DaGS1800

I have been told by a few different people while in the car with me driving, that downshifting into 1st gear while in M mode is BAD for the car...

Is this true?? I hope not because I do it ALL the time?

Can someone please clarify this? Thanks.

arctichaze

Immediately after downshifting where is the RPM needle at? If you keep on doing it and it downshifts at 6k all the time then I guess it can cause faster wear and tear on the transmission.

W211 BEAST

I personally dont downshift lower than 2nd until I'm stopped, but I dont know if it's actually harmful or not

drawde

I was actually thinking about this recently. In S mode I downshift all the time, thinking it's better than wearing out the break. Is this bad? And sometimes I'll click it down multiple times in a row in somewhat quick succession.

GBlansten

I'm enjoying my leased car. Love those downshifts into first.

arctichaze

I feel bad I purchased mine... sup dude fancy seeing you here as well

GBlansten

LZH

If you are in M mode and leave it in say 4th gear and cme to a stop you will see that the transmission will downshift all the way into 1st. But, the transmission wil only downshift into 1st at about 5mph. I would venture to say that downshifting into first going any faster than 10mph will put undue and harmfull stress on your synchros.

Quadcammer

some pretty awesome synchros in your automatic transmissions huh?

451/443=EW

There is no need to shift into 1st. By the time you can your almost stopped anyway. Just watch the RPM's any time you downshift to any gear to make sure your in control and not trashing it for no reason. Quick and multipal down shifts are fine during aggressive driving...hell its the only way!

GBlansten

In all seriousness I agree. I've been using M mode a lot lately but actually downshifting into first is mostly pointless. I am addicted to the noise from the throttle blipping from downshifts in general though.

LZH

Do you have a point besides acting like a doorstop ?

SlowinFastout

with the modern cars and especially with automatic gear box you cant ruin your engine/gearbox any more.
The software will prevent downshifts at too high rpm's.

So you can downshift into 1st whenever you want/whenever it is possible - and it is not bad to your car at all!

SebringSilver

But do remember that you can still put lots of unnecessary wear on your gearbox by shifting from reverse into drive (or vice versa) without coming to a full stop first.

ahmadhasib

No, its not bad. Treat your car with love and care and you wont have anything to worry about. Down shifting into 1st gear at 7,000 RPM, ill let you assume whether its "harmful" or not.

Phill B

S or M mode, I always shift it back to first from below 20-25km/h in general driving around town. I'm only on the brakes for the last 5-10km/h to stop. My dealer has no problem with this practice and as has been mentioned, the car 'knows' what it's doing and won't allow the nut behind the wheel to shift to first if the kick down rpm will be too high. Enjoy the noise I say!

Quadcammer

sure. your post was patently incorrect.

I was making you aware of that.