MINI2 - MINI Forum - View Single Post

steeve · May 9th, 2007, 11:22 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Harpo (original)

In the old days, you would drive at 30 in top gear (at that time, 4th).

Modern engines, more gear ratios and traffic levels demand a different approach.

I would not attempt to drive 30 in fourth, always third for me, and that also has the benefit of being able to judge your speed by the sound of the engine.

I always adopt the principle of: 30 in third, 40 in fourth and 50 in 5th.

And I suppose you dont use 6th until youre doing 60? Hate to have to pay your fuel bills.
Modern cars should be considerably better than old ones, electronic engine management and more accurate fueling with fuel injection, along with far better overall engine balancing, stiffer FEA designed blocks, five bearing cranks (the list is endless) should make for a much smoother running engine, 30 in fourth shouldnt be any big deal. My S is fine, my old 3.2 A3 would pull away and run super smooth at 30 in fifth if I wanted, though it was a V6. I dont think we should be doing at least 2000 rpm before letting the clutch out either do you rev to 2 grand before starting off all the time?. This flat spot is in all gears just more noticeable in the higher gears. The new car should be an improvement over the old one and for driveability currently the new Cooper is not.

May 9th, 2007, 11:22 AM	#16
steeve Steeve My Classifieds Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Far Corfe Local Time: 11:32 AM Posts: 273 Offline	Quote: Originally Posted by Harpo (original) In the old days, you would drive at 30 in top gear (at that time, 4th). Modern engines, more gear ratios and traffic levels demand a different approach. I would not attempt to drive 30 in fourth, always third for me, and that also has the benefit of being able to judge your speed by the sound of the engine. I always adopt the principle of: 30 in third, 40 in fourth and 50 in 5th. And I suppose you dont use 6th until youre doing 60? Hate to have to pay your fuel bills. Modern cars should be considerably better than old ones, electronic engine management and more accurate fueling with fuel injection, along with far better overall engine balancing, stiffer FEA designed blocks, five bearing cranks (the list is endless) should make for a much smoother running engine, 30 in fourth shouldnt be any big deal. My S is fine, my old 3.2 A3 would pull away and run super smooth at 30 in fifth if I wanted, though it was a V6. I dont think we should be doing at least 2000 rpm before letting the clutch out either do you rev to 2 grand before starting off all the time?. This flat spot is in all gears just more noticeable in the higher gears. The new car should be an improvement over the old one and for driveability currently the new Cooper is not.