embarassing, but my first car (its automatic) and i just realized 3rd gear and Drive are seperate but in the same slot. Ive run my car (up to 80mph once) for its first 160 miles in 3rd rather than Drive. could i have ruined anything, especially since it was during the "break in" period? im sweating it

 

Don't sweat it. The auto has a much taller gearing than the stick.

The only thing you have to worry about the "break in" period is to not take it in a road trip were you'll be driving 80mph for hours, non stop. Also, as long as you didn't think you were Paul Walker and double clutching your car and blowing the welds on your intake... you'll be fine.

 

Yea, dont worry about it. Just make sure you vary the RPMs during the first 1000 miles.

 

it's not a big deal. like others said, just make sure that the rpm's are varied and you'e going to be alright.

 

thanks guys

 

i remember doing that when i was 16, haha. i felt so bad afterwards. you'll be fine, don't worry about it.

 

LOL, I did the SAME thing on my Tc when I first got it. I drove a long way on the highway maybe 60 miles in 3 before I realized that the car felt like its RPMs were just higher than usual. I looked at the dash and saw "3" and freaked out!!!!

Well, 40,000 miles later, it's running nice and smooth

Don't sweat it.

 

Heck, it was probably good for it. There are a lot of schools of thought on the proper break in procedure for a new engine, and what you did follows one of them.

 

i did that to mine when i first got it too

 

yup did that on mine as well, for some reason I knew something was wrong cause of how smooth the ride was...

 

I did that during the "test drive" and noticed as soon as I got up to around 60mph the car was RMP'n to high. Looks like lots of us have made the mistake so I would not worry about it!

 

I don't get it.. is it difficult to understand how to put it in normal "Drive" on the automatics? Mine's a 5-speed so i've never seen the automatic or driven one. What is causing all of you to keep it in 3rd?

Jay

 

^^ people just not knowing....

1st time owning a car... other reasons can be related...

all user error.

it's not difficult at all... typical gate-type auto shifter.

 

The only thing you'll notice is horrid gas mileage....

 

I did the same thing on my mom's Altima, they have the same shift pattern.

 

Eh, same error during test dive..but i realized it after driving my car on the way home that D and 3 was separate, lol. Dont worry tho, im sure nothing bad happened to your engine.

 

And wondering why the car is so responsive!