Just wondering if you skip using First gear from a full stop, level ground and not in a hurry to accelerate. Also what is the negatives in doing this? My 1.8 and clutch have no apparent problem with starting out from second. Why use first?

Doug

Clutch just wears faster skipping first. Downhill there's seldom any reason to use it unless your first-gear dogs are shot.

I skip 1st on flat/downhill starts......

I can start in third gear. Got so much torque I didn't realize I was in the wrong gear until I shifted to 4th and went 'hey wait a minute'

I don't use 1st gear but I have a 3.0L-6!

I always take off in second.

Allows me to do 0-60 in under 4 seconds with no shifts.

3.6 liter cheater!!!

There is no emoticon for pure jealousy is there?

If you have a stock engine you need all the gears you can get. I would never start off from a stop in 2nd.

When the Heck did you get your car back Doug !!









Joseph

Guess I didn't need to spend the time and money rebuilding my tranny in order to get first back...

I prefer first gear on flat starts, but I'm always in a hurry! I don't like listening to the engine strain and taking time to spin up, but is it harmful? Don't know.

If you are not slipping your clutch you are not hurting anything. Think tractor trailor, light load you even skip gears, just don't floor it from low RPM, but if you are gently out of the gate and maybe even rolling a bit due to a downgrade it is no different than shifting into second a bit early.

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada
retired tractor trailer instructor

I just thought of a possible reason why my 1.8 pulls from a stop in second gear so well. I'm running P205-50-15 tires with a smaller then stock diameter. So it's geared for stock tires and doesn't compensate for the smaller tires, to the point that my Speedometer reading is off by 10 MPH when doing 60MPH. GPS say I'm during 50MPH when the Speedometer reads 60 MPH. So tht equates to a gearing difference of 20% I think (50 X 1.20=60)?