Omega Transmission Trick??

[ascottaudio]

Went for spin in the still newish VE omega..I like this car more every time I drive it..
I had a play around with the trasmission while driving..and then had a look at the owners manual once home.. and I think I found something quite interesting..
From what I can tell (and I may be wrong) the omega (and other 4 speed models) ..although not haveing the active select..do have a trick up their sleeves that the 5/6 speeds dont..you can put the car in 2/3..and utilise it to just go up to the selected gear..ie..in a street with speed bumps..put it in 2..slow down for the bump..car goes back to 1st..speed up cars goes into 2nd and stays in 2nd..slow down for bump..car goes back to 1st..and repeat...on more open city streets..one could use 3 to do normal driving and this would stop 4th gear being engaged..which is pretty much like O\D to my mind..which can be a bit low for some "normal" driving.
I know active select can be used in a triptronic fashion..but from what I read you can only select one gear at a time..this 4 speed "trick" is a hoot and a half..Almost seems to good..so sorry If I am completly wrong about other models not being able to do this...

I also would like to know.. if using the 1/2/3 in a triptronic fashion..would harm the trany...theres nothing in the manual saying not to..and a lot saying to use the lower selections for engine braking..I cetainly wouldnt be doing any major experimentation of this..without knowing...but the earlier metioned "trick"...sure made driving down a street loaded with speed bumps..a lot more fun.

PS. See my other post regarding speed bumps "Theory" in the "general" section.

 

[vy_storm]

Has been around for a while. My 4 speed auto VY taps down to 3rd/2nd also.

 

[danja]

Every auto does this

"3" is exactly the same as O/D off, as 4th is the overdriven gear.

In my previous car I used to drive it manually selecting the gears all the time (then I got a proper manual conversion ). I don't believe it harmed the tranny at all, so long as you're sensible and don't try and drop it in 1st when you're doing 80 etc (though it's probably got anti-abuse modes to stop you anyway).

 

[ascottaudio]

oops?

feel a bit silly now...but is it still somthing the 5/6 speed autos cant do?

 

[danja]

feel a bit silly now...but is it still somthing the 5/6 speed autos cant do?

Sorry but they can, and they usually get a "4" selection too

Are you usually a manual driver?

 

[ruggj]

yep my vx does this, same as any other auto commodore ive been in

 

[MickVE]

Sorry mate, got some bad news for you every auto car I have driven does this. It is handy though especially when you want to make sure the car is in the right gear for overtaking or something like that.

 

[BOY1236]

I have the 4-speed on my VE SS (Long story), didn't need to used the tranny 123 only rarely, once on a drag race

it seems to shift gears nicely, but sometimes shifts too early

after destroying 4 transmissions on my other car, I stopped missing with them

 

[monaro327]

all autos do this. also the idea of tiptronic is to give the driver control so it is seen as an advantage that it will hold the gear you slect but even in tiptronic i believe it you stop the gearbox will engage first.

seriously though why buy an auto if you want a manual?

 

[danja]

all autos do this. also the idea of tiptronic is to give the driver control so it is seen as an advantage that it will hold the gear you slect but even in tiptronic i believe it you stop the gearbox will engage first.

Yup, tiptronic holds the gear until it's not possible to do so (either because the revs fall below idle speed, or above redline)