ok im almost ready to drive and my dad gave me a car (family car) with the sequentail shifting thing. My dad is by the way a mechanic and he said that if i use the tiptronic shifting it will mess up my transmission, is that true? cause i dont wanna buy a new transmission.

by the way the car is automatic and i thought sequential is better than auto and you cant overrev either!

Yes, the car manufacturer researched and designed a feature that, if used, would break the transmission. Oh, how they laugh when they see people at the side of the road cursing their poor design when they've broken down.

</sarcasm>

So, what sort of mechanic is your dad?

Quote from rainspecialist :

sequential is better than auto and you cant overrev either!

You most definitely can over-rev the engine with a sequential transmission!

Maybe he said it so you wouldn't drive like a muppet.

Quote from rainspecialist :

ok im almost ready to drive and my dad gave me a car (family car) with the sequentail shifting thing. My dad is by the way a mechanic and he said that if i use the tiptronic shifting it will mess up my transmission, is that true? cause i dont wanna buy a new transmission.

by the way the car is automatic and i thought sequential is better than auto and you cant overrev either!

You car doesn't have a sequential trans but rather an automatic trans with the ability to select and hold the gear.

Partially, your dad is right...most current and "standard" auto+shift trans have issues with being always used in the shift mode.
The mode is more geared toward weather conditions or rare red-light sprints rather then a full-time system and quite honestly, often it's just a marketing gimmick. As you already mentioned that the vehicle is a family car, I'd suggest listening to your dad unless the car is a beemer or a benz or something rather high end, sporty and expansive.

If you want to have fun driving, get a honest to god stick shift and learn to drive properly. It might even teach you a thing or two about vehicle dynamics.

On a side note:
You should never even come close to overreving the cars engine unless you're on a track.
Doing it in normal conditions is not only moronic, its quite bad for your car (esp. a family sedan)

It depends on the gearbox whether you can overrev it or not. In mine (Volvo S40) you can't change up or down if it would put the revs too high or too low. I don't know whether it automatically shifts up for you if you approach the limiter (and I don't know whether it's a soft cut or hard cut limiter either), but it does automatically shift down for you if you're going too slowly for the manually selected gear.

Quote from amp88 :

It depends on the gearbox whether you can overrev it or not. In mine (Volvo S40) you can't change up or down if it would put the revs too high or too low. I don't know whether it automatically shifts up for you if you approach the limiter (and I don't know whether it's a soft cut or hard cut limiter either), but it does automatically shift down for you if you're going too slowly for the manually selected gear.

My dad's saab does that too once he changed down from 5th to 2nd (:schwitz and It stopped him

though few things beat a straight-cut six speed sequential gearbox screaming over the 'ring

no it is sequential it has a + and - sign and lets you change gears just like a dfp shifter or momo, it is a chrysler 300m not 300c its 1999 and im aiming for an ae86 its like 4,00-10,000 (usd) around here. So basically what you guys are saying is dont use the sequential?

my dad is a automotive mechanic he owns his own shop and is sponsered by napa autoparts. actually i was pretty close in buying a 1989 supra with a rear spoiler (with downforce) and a 6 speed shifter + muffler and lets not forget those rims!

also you cant hold the gear because if you reach 6300 rpm it automatically shifts for you and the rev limit is 6500, also if you downshift and are going to overev it wont downshift for you so hypothetically you cant overerv

Also remember most autos with an up/down shifter are the WRONG WAY AROUND. They have up and up shift and down as down shift.

So if you are used to the correct way up up for down shift and down for up shift then you do run the risk or over revving.

Quote from rainspecialist :

no it is sequential it has a + and - sign and lets you change gears just like a dfp shifter or momo, it is a chrysler 300m not 300c its 1999 and im aiming for an ae86 its like 4,00-10,000 (usd) around here. So basically what you guys are saying is dont use the sequential?

my dad is a automotive mechanic he owns his own shop and is sponsered by napa autoparts. actually i was pretty close in buying a 1989 supra with a rear spoiler (with downforce) and a 6 speed shifter + muffler and lets not forget those rims!

also you cant hold the gear because if you reach 6300 rpm it automatically shifts for you and the rev limit is 6500, also if you downshift and are going to overev it wont downshift for you so hypothetically you cant overerv

It's not a real sequential like you'll find in LFS. It's just an automatic that lets you select what gear you're in.

