Hi there,

I played with the mag manual shifters for some 20 miles and got some questions:

Could anybody give me a guidline what gear should be used for a specfic speed range
I need a gear and mph range table since I'm not used to do manual shifting.

Could manual shifting save some gas? Probably not, I guess.

 

You could MAYBE save some gas by shifting with the paddle shifters by keeping the revs really low. When I am in gas saving mode I shift at like 10,15,25 or so into 4th and just coast. Revs are really low.

As for what gear you should be in, it really depends on what you are trying to do.
Save gas, shift as early as possible.
Regular, shift at 2500-3000 rpms.
Fast, shift before you get to the red.

 

It won't let you up or down shift if the engine can't handle it. I just keep it in drive, it's learned to up-shift pretty early for me. I do use it to proactively downshift if I'm passing..otherwise it takes a couple seconds to figure out I'm trying to get moving!

 

For smooth engine breaking, I downshift not much higher than 2000rpm. Much higher and the next gear down will jerk the engine into the high torque range. Of course if you are down shifting to pass, this is desireable.

I guess what I'm saying is that I use the manual to down shift more than anything else. Upshifting is just fine in drive. If I want to haul ***, I just step on it. It shifts better than I could anyway (also, I have an LS so no paddles).

I also use the manual to keep the automatic from changing gears all the time when going up a hill. If I'm only going 45 up a steep-ish hill for example, it can't seem to decide what gear it wants to be in and keeps flipping around between 4th, 5th,and 6th. Once I hit 45mph, I slide it over to manual and all that nonsense stops.

 

I use it when towing although its not in the book that I could find, you should use it to keep the tranny from hunting which can cause wear and overheating. Also when towing I try to keep the rpms around 2K when towing to keep from putting unecessary back pressure on the rings under heavy load.

As far as regular driving I use it when driving twisties aggressively to keep it in a usable gear to accelerate out of a curve, if not the lag causes horrible oversteer before it picks the right gear.

Not any of these things are good for fuel economyjust plain fun

 

 

I also have a question about the shifter... If you forget to shift, will the system eventually go back to automatic shifting? I left it in low gear for a whileand I didn't realize it until the RPMs were way up there. In my other car,a mini cooper, it would get you out of paddle shift automatically if you forget to shift or if you rev it too high.Thanks.

 

You guys talk about the abilities of Mitsus 'shifttronic' system was designed for anything more than entertainment while driving. Its not like a Mercedes, Porsche or Ferraris system, nor is it like the Hurst his/hers system. Ive never heard of using it saving you money at the pump or severly increasing ones performance... Theres a reason they make manual cars and a reason they make automatic cars... but the sporttronic is not the best of both worlds, so to speak.

 

Eventually it understands that you forgot to shift and it will put it back into Drive. I don't think it would let you rev too high, so that is a good thing.

 

leave it in drive.
it will both out-accelerate you and give better milage.