How to drive "fake" stick?

[braz]

My mom has an Infiniti G35 Coupe, and it has that + - shifting thing. I get how to shift up, I just listen to the engine, push the stick to +. The part I dont get is shifting down, when do I do it? When I come to a stop? When I am almost at a stop? It seems like if I down shift too early, the car goes SUPER slow almost stopping on its own, any help? thanks tech forums! Also, I can't really hurt the car if I suck at this, can I? It is an automatic car, with the "fake" manual (what I like to call it lol)

 

[CrazeD]

When the RPM's fall to a certain point you shift down. If the car suddenly gets really slow, that means you shifted down with the RPM's too high.

 

[philbar71]

the + and - you are referring to are called paddle shifters.

i assume it is a 6 speed so generally 1st gear is used for taking off 0-15MPH 2nd is used for 15-25MPH 3rd is for 25-35MPH 4th is used for 35-45MPH 5th and 6th can be used for 45 and above.

now by no means are my estimates are correct, so just take what i have said with a grain of salt. but generally when you want to downshift is when the RPM's go below a certain point and the engine bogs down. now this varies greatly with every car and the speed you are driving at but it's probably good downshift when the engine goes below 1400-2000RPM. but like i said i have never driven this car, so do not assume i am right. the only manual vehicle i have driven is my dads '05 vette and my moms '03 corrola.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Most cars owner manuals will tell you what speeds you should use the gears in, depending upon the driving style.

 

[lancec2c30]

Doesn't that style of tip-tronic transmission downshift itself if you want? Either way, it's just another stupid flappy paddle gear-box.

 

[braz]

I just got back from driving it, turns out it down shifts automatically when u stop, really nice. Its really fun to drive.

 

[lancec2c30]

Told you so.

 

[Apokalipse]

I've never driven a car with an automatic gearbox. It's manual all the way for me.

Anyway, when do you shift down? depends. Are you stopping? are you just slowing down, turning a corner, and are going to accelerate again afterwards? or are you just slowing down to a lower speed and going to stay at that speed for a while?

If you're stopping, it's not as important to lower gears until you stop (when you'd put it in neutral), just as long as you don't let the RPM drop too low. though you can use the gears to slow the car down instead of the brakes.

if you're going to accelerate afterwards, go down to a gear that will give you the best acceleration from the speed which you slow down to

if you're just slowing down and are going to stay at that speed for a while, depends on the engine and traffic. You just don't want the engine to stay on such a low RPM that acceleration would take too long.

 

[CrazeD]

if you're just slowing down and are going to stay at that speed for a while, depends on the engine and traffic. You just don't want the engine to stay on such a low RPM that acceleration would take too long.

Just another note on this:

This is where the huge benefit in manual tranny over auto tranny is that you can stay in a higher gear than necessary for the speed you're traveling at, which will keep RPM's down and as such will reduce fuel consumption.

 

[Mr. Switch]

Does the car not have a clutch or something?

I'm kind of at a loss here, the only cars i've seen with gearboxes that either go up or down are in race cars, and I know they have clutches.

I mean, what if you want to shift from 5th to 3rd?