I've only driven one of those sequential automatics once - it was an auto rx-8 with both paddle shifters and the up/down mode gear lever (they didn't have any manuals on the lot). That was quite possibly the most boring test drive ever. I hated every second in that car. A month later I went to a different dealer and test drove a manual and walked off the lot with it. I wouldn't even bother using the sequential mode. It's a gimmick and it's not any more fun than just leaving it in auto mode. That's just my opinion though.

Since it looks like you're making you first car purchase, can I give you some advice? Don't buy it based off of what you see in Initial D My advice would be to pick up a used miata. They're very reliable, lightweight, and rear wheel drive. They don't have a huge spoiler (with downforce), huge wheels, and a farty muffler. For $10k, you can get a really mint car, but you don't need to spend that much. The best part is, since they're so reliable and cheap, you can spend most of your time and money driving the car hard without worrying about it. In the US atleast, it's really the only cheap sports car you can buy. You can thank me later Here's my old car... and... whoops sorry for going way off topic

Quote from Woz :

Also remember most autos with an up/down shifter are the WRONG WAY AROUND. They have up and up shift and down as down shift.

So if you are used to the correct way up up for down shift and down for up shift then you do run the risk or over revving.

Bloody right...thank god for the idiot proof system as I could have easily killed a brand new mazda3 thinking shifts were the correct way.

Quote from Woz :

Also remember most autos with an up/down shifter are the WRONG WAY AROUND. They have up and up shift and down as down shift.

How incredibly silly, especially considering that it's fully electronic and therefore quite simple to reverse it to behave properly.

Quote from Lateralus :

How incredibly silly, especially considering that it's fully electronic and therefore quite simple to reverse it to behave properly.

Its because for the general public it "makes sense" in that you push up for up a gear. Does not matter that you have to fight gravity each change

In the end it does not matter. Most of the auto boxes they are connected to are so full of slush you would be hard pressed to even know it had changed gear lol

Quote from Woz :

Its because for the general public it "makes sense" in that you push up for up a gear. Does not matter that you have to fight gravity each change

Who is this General Public and why does he have so much say-so over things like this? What sort of crazy system would promote such a muppet to general in the first place?

Quote from Lateralus :

Who is this General Public and why does he have so much say-so over things like this? What sort of crazy system would promote such a muppet to general in the first place?

I know. He will be first against the wall when I complete my evil plans for world domination <evilLaugh>wahahahahaha</evilLaugh>

Your dad doesn't want you to screw up the transmission by using it incorrectly. I suggest reading the car's manual and make sure you know exactly how to use it before trying to use it. It won't break your car, why would it? What car manufacturer would add a feature to the car which will ruin the transmission (if used correctly)? He's just trying to scare you, and I know cause my dad tries to scare me with this kind of nonsense sometimes too, but it doesn't work, and things don't break if used correctly.

Quote :

push forward for upshift

This is because on many auto-tranny shifters, "1" is at the bottom, "2" is next up, "3", is next up. So this was the convention for those old auto tranny drivers. In my opinion, the +/- shifters should be reversable.

Quote :

bad for transmission

I've never heard of this. If the shifts occur quicker when manually shifting, then there's less clutch overlap occuring and less wear on the transmission. If you downshift before accelerating, it's less wear than not downshifting or using very heavy throttle to cause an auto-downshift. Downshifting when going downhill can reduce brake wear.

I have trouble understanding why you would even want a +/- stick on an automatic. If I were to buy a vehicle with an automatic I would bloody well expect it to do the changing. If I want to change myself, as I do, I buy one with a manual.

