Hello,
I have a stock 2001 S2000, with about 90k miles on it. I'm from Central CA and Next weekend I plan on going down south and there is a pretty steep hill that I have to go through. And I have heard through a couple different people that when going up hill you have to downshift and go back upshift a lot and wanted to get a better understanding. Please help.
P.S. the up hill is on a freeway so I will probably be going around 65 miles per hour

 

I never had to do that going up any hills.
TBH if people are down shifting and up shifting a lot hills that's more on their driving skills and not the car.

 

When the car starts losing speed you'll know it is time to shift to a lower gear, no big deal. Have a good trip.
Levi

 

Unless there's a truck lane required I can't imagine needing to downshift or even dropping out of cruise control on an Interstate. Nor do I recall doing so across western Pennsylvania last summer even on stretches needing a truck lane, but may have. Wasn't drastic enough to plant in my memory. It's not like the car will struggle.

-- Chuck

 

With any car, there is usually an rpm threshold the engine doesn't like dropping below, or it will lug. With the S, that seems to be about 3k rpm.

So if you're going uphill, and rpm is dropping down and approaching 3k, downshift. That is true hill or otherwise.

 

The way I see it is that it's a high revving car by nature, if you notice that you're loosing speed I don't see any issue downshifting for some extra R's. I wish I had an AP1 with as little miles as yours! I'm packing 165k on the body with 95k on the motor! Have a nice trip!

 

use those gears and don't lug the engine below 2000 RPM. Be sure you've checked oil levels on flat ground with the engine cold on the low side of the dip stick before you leave.

enjoy the ride!

darcy

 

Adjust your gears when going uphill, it's easier to pick up acceleration when downshifting so you don't bog your engine

 

I am pretty new to this kind of car but the more comfortable I get in it (I put about 10K miles on it last season) the more I find myself working the gear box to keep it up pretty high in the revs. The car is very comfortable when it is rev'd up high but it takes some time to get used to that. I don't use VTEC a lot frankly because there are not many occasions when I can do that and stay at legal speeds. But, there are times when I can, and it is pretty darn exciting. I really love this car. It is a joy.

Edit - I should add that uphill driving is particularly enjoyable in part because there is less braking necessary to navigate curves when driving in a spirited way and much of the speed control before entering curves can be accomplished with the gear box.

 

You will find the Grapevine no big deal at all. The S can go uphill very well even in higher gears. You may have to downshift to 5th especially if traffic forces your hand.