Questions about downshifting

[Yaris TTE JWRC]

Originally Posted by stuffy

more importantly, if you enjoy driving like that.....

why are you driving a yaris?

Yaris can be quick, and it is not slow on the road, there are lot of cars slower than the Yairs. you dont have to have a high performance car like the Impreza, 350z, Evo, or an IS300 to enjoy driving like "THAT". Im not sure if you know the SUZUKI Swift super 1600, it's just like the Yaris, small, compact, lightweight, 1.5L, 16V, 1500cc, with only 100 and some BHP, but the world rally car version of that car puts out great 218BHP simply being turbo charged and intercooled, still with its 1.5L, that car goes quicker than the Impreza, Evo, 350Z, etc because of its lightweight class. What im saying is that Yaris is not slow, and can even go beyond, so if you dont enjoy driving a Yaris then you should be driving something else

[stuffy]

well i guess i should be driving a dumptruck then.

i actually do enjoy driving my yaris, i just try to have some respect for the other people who share the road with me.

[Pars]

stuffy, Is your Yaris a Manual or an Automatic?

[stuffy]

manual

[ChinoCharles]

You can drive like a psychopath and drive defensively at the same time.

You'd know this if you've ever been in the car with my mother. 15+ years without an accident, and she drives 80 miles a day. Every day. Fast. Is she an exception to a rule? I think not.

The people that cause accidents are people that drive like this while trying to pay attention to their radio, cell phone, thermostat, how pretty the stitching in their seats are... in my book speed isn't the determining factor of what makes a safe driver or an unsafe driver. How you pay attention to the road and the amount of courtesy you show for other drivers... that is the benchmark.

In other words, if you drive like a nut and you know you drive like a nut, don't go for that lane change one car length from the guy you just passed at +25 MPH. Wait a few seconds.

Its the little things.

[stuffy]

i agree with you to a point chinocharles, the people who aren't paying attention to the road are probably the most dangerous,
but the fact is, faster you are going, the less reaction time you have and when there is an accident, it is usually more severe at higher speeds.

i dont' deny that there are good drivers out there, but i really don't like the idea that we should be treating public roads like a racetrack.

[Pars]

Originally Posted by stuffy

i agree with you to a point chinocharles, the people who aren't paying attention to the road are probably the most dangerous,
but the fact is, faster you are going, the less reaction time you have and when there is an accident, it is usually more severe at higher speeds.

i dont' deny that there are good drivers out there, but i really don't like the idea that we should be treating public roads like a racetrack.

I disagree, my reaction times usually improves the faster I go since I'm paying more attention to road (and police). If I'm distracted, which in my case is a host of causes... cell phone, company blackberry, Nav system, eating lunch/breakfast, etc.. I'll just pull over to the slow lane and find a safe hole in traffic and do my thing. Even then, with all my distractions, I've noticed that the other drivers on the roads are a bunch of retards when it comes to reaction time...they're taking way too long to get on the brakes..tsk tsk.. and it's usually not the fast drivers that are the retards (dangerous driving is another story).

[ChinoCharles]

I hear where you're coming from, and you're right.

Although I will say some of the most dangerous people on the roads are the slow ones, am I right? Jesus, Grandma, I love you, but seriously... I'm cutting up your license. Take a cab.

[stuffy]

i'm only clarifying my point biggie, because you felt the need to comment on one of my posts, member that?

i dont' know where i made the claim that the yaris was fast, or that i drive slow, or that it was dangerous to your car to downshift two gears, just that it was unecessary.
i'm not sure where you live but the yaris (despite not being fast) has no problem driving the speeds that everyone else on the road is driving, if this is what you mean by "keeping up with traffic".
i don't cruise in the passing lanes on expressways, i only use them when i need to pass someone. i'm not blocking anyone who feels like going faster, so why would they care about my driving technique?

i'm not so insecure that i need to be the fastest thing on the road, which is one of the reasons i drive a yaris.

[cleong]

Drop two gears at a go?

I guess it depends on how many RPMs you are spinning at your cruising speed.

Dropping two gears down could bring it very close to redline, which might make it pointless to drop two gears in the first place. On my car, 50mph and the engine's turning at about 2500rpm or so.

