sport mode okay?

[SilverBeam]

There has been an ongoing battle between my mom (former owner of my car) and myself over the use of the sport mode. When my mom had the car she drove it in 4th all the time because they dealership told her it was good for the car, and because the car ran cooler in 4th. Good reasons, but I don't do that. I do use 4th gear when I accelerate and what not, but I like cursing in drive. I don't like seeing my RPMs up so high, and my MPGs so low, like they are in sport mode. My mom thinks it's bad on the car for me to do that, like I'm straining it or what not. Friends have told me that it's not, that I'm doing it right by having my car in 4th until I get up to forty (when coming from a stop), and then switching into drive. Can any of you offer an opinion on this one? My mom is starting to annoy me.

[slemmer]

I noticed (psychologically?) that the car is sluggish when starting in D. Personally, I thought the car was in 2nd gear. I did notice at a standstill if I shifted it into Sport shift gear 1 the car moved forward, hence, my suggestion that the car was in a different gear in D. (I could be wrong).

In the city I do drive it in Sport mode, mainly because it's more fun and I have better control of the car starting and stopping. Once I do reach cruising speed I do shift to D and back to Sport when slowing down.

[jcarey]

I have never made a habit of shifting the transmissions from A to M to S and back again. I leave my car in A all the time and have never had a problem with it.

[Bimmerhead]

little740girl,

Essentially, there are two choices that make sense in your locale.
D should be the choice for 95% of the time you drive. It will optimize your fuel economy, provide a smooth ride and as Segal pointed out stress the drive train the least. That is not to say Sport mode will damage things. It will NOT. I had my 7 on the race track in Sport mode more than once with no ill effects.
The ZF transmission is built to take it. On those ocaisions that you want more responsivness from your car, Sport Mode it the choice. Neither mode is "Bad" for your car.

Cheers,

[SilverBeam]

Originally posted by Bimmerhead
little740girl,

Essentially, there are two choices that make sense in your locale.
D should be the choice for 95% of the time you drive. It will optimize your fuel economy, provide a smooth ride and as Segal pointed out stress the drive train the least. That is not to say Sport mode will damage things. It will NOT. I had my 7 on the race track in Sport mode more than once with no ill effects.
The ZF transmission is built to take it. On those ocaisions that you want more responsivness from your car, Sport Mode it the choice. Neither mode is "Bad" for your car.

Cheers,

Hey, thanks, just what I wanted to know. I've always thought that D was easier on the car. I love sport mode, I just don't think it's... nice to have my car driving like that all the time. Fun for acceleration and it makes it easier to decelerate, but that's about it for me. Well, that, and the occasional windy road.

So Segal, they are not "gears" per say, eh? I've never thought of them in any other way. I think it's because I can switch my car into manual and go up though the, well, the gears, that I've always thought of them as such. I don't see what the difference makes in labeling them differently, they work generally the same way in sport mode.

Well thanks for clarifying things for me. Happy New Year!

[SilverBeam]

Yeah I have a E38. So it can handle being in sport mode at all times, but its easier on the car to stay in drive for the most part. That is pretty much what it comes down too, right?

[HIREN]

leaving the car in sport mode 2 will let it shift to 3?
are you sure?

cause once i put it in 2 to get some good off the line fun!
I got around 55-60 and noticed the rpms were past 6000rpms, into redline! it then clicked that i still had it in 2, so i shifted up, i think i might have gotten a little into the limiter not sure, it was a while back

but i dont think it will let u shift to 3rd when in 2

overall its a pretty neat feature to have custom sport shift points on each 2,3,4!

[SilverBeam]

The new BMW tiptonic system does upshift for you when you forget. I've driven my dad's 5 a few times in sport mode and totally forgotten that I had it in manual until I felt it upshift. I don't know what year they started with the new system though.

I use 3rd more the 2nd. When I'm on windy roads, I tend to stay in the 3rd range aposed to the 2nd. But that's just me and my driving.

[HIREN]

I was talking about the E38 without the sport pkg

[SilverBeam]

Yeah, like I said, I was talking about a different car. That's the 2000 540 that it does that in. Same idea with the drive/sport/manual modes, only his has a mind of its own, and upshifts for you when you redline. I dont' know if mine does that, I usually pay attention when I'm in manual mode. My dad's car is just a little bit easier to drive on windy roads, it sticks so much better, that it's easier to forget what gear you're in.

[M1 #43022]

refresh me again...
i have a 91 735i whats the M mode again? :help

[taiheung]

There has been an ongoing battle between my mom (former owner of my car) and myself over the use of the sport mode. When my mom had the car she drove it in 4th all the time because they dealership told her it was good for the car, and because the car ran cooler in 4th. Good reasons, but I don't do that. I do use 4th gear when I accelerate and what not, but I like cursing in drive. I don't like seeing my RPMs up so high, and my MPGs so low, like they are in sport mode. My mom thinks it's bad on the car for me to do that, like I'm straining it or what not. Friends have told me that it's not, that I'm doing it right by having my car in 4th until I get up to forty (when coming from a stop), and then switching into drive. Can any of you offer an opinion on this one? My mom is starting to annoy me.

Do you drive a 323i or a 7?

And what transmission do you have?
Is it the P-R-N-D-3-2 style?

I'm asking because you've all totally confused me - I'm assuming it is as there is no way in hell I would try and take off in 4th gear. lol.

Also, to someone's original comment regarding "D" starting off in 2nd gear, yes I believe it does. I have noticed with my '98 E38 that when in Steptronic the E38 will only ever automatically drop to as low as 2nd gear, even when idle for quite a while. I think this is to save the gearbox from suddenly being slammed on in 1st when the car is anticipating you slowing down. It is much safer to start off in 2nd gear than risking extra stress on your poor gearbox.

I think what the car does is start off in 2nd, but if you give it the gas it near immediately drops down to 1st.

[crazn]

She HAD a E38 and traded it in for a 323i.

This post has been brought back from the dead, check out the original post date: 12-30-2002

Edit: I posted this under Crazn's screename but this is NuG. Sorry roomate.