NoTorq

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Ravenwerk
[B]For over thirty years now I've been under the impression that "being smooth" is a goal that most drivers attempt to achieve at some point with their skill.

Ravenwerk

Daveg27,
Point well taken. I stand corrected.
I was (of course) referring to drivers that are concerned with improving their ability to become "one with the machine" but your clarification is (sadly) too true.

Bret

It's in the Car Designers Bible, Version 3, 2nd Edition. No, just kidding. I make this statement as an industrial engineer (for what that's worth) and with the understanding of how people drive stick shifts. If you needed to rev match in order to drive, the vast majority of the people that can drive stick shift cars would not be able to. In addition, if they had wanted one to drive that way, then they would have put it in the owners manual. The S2000 manual says nothing about rev matching, just upshifting and downshifting. As a matter of fact, I'd be willing to bet that there is not an owners manual out there for a production car that even talks about rev matching. But, bottom line, no real source other than my personal observations.

Even so, I've only seen it once.

I think your assumption is correct. I was just trying to make the point that most drivers don't know what it is and if it was necessary, they would.

I agree. It's just a skill that (I believe) the vast majority of manual transmission drivers would not care to attempt to acquire simply because it requires effort and a love for driving in order to do so.

NoTorq

I suspected you were referring to people like us when you said "most drivers" but sadly we are definitely in the minority. And as a result Honda does have to make sure that their transmisions will hold up to non-rev-matched downshifts. Why bother with synchros if everyone rev matches?

RazorV3

btw when a person downshifts and the car does not jerk around and is very smooth, you know you did an excellent downshift, almost like an automatic transmission. well atleast thats what my passengers tell me.

SuperDyu

I'm no expert... but dont cars have a synchronization sorta thing going in them now that rev's the engine up for you if you downshift?

Now putting a car from 3rd to 2nd and dropping the clutch suddenly is, I'm sure, a no no. But I think doing that and slamming brakes is better than hitting a car infront of you.

Though to keep in mind, if you're using that sort of technique to brake at every street light, you're causing more wear than the car was designed for...

Again tho... I have no idea what the heck I'm talking about, just hearsay and speculation on my part =)

twohoos

There are a few things going on here.

First (aside from smoothness), rev-matching is done primarily to reduce wear on the synchros, which are very expensive to replace. Yes, it saves wear on the clutch, too, but that's a comparatively easy/cheap repair since it's a wear item anyway.

Second, using lower gears to slow the car down is age-old advice intended for big ol' 50's and 60's American cars with teeny drum brakes and huge OHV motors. When, say, going down a mountain, those cars ran a real risk of burning up their brakes, so staying in lower gears to control speed was well advised. By contrast, you'd be hard-pressed to overwork any modern car's brakes in that sort of scenario.

With those things in mind, the risk of over-revving the engine becomes the main concern with downshifting, especially when considering the average skill level of everyday motorists. There may also be some merit to the simple idea of increased wear on the motor when engine-braking, compared to letting it just fall to idle in neutral.

So that's probably why you heard you shouldn't downshift.

NoTorq

Um.... No. The reason the engine is revving up "by itself" when you downshift is because the wheels are turning much faster than the engine relative to what gear you're in. Instead of the engine turning the wheels you've got the wheels turning the engine.

There is computer controlled rev matching but you only find that in cars like Ferrari's and BMW's equipped with SMG type transmissions. These are NOT at all like the "manumatic" transmissions available in most cars nowadays however.

antek

If that is so, why are most dealers ignorant of our car?

ruexp67

Simply because most dealers are ignorant.