# Cruze holds it speed going downhill - in Neutral!!



## shawn672 (Oct 31, 2010)

Oh man wall of text. I read some of it
I will add that every night there is a large hill right before my apartment and I usually coast right before the hill (around 35mph when I hit the top) as I go down the hill I gain speed weather in drive or neutral. I find that in neutral I gain slightly more speed by the bottom, likely because the transmission is not engaged and that's extremely normal


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## RS LTZ (Jan 5, 2011)

These cars turn high RPM's at highway speeds (ECO is lower due to a higher 6th gear). This is partially due to the fact that it is a small engine in a relatively large car, higher RPM's make it easier to go highway speeds and pass.

The likely event of you going down that hill in neutral and not gaining/loosing speed is that you inadvertently found a balance between speed/air resistance/incline where they all equal out. Therefore there is no net force acting on the car in either direction keeping the same speed.


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## JRBCruze (Mar 10, 2011)

I see where you said that you had read some of it, and if you had kept reading you would have seen where I said that the car doesn't have the problem at lower speeds only highway speeds. Why do you even bother replying if you are not going to read the whole situation?


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## TSURacing (Jan 1, 2011)

You will notice that this multi clutch transmission behaves in some ways more like a manual than a traditional auto trans. You will notice the engine braking and downshifts more than a regular automatic. As you noticed, if you put the trans in N when you would normally just push the clutch in on a manual to coast you get the same effect. Similarly, if you leave it in gear while coasting it will feel more like a manual trans in that you can note the resistance of the engine. There seems to be a more positive connection between the engine and transmission, which increases efficiency, but it take a little getting used to.


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## Aeroscout977 (Nov 25, 2010)

JRBCruze said:


> I see where you said that you had read some of it, and if you had kept reading you would have seen where I said that the car doesn't have the problem at lower speeds only highway speeds. Why do you even bother replying if you are not going to read the whole situation?


Because he was trying to help with some input of his own in a simillar situation? At no point did I see him offer a solution to what you are looking for. Maybe he was guessing his input with his situation + yours could lead to an answer from someone with knowledge on both events and the inner workings for the Cruze. Perhaps our local 6T40 engineer will have something to add. Maybe next time you could structure your problem in a way that doesn't put off people from reading it?


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## shawn672 (Oct 31, 2010)

JDM-USDM Love said:


> Because he was trying to help with some input of his own in a simillar situation? At no point did I see him offer a solution to what you are looking for. Maybe he was guessing his input with his situation + yours could lead to an answer from someone with knowledge on both events and the inner workings for the Cruze. Perhaps our local 6T40 engineer will have something to add. Maybe next time you could structure your problem in a way that doesn't put off people from reading it?


this.

wall of text = no ones going to read it. no offense but if it was properly structured i would have easily read the entire thing. i read half and was trying to provide some input that my car does not have this issue. 

i also think the car is very adequate at highway speeds. i see speeds of 85-90 on a weekly basis, the car has enough passing power. if you dont agree, get the tune and boost up to 190ft/lb @ wheels and 170whp.


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## scaredpoet (Nov 29, 2010)

JRBCruze said:


> The weird thing is that when you are going lower "around town" speeds and go downhill and let off the gas or even put it in neutral the car will gain speed, which is what always happens in any other car I have driven.


I've found that different cars coast differently. That's just they way they are. Some cars are accomplished coasters and will zoom down hills. Others, not so much, even in neutral.

There's a whole bunch of reasons for this. Your tires have a certain level of rolling resistance, that makes friction, and that level of friction differs from one model of tire to the next. Air resistance is being created (even if the wind is at your back, you're going to have to be driving through a hurricane to fully counteract cutting through the air at 70MPH). There could even be suspension and handling components that are limiting just how fast the car will go on a coast.

RS LTZ hit the head on the nail. At highway speed you're hitting a point where the downward force of gravity on the Cruze is being counteracted just enough by all the other forces acting in the opposite direction, limiting your maximum coast speed. This max speed si different on the Cruze than other cars for the mere fact that _it's a different car_, and different cars are equipped differently, meaning they'll also behave differently from one another.



> Also, at 70-75 mph the car's rpm's are at 3000+,


That's about right for a 1.4L engine. The Cruze isn't the only small-engine car that revvs that high at 70-75.



> which I thought was awfully high considering it has 6 gears.


If you're accelerating, you're probably not in 6th gear. The way to find out is to move the shifter column over to Manual and see what the gear display tells you on the instrument cluster (to the left of your odometer), then tilt the shifter back to automatic.




> I feel like there is something causing resistance, which would also explain why I am getting nowhere near the advertised mpg, I drive 85% highway and 15% city and so far I am only getting 29 mpg.


15% city can mean a lot. If you're at stop lights a lot during that city driving, then that's going to impact negatively on your mileage. 0MPH = 0MPG.

We don't know your driving conditions, so there's know way of knowing for sure if this is right or not. Do you drive in an area with lots of hills? I'm figuring this is a yes, since in order to coast _down_ a hill, at some people you have to drive up it. And if you're accelerating hard up that hill, then you're likely to take more of a hit that way than can be counteracted by coasting down.


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## JRBCruze (Mar 10, 2011)

Thanks for everyone's input. I just want to be sure the car is operating as it should. I was worried that feeling resistance meant i was forcing something that shouldn't be, and i don't want the transmission going out on me if something was really wrong and needed to be fixed. Sorry Shawn672 that i can be "long-winded" (ha ha, I am a girl - what do you expect? but I just wanted to make sure i explained all the variables so i could get helpful input.


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## shawn672 (Oct 31, 2010)

long winded and quick to pull a gun on me.. figures you'd be a girl 
haha welcome aboard and enjoy your stay. i hope collectively we can answer your questions


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