supared

I am an engineer (not Nissan), and can say that downshifting does not put 1/4 of the stresses on the car that the fastest acceleration does. Ideally, full on acceleration would be comparable to full on braking, with regards to drive-train stresses. "Engine braking" as it is called is not that hard on a motor. In fact, ifi you look at Nissan's history, in 2005 they introduced a technology that insures that if you brake and throttle at the same time, it overrides the throttle and only brakes. In essence the engine goes into neutral. At the same time, they also introduced "compression braking." This stops you from continually increasing speed on a downward slope when you don't intend to keep accelerating. It maintains a constant speed even on downward sloped hills by utilizing engine breaking.

Will engine braking it hurt your engine? No, engineers test for that. Will it wear things out more quickly depending on the severity of use? Yes. Aint that f'cking common sense? It would be designed to accomodate the average driver plus some factor of safety (the things we engineers cannot account for).

vernk

how is properly down shifting bad for a manual??????? I have always downshifted to slow down, saves on brakes, waste less energy, I was taught to have available power to the wheels when ever possible for evasive maneuvers. ummmm and a auto downshifts all the time when ever you slow down or when you push the gas hard enough to engage the kick down.

MadMax07SL

Is that what that is??? Man, I hate that. Going from Ford and GM for a lot of years, I got used to a car coasting, this one I'm driving now, I had to learn to use that constant slowing down, even on flat surface roads...I'm used to it now, but it took a few months and a lot of focus to get there...

RAZ76

iTrader: (8)

If you're downshifting in anticipation of turn-in and corner exit where you need to be in a lower gear than your current gear, then there's no problem with a throttle blip and a downshift.

Now on the other hand, if you're downshifting simply to take advantage of engine braking as you approach a stop sign or a stop light, then you'd probably be wise to just use your brakes. Brake pads are helluva lot cheaper than clutches and synchros.

Ghozt

according to the nissan tech's at my local service shop the CVT isn't harmed when you downshift using the tech shifting, and it actually does it a little on its own anyway. for me its not so much about saving brakepads as it is having a way to slow the car down that has nothing to do with traction on the road. so instead of having to break hard i can break lightly and downshift maintaining my traction which is great for rain, snow, etc..

sg1214

I need a better sounding exhaust so i can hear the throttle blips when I hit my left paddle lol.

IFuXwiTuZ

get the borla boomers! with 4inch tip!!! and if its not loud enough cut the resonator off!!! muahahahah (evil laugh )

why dont you guys get the pads from autozone the duralast platinum or whatever the best pads they have are

they run around $70 for both fronts and another $70 for the rears....dont know if you guys know but you could burn your pads every week and get them replaced for free

oh and if your one of those guys ...like i am... that likes to downshift and rip it or constantly rip it....then maintain your car properly with oil changes and drain and fill the CVT fluid every 30,000 miles

sg1214

Im always ripping it in this car, since I leased it, hence why i cant swap mufflers lol.

Norm Peterson

Lack of compression braking is actually a sacrifice in vehicle control for you. Chances are that GM and Ford have been "gaming" the EPA mpg estimates this way.

And it's not really a good thing for those following you either - after seeing brake lights come on repeatedly with no significant deceleration happening there is a tendency to pay less attention to them.

Manual transmission cars have always had this, and it's kind of nice to not have to do a tap-dance on the pedals for every 1 mph or 2 mph drop in speed when traffic ahead refuses to find and maintain a constant speed.

Philosophically, a throttle pedal position that's less than that required to maintain the current speed should specifically result in noticeable deceleration. Nissan got this part right.


Norm

Norm Peterson

Toyota's difficulties notwithstanding, this is not a universally good idea.

Being able to apply the brakes as you travel through water that's deep enough to wet your rotors from the wake or just a heavy splash is a really good technique that's being taken away from you. Keep in mind that you can't always avoid such situations, and you don't have to find yourself in hub-deep water for them to happen. I'd really not want to have to choose between finding myself coming to a full stop in 3" of water or dealing with thoroughly wetted brakes for half a mile afterward.


Norm

Norm Peterson

In terms of anticipating acceleration that's soon to follow, absolutely.

I might add coming to a traffic light if it is apparent as you slow down approaching it that it is about to turn 'green'.

And for speed control on long downgrades. This technique is useful for more than just CDL Class A drivers in their 18-wheelers.


Norm

supared

I think the throttle disengagement during simultaneous braking and throttle is a good thing for "women drivers." No offense to women anywhere, but if you type that into youtube, you will know what I mean.

Norm Peterson

I'm afraid I just can't get on board with that.

Keep in mind that brake override will not fix the situation where the driver is absolutely convinced that his right foot is on the brake, when in fact he's got the throttle pedal matted instead.


Norm

sonomamax

I had a 07 and was getting the 30000 maint done and went to firestone and they said "sure we can do it" so i ask them on the cvt fluid what do you use if
you change it, they said "dextron" i told him that he wasnt goin to work on my car, Nissan here i come.

valhalla

Living at 8000' of elevation, I HAVE to downshift all the time, and I do it in this car as well as my Titan. If I were to use my brakes the entire way down to Denver, they'd be smoking by the time I got there, and I'd have to replace them yearly....

Hey Norm, small world.

<--- Mudflap on mustangforums

MadMax07SL

Yeah, I got the same impression when they suggested I do that the last time I was there for an oil change. Says right on the quote, Dextron...even their computer didn't catch that mistake.

T200

I thought the "user manual" was the paddle shifters...

I use both the manual and Ds daily. This car is too fun to drive, especially with the paddles.

supared

Sorry Norm. Not sure of the misunderstanding here. The technology only voids acceleration when brake and gas are simultaneously depressed. This keeps the power of the car from overpowering the brakes and the car running into something else or off-road. It has nothing to do with the response when one pedal is pressed. You floor that gas pedal in our cars, and you are going to fly. That is a preference to me!

sg1214

Hopefully Ill get those Block off plates, and maybe in a few months some Custom headers, Will def be able to hang with SOME V8's after a little bit of engine work.

Norm Peterson

It has been found that people are sometimes convinced that they are on the brakes when in fact they are at WOT. That's an "unintended acceleration" scenario that brake override simply will not fix, meaning that the total number of unintended acceleration episodes cannot be attributed to the brakes being unable to overpower the engine. Brakes are normally more powerful than the engine as it is, though I will give you that many drivers would more than likely empty the power brake booster of vacuum and lose that assistance.


Have you ever dragged the brakes to keep your rotors and pads from becoming thoroughly soaked (and relatively useless)? Don't forget that in colder climates, freezing water in a puddle could become ice on your rotors.

Or balanced the throttle against the brake so that you could inch forward or backward where a sudden lurch would put your sheetmetal into something solid or expensive to have to get fixed?

Or needed to "catch" your car at the extreme forward or reverse positions while rocking it back and forth to get yourself unstuck?

Those are basic vehicle control-related capabilities that you should have at your disposal, for reasons that should be pretty obvious.

A driver-available defeat switch similar to the "off" switches for things like traction control and stability control would be better than nothing.


I get the feeling that many of these electronic driver "assistances" are not fully thought through in terms of what gets given up in order to "solve" the "problem du jour". Throwing the baby out with the bathwater, as it were, and this brake override thing is as good an example as any.

The bigger picture, of course, is that this creeping kudzu of electronic interferences does not appear likely to find a stopping point any time soon. Be careful what you wish for by accepting each little step as being an unquestionably good thing.


Norm