er a little .

Don't worry about that...I wash it once a week as well as clean out the inside. I think the scales are tipping towards fanatical . I'm still trying to figure out what to do come winter with all the damned salt they use around here though.

I used to smoke like a chimmney in my Cavy but ever since I got my Cobalt I haven't had the urge to light up once in the car no matter how long my trips were. I have a feeling if I burned anything in the car particuarly the leather I would have a nervous breakdown .

Is there a particular message I should be looking for in that thread since it's like 9 pages long ?

Thanks again for all the feedback everyone...at least I know I was on the right track and not just completely goofing up. Standard just seems to be one big learning process.

Permafried-