Does anyone drive their Maxima in manual-only mode, where the trans only downshifts for you, but doesn't upshift? I was playing around with this mode the other day and liked it ... it gets rid of some of the exhaust drone/vibration that's around 1,300-1,600 RPMs.

-John

 

Only when I forget to shift back to full auto mode from a stop.

What drone/vibration? I haven't noticed any.

 

I like the Ds mode.
The tranny will still shift gears up or down as needed but will hold a gear longer-at higher rpms-than D.

Some members have said that the best acceleration is in D, not Ds.
Most of us would think it is the opposite. And the best acceleration "should" be in Ds.

If the best acceleration is in D, then the Ds and paddle shifters really don't make any sense except for engine braking.

You are right....the tranny drone occurs at 1300 rpm.
But from my experience, when cruising the Ds will still settle at 1300 rpm.

Owners complain of the drone. And Nissan has the Max cruise at a very low gear---at 1300 rpm for the best mpg.

EVERY car i have owned/leased would drone with such low gearing....my BMW 335i with twin turbos and manual tranny would be very weak and drone below 2000 rpm.

It is the price we pay for the best mpg.

I think Nissan should allow the owner an option to recalibrate the electronics so the cruising rpms are above the tranny drone...maybe 1600 rpm.

We could keep the rpms above 1600 manually but that would be annoying and inconvenient.

 

Yeah, that drone allows a vibration to enter the cabin of the car, and is especially noticeable in the seat bottom (to me) and the rear-view mirror.

I'm not driving in Ds, I'm driving in manual mode, where the car WON'T upshift by itself, only if I use the paddle shifters or shift lever. It will still downshift when RPMs/speed get low enough, but that's it.

 

The best acceleration IS in the D. A few here ran tests about a year and a half ago and found the D was very slightly faster. The Ds and paddles are for FUN. They are for those drivers who want a little more than dropping it in D and mashing the gas. Nissan wants us to at least have the option to have some fun with this car. The truth is that there are many current 7th generation Maxima owners who would not have purchased the Maxima had it not had these additional driving choices.

I find I frequently use these options when climbing or descending long or steep grades with curves. The Maxima is perfect for travel in the Blue Ridge Mountains area.

I don't think I have seen anyone else suggest Nissan give the driver some control over the electronics calibration. Of course that could prove very interesting. On days where we want the highest MPG, we could reset things to Nissan's current position. But on days where we feel a little frisky, or wish to stop the drone, we could move the calibration to 'sport' mode. I don't know how this option would affect the government's handling of estimated fuel efficiency, but it would be fun to play with.


EDIT - Yet another poster here (madstylez) ran track tests today with D and Ds (he posted this in the D vs Ds thread). His best times were:

D - - 13.9 sec @ 100 mph
Ds - 14.2 sec @ 97 mph

 

D is faster than Ds. It's quite simple to reason why too. In Ds, the engine power is reduced when simulating the shift. In D, the engine is continuously delivering power without any intermittent reductions.

I only use Manual mode for the engine breaking. I don't like the way it shifts when accelerating.

 

Just to point out why manual mode and paddle shifter are on the car, when used on a track, or in any situation where you want to control the speed of the engine, as you enter a turn why do you want to keep accelerating.

It seems like as cars get more advanced owners get less maybe the entire no manual transmission is simply the fact that the owner does not want a car that is smarter then them

Either way I enjoy my car, took some time getting use to and I don't have a drone.

 

starr,

that's a good point, however, the vast majority of us aren't going racing with our Max's.

for everyday driving, the utility of the manual mode is definitely questionable, IMAO.

That's not to say that it's not fun once in a while. I DO use manual mode once in a while.

