Ok, I was always taught that you NEVER should downshift into first NO MATTER WHAT; that doing so can cause major damage to your car.

My question is, say I'm slowing down to a crawl (like 2 or 3 mph)... is it ok to slip it into first? The car bogs in second at such low speeds.

 

Let me clarify... I've slown down to 2-3 mph... is it ok to downshift into 1st?

 

if im comming to a complete stop, i put it in 1st at ~7-8 mph, or like if im slowly creeping around a parking lot under 10 mph, i'll put it in 1st as well. i dont have an s2000 though, i have a dsm, so i dont know how much different it is in an s.

 

7 or 8 mph i go into second...matches perfectly and i dont bog...4mph i go into first perfectly (rev matches i think) 5 or 6 is a little tricky...but i usually pull 2nd because ive tried first a few times and slightly grind the gears....not really grind but it doesnt want to go into 1st...but at 5 or 6 mph it does bog 2nd a little

 

I put it into 1st if I am planning to slow more than 15 mph. If the corner is so sharp that you have to slow down to 20 mph, then I find that 2nd gear is sufficient. Otherwise 1st gear would put to much power to the rear wheels accelerating out of a corner so sharp that it was entered at 20 mph. I find that in my MY 03, I can shift easily into 1st whenever necessary. 3mph, 5mph, 10mph or even 15mph.

There was a thread some time ago when the xviper talked about downshifting into first gear. He said that you can shift from 2nd to 1st gear at 30mph without harming the engine or transmission. I don't totally agree with that, but I respect his opinion.

 

Why would downshifting into first be different from downshifting into any other gear? I don't believe there's anything particularly special about first gear...

 

First gear just seems to be a less forgiving downshift. Whereas, when you shift from third to second there seems to be a slightly larger margin of error before your car nosedives.

 

I don't think first gear is any different, I just don't think it is necessary to downshift into 1st from 30 mph.

 

Pulling into my driveway, I almost always downshift at about 8 - 10 mph. There is no complaint or resistance from the synchros. Needless to say, you need a little bit of coordination from left and right foot to make the transition feel smooth as you begin to apply power in first gear. Lots of previous vehicles would experience a very high level of resistance if you tried that sort of downshift at virtually any speed other than a dead stop. Score one more for the S2000 transmission.

 

Just curious, but is there any kind of safety gate to prevent mis-shifts to 1st? If there is, is it speed dependent?

Historically, Honda's that I've owned have been finicky about shifting into first while moving. It just depends on whether the tranny is warmed up, speed, engine speed, etc. My CRX Si did not like to go into first unless I was stopped or bearly moving. But then again, putting that car into first at anything more that 2 mph was just useless. In fact, it seemed like I hardly ever fully got off the clutch in first gear in that car (only if I was gonna redline it). My current Civic is alot more forgiving, but I find myself using first occasionally starting from 10-15 mph (if second just doesn't have the power to get up and go). Keep in mind that's a Civic EX. Our '00 Civic Si seems to have as short first gear, but it seems somewhat forgiving at 5-10 mph, I think mostly because it's a very smooth transmission (for a <$30k car). I'll let you know my opinion on the S when I ever get around to getting one, hehe...