There might be a point in dropping a couple of gears if your vehicle had a turbo, or a "VTEC, y0" zone, but peak torque/power in the 1NZ-FE is somewhere in the midrange.

Also, you're probably giving the clutch friction material more wear skipping gears on a downshift than it normally handles when you shift down the gears one at a time, because of a greater RPM differential that it has to match.

[sanchez]

the wide gears and the vvti make the yaris able to take the abuse but just dont go celebrating everyday lol

[KSIbucky]

its not downshifting it going to a lower gear when i teach some one stick they think downshifting is some complex thing

[stuffy]

yes, what you said just makes loads of sense.

you (and everyone else on the road) have LESS reaction time when you are travelling faster, simply because your time between hitting or avoiding an object is lessened due to your speed. it can't be any more common sense than this, i dont' care if you have the reflexes of martin brodeur, the laws of physics apply to everyone on the planet (as far as i know).

what i really hope is that i never have a run in with you pars, while you are driving fast with all of those distractions. this is the definition of dangerous driving, imo, and your arrogance probably adds to the problem.

[Pars]

Originally Posted by stuffy

yes, what you said just makes loads of sense.

you (and everyone else on the road) have LESS reaction time when you are travelling faster, simply because your time between hitting or avoiding an object is lessened due to your speed. it can't be any more common sense than this, i dont' care if you have the reflexes of martin brodeur, the laws of physics apply to everyone on the planet (as far as i know).

what i really hope is that i never have a run in with you pars, while you are driving fast with all of those distractions. this is the definition of dangerous driving, imo, and your arrogance probably adds to the problem.

The more you focus the better your reaction time, but I get your point. At least we agree that it's important to pay attention to the roads, though you seem to insinuate that speed's a bigger problem. I suppose, if you're a stuffy driver (with good intentions) but can't handle speed, then going fast would be a huge problem or compensating for other drivers on the road that are going fast can be difficult.

Personally, I like the slow poke who follow the rules, even when they're about to cut you off or run you off the road, at least they take their time, which give you time to compensate. I suppose that's the one of the biggest problem on N.A highway, we've got two type of driving habit sharing the highway. One more akin to the Europeans who have very high speed limits and other who like camping out on the highway in comfort and want to be isolated from the road as much as possible.

Regarding arrogance on the road, 'been there done that' and already know how it can get you in trouble. Hopefully, you practice what you preach, having a narrow minded attitude while on the road can lead to disaster, even if you're the only on the road who's following the rules.

[Yaris TTE JWRC]

I started this tread to find the answer to the question of Is it safe for the car to downshift muti gears at once to speed up the car as NEEDED, not about how everyone drives on the road, not about is it good or bad to drive slow, or fast, many posts have been off the topic, please everyone, stay with the topic, I WASN'T asking about how we should drive on the road.

[cleong]

Whether the RPM's at 6000rpm on third gear, or 3000rpm in fifth doesn't matter as long as you are doing a sensible speed. Right?

Just remember to rev-match the sucka when you do drop it down the gear, ie, blip the throttle whilst you're in neutral when moving gears across the gate. Clutch replacement is troublesome and costly.

But seriously, normally if where I'm caught in a situation where I'm in fifth gear when I'm really needing third, I'd drop it to fourth to see if it gives enough torque, before I'd drop it again.

[Yaris TTE JWRC]

Originally Posted by cleong

Whether the RPM's at 6000rpm on third gear, or 3000rpm in fifth doesn't matter as long as you are doing a sensible speed. Right?

Just remember to rev-match the sucka when you do drop it down the gear, ie, blip the throttle whilst you're in neutral when moving gears across the gate. Clutch replacement is troublesome and costly.

But seriously, normally if where I'm caught in a situation where I'm in fifth gear when I'm really needing third, I'd drop it to fourth to see if it gives enough torque, before I'd drop it again.

I see, thank you , thank you for the info

another thing, doesnt matter what gear nor how many gears i drop, as long as i dont hit the red line im oaky right?? then i need to get an RPM gauge

[ChinoCharles]

... I didn't sense one iota of arrogance, malice or discontent anywhere in Pars's post.

Stuffy. Midol. Now.