# trans question?



## 2014cruse+ls (Jun 26, 2014)

so i been driving in manual mode ever since week 2 of owning my cruze (got it in july 25th) so i have had people tell me that i am going to tear up the engine and trans, driving like that (from family). i will just like some back up. i really dont want to deal with a manual of having to clutch in all the time. so having the manual feature sure is nice. plus having that dfco feature sure saves on brakes. (90% of the time i dont have to touch the brakes.) slowing down from min speed of 30mph. max speed 50mph (town) and 65-75mph on the highway. 

the way i drive in manual mode. i dont peg the rev limiter if i am going wot, and i down shift to slow down. and i always shift at 4k mostly (then once i hit my speed i want i will shift into 5th or 6th depending on the speed limit. the trans is smart so i would think it can handle it. after all why have it if it will hurt it. but dealer logic give it to them and when it breaks (the dealers) will get more money for a repair.

and i have noticed it shifts so much faster in drive then manual mode. why is that? 

thanks guys.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

For the engine's longevity, I would advise against always revving the snot out of it...and while it's fine to use the higher gears to hold your speed down on a hill, don't use something like 1st-2nd gear to engine brake a whole lot as you slow to a stop. Hard engine braking in low gears creates a lot of heat in the transmission and causes undue stress on a lot of things. Brake pads are disposable for a reason.

But no, driving sensibly in manual mode all of the time won't hurt the car.



> and i have noticed it shifts so much faster in drive then manual mode. why is that?


It already knows when it plans on shifting, so it has all the solenoids and clutches lined up to make that shift by the time it hits the RPM it knows it's going to shift at. When you tell it to shift in manual mode, it has to do all of that as quickly as it can when you tell it to.


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## 2014cruse+ls (Jun 26, 2014)

that does make sense, but it sure is nice having that feature and if i remember correctly dfco mode kicks in at 1500+rpm so i thought that why the car was slowing down so quickly. it sure is nice though. having this feature

coming from the truck in my sig it was a pain to stop quickly granted that ram had about 4k lbs more vs the cruze. and i have driven my buddies newish ram diesel with the exhaust brake and its sure is nice feature plus tow haul. (it kinda acts like the cruzes engine brake.) but then again thats 2 different things.


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## BowtieGuy (Jan 4, 2013)

My opinion on automatics is they are called "automatic" for a reason. Just let the transmission do its thing. Except in a few uncommon situations, I would just leave it in drive. 
I always thought the whole "manual" shifting feature on automatics was one of the most pointless features. The transmission can shift itself a whole lot better than most people can, and even if you try to shift earlier, you just get "shift denied" messages.


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## LizzieCruze (Feb 17, 2014)

I have been using the manual shifting option every other gas-up. I am noticing a 2mpg difference between the manual and auto shifting. Manual is getting the 2+ mpg. It will automatically downshift when I am slowing down, but not as quickly as when in auto mode. This allows for more coasting which gives me more mpg. My last car was a 5 speed Civic, so I am very used to coasting as opposed to braking when slowing down. 

I do about 80/20 city/highway, so I think it helps me there also because I have so many stops.

Right now my mpg is avg 34, but I am hoping it will go up as my car breaks in. I only have 3500 miles on it.

I drive a 2014 1Lt automatic.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

BowtieGuy said:


> My opinion on automatics is they are called "automatic" for a reason. Just let the transmission do its thing. Except in a few uncommon situations, I would just leave it in drive.
> I always thought the whole "manual" shifting feature on automatics was one of the most pointless features. The transmission can shift itself a whole lot better than most people can, and even if you try to shift earlier, you just get "shift denied" messages.


At stop lights/signs I use my auto in D mode. With a light foot the automatic will shift every gear just above 2000RPM, smoother and quicker than I can without every seeing the shift denied message. Once up to 30MPH I pull the lever into M and shift(if not already) into 5th gear.

I prefer to lock 5th on 30-45mph streets as the DIC is reading in the 50+mpg range on level streets at steady speed, this also stops any unintended downshifting on throttle inputs. I do the same thing with 6th gear at 42mph+ on levels streets. 



BowtieGuy said:


> I always thought the whole "manual" shifting feature on automatics was one of the most pointless features.


Your missing the point, its not about manually shifting the auto trans, its about being able to tell the trans to be in the correct gear for the situation. All automatics have some sort of mode to select a lower gear, so you can tell the trans to hold a lower gear for more power in hills, for passing or a turn you need to slow for ahead. The cruze manual mode works very very well for this intended purpose.

In the rolling hills in SW wisconsin on 2 lane 55mph highways my speed is low enough unless I'm going 65mph+ I'm not putting down enough power in 6th gear to hold 6th in D on every hill. To stop unneeded downshifting from 6th or to hold 5th on the really hilly sections M mode is great. It also nice to downshift to 5th in the downhill sections to have slightly better compression braking.


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## BowtieGuy (Jan 4, 2013)

spacedout said:


> Your missing the point, its not about manually shifting the auto trans, its about being able to tell the trans to be in the correct gear for the situation.