The stupidest invention of ev4r is a +/- stick on a variator transmission. Yes they have done it. Can't remember what car it was. But they have really done it.

if its a triptronic, then using the triptronic or sport mode, instead of just using the auto mode,
its fine, they use solinoids to shift the gears, and also its not like an old school auto box, the sequential boxes use clutches like a manual, when you are in first gear, the clutch is already on in 2nd, when u are in 2nd the 3rd gear clutch activates, waiting for the solinoid to be activated.
1,3,5 use the same clutch, and 2,4,R has its own clutch so when the solinoid activates to shift the gear the clutch engadges, thats not how the old school auto gearboxes work.

they are designed to be used in the way they are made, but your dad is right talking about old old auto gearboxes using 1,2,3, D in old boxes to screw up the tranny, unless u install a manual shift kit in them.
all the people that replied in this thread were just talking so much shit, the guy was asking a real question about cars, it just shows how many keyboard warriors are on here. you all try to sound knowlagable when ppl ask about the game, but when it comes to real life Q's you just fill the thread with useless bullcrap

Quote from seinfeld :

if its a triptronic, then using the triptronic or sport mode, instead of just using the auto mode,
its fine, they use solinoids to shift the gears, and also its not like an old school auto box, the sequential boxes use clutches like a manual, when you are in first gear, the clutch is already on in 2nd, when u are in 2nd the 3rd gear clutch activates, waiting for the solinoid to be activated.
1,3,5 use the same clutch, and 2,4,R has its own clutch so when the solinoid activates to shift the gear the clutch engadges, thats not how the old school auto gearboxes work.

they are designed to be used in the way they are made, but your dad is right talking about old old auto gearboxes using 1,2,3, D in old boxes to screw up the tranny, unless u install a manual shift kit in them.
all the people that replied in this thread were just talking so much shit, the guy was asking a real question about cars, it just shows how many keyboard warriors are on here. you all try to sound knowlagable when ppl ask about the game, but when it comes to real life Q's you just fill the thread with useless bullcrap

If you knew shit about cars you wouldn't have made this post.
What you described above is a double clutch system, also known as a dog DSG....something a 300m does NOT have. A dual clutch, sequential trans was built for performance and the certainly aren't standard issue on a family sedan (unless the vehicle is a $80k car).
But hey, feel free to tell people to shift their DSG equiped Ford Taurus with confidence.

If you want to know lots of rubbish about cars, then an internet forum is the place to go! Very very very few people have the first clue what they're talking about. Even when you put them right.

Chances are Seinfeld now things that gearboxes are made of cheese, and that a windscreen is something for flatulence.

Quote from gohfeld23 :

If you knew shit about cars you wouldn't have made this post.
What you described above is a double clutch system, also known as a dog DSG....something a 300m does NOT have. A dual clutch, sequential trans was built for performance and the certainly aren't standard issue on a family sedan (unless the vehicle is a $80k car).
But hey, feel free to tell people to shift their DSG equiped Ford Taurus with confidence.

You can buy factory stock VW Golfs and Passat with DSG boxes:bandit: .... , in performance cars you could (up to now) eventually find a real sequential box (Ascari A10)

Quote from ACCAkut :

You can buy factory stock VW Golfs and Passat with DSG boxes:bandit: .... , in performance cars you could (up to now) eventually find a real sequential box (Ascari A10)

Sure you can. My brother owns a TT with a DSG. However, neither are they standard equipment not are they an American family sedan.
This kid is talking about a sequential on his dads 300M FFS.

It wont matter at all if he uses it. Give him a day and he will realise the sequental shift does not really get you anything, its still connected to a big box of slush and then leave it in auto.

I recently had a hire car with similar gearbox. Pile of crap. I switched to the sequential and found it was the wrong way round, as normal. Then within 300m I switched back and there it stayed in full auto apart from coming down hill where you could use engine braking. Yep you could switch through its 3 gears but why, they all felt the same.

Normal auto boxes are just crap if you want to "drive", end of story. The new performance ones might be better, can't say as never driven one. But we are not talking about a performance auto, just a slushbox with a +/- /D stick instead of the normal 1/2/3/D settings.