it drops revs...

[commod8]

hollo! i drive my parents' vr v6, and i drive around in 3 (coz 4th gear is only useful at any speed under 100) and when it's in third, and im accelerating up to 70, not hitting it hard, just cruising up to 70, at somewhere between 65 - 70 kmh, the revs drop by a couple of hundred - the engine noise dies down a bit, and i see the tacho needle drop a bit. what's going on there? the car is fine, just don't understand how teh revs drop when i don't even back of the accelerator. by the way if i do drive in D, it doesn't do this, it simply kicks into fourth as it normally would. thanx in advance!

[vt1538]

Its more than likely the torque convertor clutch kicking in. Because it locks the input shaft to the flywheel speed you no longer have the slippage from the TC. This means the engine needs less revs to hold the speed your at.

[commod8]

ah yeah thanx mate, appreciate the info!

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

And I take it you don't pay for the fuel. Just put it in drive and let the transmission do its job.

[commod8]

oops sorry i meant 4th gear is only useful at 100 + kmh. anyway i'm a learner, always with mum or dad, so no i don't pay for fuel. when i drive by myself on my P's i will be paying for fuel. and anyway, our car kicks into fourth at silly speeds like 40 and 50, so it's revving at like 1200rpm and it struggles if you need to speed up or go uphill, unless you hit the pedal hard. anyway i've heard from plenty of people the it actually does use less fuel in 3, for the reason i stated....4th is a waste around the suburbs

[VRSS]

oops sorry i meant 4th gear is only useful at 100 + kmh. anyway i'm a learner, always with mum or dad, so no i don't pay for fuel. when i drive by myself on my P's i will be paying for fuel. and anyway, our car kicks into fourth at silly speeds like 40 and 50, so it's revving at like 1200rpm and it struggles if you need to speed up or go uphill, unless you hit the pedal hard. anyway i've heard from plenty of people the it actually does use less fuel in 3, for the reason i stated....4th is a waste around the suburbs

why not just keep it in drive, and when you need to 'speed or go up a hill', just put it back to 3rd?
that way the trans can go into overdrive and sit on lower revs at the speed limit saving fuel, and if you need the extra power it doesnt take much effort to bump the gear selector back a gear

[commod8]

well ideal cruising revs (for efficient use of fuel) aren't at ~1100/1200 rpm - the revs our vr sits at, at times. im not going to select 3 if im in a 40 zone then put it in D in a 70 zone, then if i slow down and need to speed up again, go back to 3...it's auto, im supposed to leave it in 1 gear, besides, i think my parents would get annoyed if i kept going from 3 to D. i drive a lot in school zones to pick my brother up from school, my speeds range from 40 - 70 so im not going to go 3 - D, 3 -D so i just leave it in 3 and its fine . If it were manual, then it would be a different story. like i said, some people get better economy in 3 around town, so leaving it there wont hurt

thanks to all that contributed