 

I shift ever which chance I can, up, down, manual is the way to go

 

at what point do we have to many gadget or more tech stuff then we need

 

I use the manual mode 95% of the time. The computer likes to put the car into conserve mode (going into highest ratio) before 40 MPH. I like to keep the engine at a comfortable RPM as speed increases. I only 'shift into' the next 'gear' when RPMs reach approx 2.5K to 3K under normal driving conditions. When I want quick acceleration I shift after 3K.

 

So the downshift paddle is basically useless, so your tellin me if your on the highway behind someone and want to downshift, you can hit the paddle and the throttle increases?

 

If you're trying to pass someone, you just pull the downshift paddle and hit the gas. The car will accelerate quickly.

 

I use it now and then on the highway, and when on sweeping curves.

However FULL manual mode WILL up shift for you automatically. It will not hold a "gear"...once you rev high enough it "shifts"

 

There's probably more truth to that than humor, at least as far as driving a vehicle is concerned.


I think it's more a matter of some drivers not wanting to be told how and when every little thing in life must be done.

It's OK for the car to be "smarter" about achieving certain goals, as long as it has the wisdom to immediately get out of the way when the driver is seeking different ones. So far, vehicle programming is at best only partially successful at this, as it's the driver that is being expected to adapt himself to the vehicle's programmed preferences. This adapting includes whatever things the driver may learn to do in order to trick the car into doing what he wants it to do as opposed to what the car would do by its own default.


umdpru - engine braking can be of significant benefit in slow moving or stop and go driving as well as on long steepish descents. In creeping traffic, mpg is in the toilet anyway.


logik05se - most conventional automatics will eventually upshift as well.


Norm

 

Actually Nissan's are one of the only ones I've driven that do. Acura's don't, bmw's, mazdas, benz etc... I'm sure other cars out there do shift automatically though, but I know quite a few don't either.

 

Lincoln's cars don't automatically upshift either.

I *thought* it was odd this weekend when I was playing around and the car upshifted itself, well before its red line. Now it all makes sense.

-John

 

Thats cool but I think the transmission should let you shift when the gear maxes out, I guess they dont want people complaining about over revved engines and making claims under warranty.

 

I suspect that is for our benefit. They can tell if we were redlining it until the engine blew and I highly doubt that would be covered under warranty.

 

Yea I see what your saying. Anyway, it aint a high end sportscar theres no reason to need THAT much control.

 

I know that Ford's 5R55S does, Chrysler's Torqueflites at least used to, and I think GM's do.


Why should that matter in the slightest? Is a basic change in one's personality a prerequisite for owning cars of certain classes?
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Mreim769 has it mostly right.
Snapshot data regarding engine operating conditions (%load, rpm, coolant temperature among others) and vehicle speed are stored whenever certain codes are set (I think this only happens with hard codes rather than pending ones). Even $200 OBDII scan tools (not just code readers) can read and display this information.

Theoretically, you could set tranny upshift points to coincide with either redline, fuel cut rpm, or anywhere in between. But since in the low gears/ranges/pulley ratios engine rpm can increase faster than the mechanical bits can respond to bring it back down, there is some justification for setting 'upshift' rpms somewhat lower in anticipation of WOT/low tranny ratio situations or excessive wheelspin occurring on low-friction surfaces. Even the rpm indicated by a tachometer needle lags behind the actual rpm on a quick-revving engine.

Ultimately, they are primarily protecting themselves against undue warranty expense. It benefits owners less directly, by making failure caused by overrevving more difficult to achieve.


Norm

 

While we are running on parallel tracks here I was hoping you or someone else can clarify something that I honestly know nothing about. Being that I have never owned either of my manual cars under a warranty, I was wondering if engine failures directly related to redline operations or just plain old abusing the performance is covered under warranty by Nissan? The only thing that is coming to my mind is the GT-R when it first came out and how Nissan wasn't covering Launch Control and its subsequent drivetrain stress issues under warranty. While that is now covered I know that was a huge deal back then.

