Does Honda fit drive smoothly upwards on the hill slopes?
Honda Fit 109 hp with 1.5l engine, auto , drives up the Cahone Pass, (interstate 15) will do 80 easy speed limit+10 and have gone up to 95 ( no hwy patrol in view) before going over the crest. ( tractor trailers do 20-45 max.) one person driving. The constant velocity trans works smooth. If I floored the throttle, I believe I can get 120 up the hill. and do max 140 over the top. May end up with lots of Hwy Patrol cars on my tail !!
Why do car enthusiasts say that if you can't drive a manual, you're not a real man?
I’ve never heard the “not a real man” saying.However, I do feel strongly that everyone should learn how to drive on a manual. It allows you to drive anything if the need arises.When I started 4-wheeling, the vehicle I learned in was an old GMC 4-spd. You either knew how to properly use a clutch or you didn't get to drive. That simple fact brought about my passion for 4-wheelings and the driving challenges it presents. For example:I could hold that position without touching the brakes. How? The clutch.When I started working in film, I was presented an opportunity to drive one of these:No problem. Clutch work is a little different, there's a lot more gears but if you’ve become proficient in learning RPMs and when to shift, no big deal. Air brakes? Easy to learn and easier to operate. Now whenever I want to change things up to kill boredom, I work with our transport department.Like I said earlier, I’m a firm believer that everyone should learn on a manual. It opens doors (even if that one and only opportunity is driving a.drunk friends car home one night).But “not a real man”? No.
How to use this manual mode in automatic car?
First off, you can't mess up your car using the manual shift gate on the automatic because the car's computer won't let you make a stupid mistake (like say, trying to shift into 1st gear at 75mph). So don't worry about that. The '+' and '-' areas indicate where you move the lever to upshift '+' or downshift '-' a gear. Each time you bump the lever in one direction, the transmission will upshift (or downshift) one gear depending on which way you push the lever. Again, it will allow you to upshift or downshift as much as you want as long as you aren't asking for it to do anything crazy (like shifting to too low a gear at high speed or too high a gear at low speed). So, for example, if you want to go from a stop shifting it yourself from 1st gear all the way to 5th gear, you'd put the lever in the manual gate to the right, then make sure the car is in 1st gear while you are stopped (the car will likely do this for you automatically, but if not, just bump the lever to '-' until you see '1' somewhere on the instrument panel - it should indicate somewhere what gear you're in) Then take off. At some point before the engine hits redline on the tachometer in 1st gear, bump the lever FORWARD (+) to shift into 2nd. Do the same while in 2nd gear to shift into 3rd. Do the same from 3 to 4, then 4 to 5. Downshifting can be done in reverse order. When you're slowing down, you can bump the lever BACKWARD (-) to shift down from 5 to 4, 4 to 3, 3 to 2, and if you really want to, 2 to 1, though it will do this for you if you come to a stop. As for sport mode in automatic - all that does is delay shift points so that the engine revs higher in each gear than it normally would in "non" sport mode (D) before it upshifts. It may also hold a lower gear longer when you're decelerating to provide a little engine braking. Allowing the engine to rev more means that the engine is making more power (but is burning more fuel) so the car accelerates a little more quickly BUT if you floor it in plain old 'D' the transmission will just allow the engine to rev as much as possible anyway so you're not really gaining much by driving the car in "sport mode" automatic if you're driving it foot-to-the-floor in 'D'.