IIRC that was @CR94 with an '81ish Mazda GLC (the 323's predecessor).Was your 323 the one with 600k miles? Someone on this forum had one.
We had an '82 - excellent car.
IIRC that was @CR94 with an '81ish Mazda GLC (the 323's predecessor).Was your 323 the one with 600k miles? Someone on this forum had one.
There is a 1984 Cavalier still on the road???
Mercedes even did this as recently as 2008 - possibly 2012. The 7G Tronic in my '08 C300 would start out in 2nd if you had it in economy mode, it would drop down pretty quickly to first if you hit the kickdown button from a stop. Sport mode would have it default to 1st from a stop and my experience was that it got better fuel economy driving around sedately in sport mode vs economy. I can't recall if my 2012 E350 started in 2nd or not but part of me thinking it did if in comfort mode (MB changed name from economy to comfort in 2009 or 2010).It's another German or specifically a Mercedes thing. I had the same 4 speed auto in a 190e which was for all intents and purposes a 3 speed. It was a poor auto compared to other contemporary 4 speed autos. I don't know why exactly they have 1st so low as be useless but the trait continues to this day. I have a 2009 6 speed manual and 1st is only good for hill starts. Even the handbook advises that you should set off in 2nd on the flat. Autos are still the same in having a very low 1st gear. They may have resolved the top gear issue by having 9 speeds but they still start off in 2nd meaning they are really only an 8 speed.
Sounds like the wonderful "Skip Shift" idea that GM came up with on the Corvettes and F-Bodies in the early 90s on the manuals. If you were driving under a certain speed it would lock you out of 2nd and 3rd and force you to shift into 4th gear from 1st. Supposedly it would improve mileage but it was a very annoying feature to say the least. Don't remember anyone liking it and most of us just disabled it with a simple hardware mod on the transmission or in the tune if you had the software and equipment for that. It was the first thing I did on my 94 Z28 after I bought it and got into tuning the PCM.Mercedes even did this as recently as 2008 - possibly 2012. The 7G Tronic in my '08 C300 would start out in 2nd if you had it in economy mode, it would drop down pretty quickly to first if you hit the kickdown button from a stop. Sport mode would have it default to 1st from a stop and my experience was that it got better fuel economy driving around sedately in sport mode vs economy. I can't recall if my 2012 E350 started in 2nd or not but part of me thinking it did if in comfort mode (MB changed name from economy to comfort in 2009 or 2010).
Clearly not as much of a "thing" as Honda has axed the Fit for the N. American market.My '15 Fit with the 6 speed manual wails at 3000 RPM while going 60 MPH, so it's still a thing.
Around 16 mph per 1000 rpm (i.e., 3750 revolutions per mile, or 3750 RPM at 60 mph) was typical of small cars in the 60s and 70s, including my Subaru. By the early '80s, "overdrive" 5th ratios were becoming popular. For example, my 5-speed Mazda GLC (323) did about 23 mph/1000 rpm. However the automatic and 4-speed manual were geared much lower. Later manual cars---for example the manual Fit---regressed on that front.At a little over 20mph per 1000rpm this gearing is unreasonably short by modern standards, but it was not uncommon back in the 80's. I had a 1989 2.0 litre Mercedes with similar gearing and I didn't like it. The equivalent car today is geared at 30mph/1000rpm ...
As I mentioned earlier in the thread - the manual Fit is doing 3,000 at 100kph, the CVT Fit is doing 2,000rpm. I drove an 07 iVTEC Fit today - it was doing 1800rpm at 100kph.My '15 Fit with the 6 speed manual wails at 3000 RPM while going 60 MPH, so it's still a thing.
It's another German or specifically a Mercedes thing. I had the same 4 speed auto in a 190e which was for all intents and purposes a 3 speed. It was a poor auto compared to other contemporary 4 speed autos. I don't know why exactly they have 1st so low as be useless but the trait continues to this day. I have a 2009 6 speed manual and 1st is only good for hill starts. Even the handbook advises that you should set off in 2nd on the flat. Autos are still the same in having a very low 1st gear. They may have resolved the top gear issue by having 9 speeds but they still start off in 2nd meaning they are really only an 8 speed.