 

No idea. I've never lost an engine from redlining it. With the exception of the '10, I've had every engine in every car I've owned since 1972 up to its redline, and some all the way to fuel cut. Fully warmed up, of course. Not on a regular basis, but every once in a while. Knock on wood, I haven't broken one from doing that yet.

The only engine failure that I've ever had that might possibly have been within a warranty period happened nearly 40 years ago when a cam belt let go on me. I decided on the spot that the rebuild wasn't going to stay anywhere close to stock, so all considerations concerning warranty protection simply evaporated. I farmed the crank/rods/pistons out to be balanced and did the rest of the job myself for the cost of the parts plus a couple of special tools. Hadn't thought about it since, until now. With only one exception, I've managed to do all of my own engine repair/rebuild work other than tasks that require automotive machine shop equipment.

Our 2nd Gen Max's engine died trying to digest something solid, but was ~120,000 miles out of warranty when that happened.

The Mazda in my sig also lost a timing belt (tensioner failure, belt walked off the pulleys and sliced through the cover), but at around 90,000 miles. I don't think that its OBD I saves snapshot data, which would have shown that the car was being driven normally for being out on the highway - IOW, exactly the way it happened.


As I understand it, Nissan changed the rpm involved with the Launch Control as part of their GT-R "fix". Lower rpm = less rotational momentum available for conversion into a momentary torque spike = lower shock loads all the way through the drivetrain.


Norm

 

So the dealership can tell how close you have gotten to the redline and void your warranty from it? I have and extend 7 year and have gotten close to be never try to be in "the red line". So if I was a little late in shifting or the needle lagged a tiny bit I could have that warranty voided? You have me worried now. You have me wondering "did I accidentally touch the red line once?". Would it void everything or just certain parts? Computers too or just moving parts? Would it matter how long ago it happened ( say you have a problem 5 years down the road and the see it went 6600 rpm in it's first year)?

And on a similar note, how many mile would you wait untill you pushed the car to 6400 RPMs? I know the manual calls for 1200 miles under 4500 rpm. How long would you wait to try the 6400?

(sorry bout the slew of questions and I don't push the car constantly but I have done it a couple time to get a feel of what the car can do)

 

As far as I know, the OBD II snapshot data is only captured when a code is set, which I would expect to happen if you managed to break it - something would go out of its expected range. And I think snapshot data gets erased when the code is cleared. My 5th Gen throws a P0171 from time to time, but the rpm stored as snapshot is always at something consistent with normal driving in 5th gear at 50 - 70 mph and not exactly the same from one time to the next. Not the 5000-ish that it sees from time to time in 1st and 2nd gears even though that may in fact be partially responsible for the lean code getting set in the first place.

Maybe rpm data also gets stored somewhere in cases where an airbag went off.


As for how long to go before using the entire engine rpm range, plan on getting a huge range of answers, everything from right out of the dealer's lot on temporary tags to many thousand miles. I'm one of the conservative folks with respect to this particular topic. Having built up a few engines for extra performance but which also had to be dead-nuts long-term reliable because they were going into our only cars at the times probably has something to do with that. So does the fact that I have the outlook of an endurance road-racer rather than drag racer (always have), and I'd rather have a nice fat torque band to play with on corner exit than find out if there's enough "oomph" at 6000 rpm to stay with some noisy Fox-body 5.0 Mustang.

If it helps you any, I'm going through the break in process myself; our Subie came with a 4000 rpm/1000 mile guideline, which we almost stuck to (I think I very briefly hit 4200 once toward the end of that mileage). It now has about 3200 miles on it, and I've been only a little past 5000 rpm with it a couple of times. I have no schedule for hitting redline other than it'll happen somewhere after the first scheduled service interval at 3750, and I think my wife has backed her driving intensity off a few notches (and won't be telling me that this car shuts down at some rpm like she told me happened on one of the others).

I've had the Mustang into fuel cut a couple of times, but there was several thousand miles on it by the first time, I'm thinking 8000-ish.


Norm