...Isn't that the whole point of owning a manual?

If you are going to go through all that trouble of selecting the gears that often, is it really that much more work for a manual? IMO if you are taking it out of D that often, you would be better served by a manual for fuel economy and power (speaking specifically in the Cruze, other cars may vary). Plus the ~$1k off MSRP of buying the manual over the automatic. When I was playing around with the Malibu loaner I had in manual mode, most of the times I wanted to select a different gear it just gave me a "shift denied" message anyways.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

BowtieGuy said:


> ...Isn't that the whole point of owning a manual?
> 
> If you are going to go through all that trouble of selecting the gears that often, is it really that much more work for a manual? IMO if you are taking it out of D that often, you would be better served by a manual for fuel economy and power (speaking specifically in the Cruze, other cars may vary). Plus the ~$1k off MSRP of buying the manual over the automatic. When I was playing around with the Malibu loaner I had in manual mode, most of the times I wanted to select a different gear it just gave me a "shift denied" message anyways.


If I wanted a manual I would have bought one, no way I want to row gears all day long. I would also never buy a car for $19K+ with a manual that didn't have some actual power to have fun with. To me a manual makes most cars feel cheap unless its a sports car, would have to save way more than $1000 to buy a stick. The automatic cost also increases the value of your trade in, as most dealers don't want a manual that will sit 4X longer decreasing their profits. 

Again the way I use manual mode is to HOLD gears, not to shift gears. At most it may be to select a gear or two lower than auto mode would put me in(to keep the engine in the power band, above turbo boost). 

Does the malibu even work at all like the cruze in manual mode? The Impalas and silverados I have driven with 6 speed autos did not let you hold gears at full throttle but rather let you select the highest gear it will automatically shift too. Manual mode in our cars doesn't downshift at all on throttle input & locks the gear your in, works exactly like a clutchless manual in that respect. In manual mode the only automatic shifts are downshifts, this occurs when your RPM/Speed drop to low for the given gear.


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## BowtieGuy (Jan 4, 2013)

spacedout said:


> If I wanted a manual I would have bought one, no way I want to row gears all day long. I would also never buy a car for $19K+ with a manual that didn't have some actual power to have fun with. To me a manual makes most cars feel cheap unless its a sports car, would have to save way more than $1000 to buy a stick. The automatic cost also increases the value of your trade in, as most dealers don't want a manual that will sit 4X longer decreasing their profits.
> 
> Again the way I use manual mode is to HOLD gears, not to shift gears. At most it may be to select a gear or two lower than auto mode would put me in(to keep the engine in the power band, above turbo boost).
> 
> Does the malibu even work at all like the cruze in manual mode? The Impalas and silverados I have driven with 6 speed autos did not let you hold gears at full throttle but rather let you select the highest gear it will automatically shift too. Manual mode in our cars doesn't downshift at all on throttle input & locks the gear your in, works exactly like a clutchless manual in that respect. In manual mode the only automatic shifts are downshifts, this occurs when your RPM/Speed drop to low for the given gear.


As far as the Cruze goes, IMO the manual transmission feels of a lot better quality than the automatic. And I disagree heavily about a manual transmission making a car feel "cheap." To me, a cheap automatic in an econobox still feels cheap. But that is more a matter of personal opinion, coming from someone who has owned nothing but manual transmission cars (The wife is a different story). As far as trade in goes, I agree it would be easier to trade in an automatic for the reason you listed. But I always sell my cars myself instead and keep the extra $1-2k+ over trading in. And the difference in price between the two in those sales has been negligible.

In all honesty, I didn't play with manual mode in the Malibu long enough to get a good grasp of if it operates similarly. It did hold the gear I selected into lower RPMs than it would have in typical D, but I didn't test just how far it would hold that gear. And I didn't attempt to hold a gear at full throttle either. Mostly because I was trying to save on gas mileage which was predictably a lot less than what I'm getting in my Cruze currently.


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## Sunline Fan (Jul 29, 2012)

spacedout said:


> Does the malibu even work at all like the cruze in manual mode? The Impalas and silverados I have driven with 6 speed autos did not let you hold gears at full throttle but rather let you select the highest gear it will automatically shift too. Manual mode in our cars doesn't downshift at all on throttle input & locks the gear your in, works exactly like a clutchless manual in that respect. In manual mode the only automatic shifts are downshifts, this occurs when your RPM/Speed drop to low for the given gear.


I don't believe even the newer Cruzen will allow you to hold a gear to the floor. I believe I heard the tuning was changed so that it will downshift if given a decent amount of throttle.


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## LizzieCruze (Feb 17, 2014)

I chose the automatic transmission because I knew that I would be keeping the car for as long as I can. I drove the 5 speed civic for 14 yrs and before that, a 5 speed Volkswagon Golf for 13 yrs. I would have purchased a manual Cruze, but am thinking that my clutching ability might become more difficult as I age. It does feel good to be able to wear heels and drive comfortably!  For the days that I feel like shifting, well ... I shift!


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