All of you who say that our engines/tranny's will explode are all wrong. Take a look at our manual starting on page 103. If you have an uto tranny and want to downshift/upshift, go ahead and do it as much as you want. Just make sure that you dont redline it all the time and you'll be ok. You dont believe me? Call up Scion customer service like I did for more info, they said do whatever you want just dont go shifting from Drive to second whcih would make the rpm's extremely high.

 

I don't think you can redline an automatic in first anyway. In my maxima once you get above a certain high rpm it shifts for you anyway. I could be mistaken though.

 

No, you can redline it for a little while anyways, I've done it while passing.

 

Im not big on racing, but I have raced my auto tc a couple of times, and it is faster when i shift.

Your right about the first gear shifting for you. It wont allow you to over rev. But i noticed that you cant redline it without shifting yourself. It will shift far before it get close to the red. But I usually start out in 2nd and it will shift 1st and 2nd for me, then i let the rpms go near red, and shift to 3rd then D.

Just make sure you dont over rev. and it should be fine. But i wouldnt bother shifting very often, im just guessing it could cause damage.

Oh and down shifting on the freeway to 3rd will allow you to pick up speed/higher rpms.
But its sluggish and will down shift on its own about 2 seconds after you put it in 3rd gear.

 

You can shift an auto with no problems what so ever.....ginda why they made it that way. You can down shift and up shift with no problems. The main issue is just like a manual shift...engine RPM's.

With additional engine mods, the power band will change. Since the ECU currently does the shifting and we can't play in there....yet , you can manually shift during your power bands.

 

i do it... i wish i got manual but didnt so i do it its fun no damage if you do it correctly dont let it get to red line, and dont downshift... i just shift up when picking up speed...
but should you take foot off the gas when shifting or doesnt matter with auto

 

The manual says to take your foot off the gas when shifting, but i dont know if it is neccesary.

 

you need to take foot off the gas for manual but do you need to take foot off the gas when shifting in automatic?

 

I used to to it all the time in my last car. I know for a fact I had better 1/4 mile times when I shifted it myself. 75% of the time, and over a 3 1/2 year period, never once had a problem with the transmission. I also treated it to a transmission flush every 4 oil changes or so.

I personaly never realy cared what other people thought, It's my car I'll drive it how ever I want to drive it.

I've only manual shifted my tC maybe three times since I've owned it. I think the way scion made the screwy shifting channel, or what ever you want to call it, makes shifting the car yourself a pain in the butt, and not really worth doing. The last 2 times I've tried shifting I ended up going from L to third .


Nope, I've never taken my foot off the gas when shifting it myself.

 

It does not matter...keep if floored if you like. The biggest issue is the engine RPM's.

 

get an AT shifting kit (when available)

 

How and when should you use engine braking?

 

Its all in your manual page 103, but basically, you shift down one gear when you want to slow down your car. Obviously you dont want to down shift if your rpms are too high, but again all this is covered in our manual.

 

damn....all this time i thought the tc had sport shift in auto tranny's. the kind that lets you shift up and down w/out a clutch like in the auto base rsx.

 

the point isnt that you cant shift with autos. . because you can. . and you will go faster its why would you want to? unless your a poser trying to act like someone who is driving a stick. and we dont want that now do we?

 

whats a at shifting kit and how much is it with install

 

how it is posing someone driving a stick if that person just chooses to drive like that?

 

ya people got to be more open minding and accepting. i wanted a stick but made a mistake and got auto and not worth changing so i live and just choose to shift like that sometimes,peopl have other reasons just let it be whatever makes them happy.

 

WOW, this thread is over flowing with mis-information and attitude...

When you shift an auto tranny manually, you are doing NOTHING different than what the car does on its own. When done right, it will not damage anything. You don't have to be going slow or stopped, I think you guys are thinking of a 4X4 transfer case. You just have to be going the right speed. Same concept as the stick, the only difference is that you don't fully disengage and engage the clutch when shifting. And NO, you don't let off the gas when shifting an auto, that's WHY you have a box of slush there...

Unless you're holding it until full redline, upshifting manually rarely helps, in my experiences and IMO. besides, look at the dyno charts, power drops once you get into the higher 6Ks. You're not doing yourself any favors.

Now downshifting is another matter altogether. This is where the shifting the auto is useful, IMO. think of it as capping the system off. When I turn off the O/D. it doesn't mena it stays in 3rd, it just won't shift up past it. When I get on a twisty road or when traffic starts to slow and I find myself having to brake, I usually kick the O/D off. If twists or traffic require it, I'll shift down to 2nd, capping it there. If traffic is really awful, into first I will go. I don't like riding my brake and I think overuse of the brakes in autos contribute to a lot of our traffic problems, but that's another issue...

The auto tranny was designed for efficiency. It'll try to get itself into O/D as soon as its able. less work. Keeping that in mind, you can wrangle it to give you power by controlling when it gets there.

Like I used to say - I can shift the auto, I just don't HAVE to...