First gear?

[Jeffzguy]

So first off when I got in my car tonight, I put the key in and from when I put it in till a few seconds after I started it it was beeping at me. Never does it so I thought I would ask.

 

Also I put it on the 1 on the gear selector and took off down the highway to have fun, and it got to 3500 rpm and shifted into 2nd. I thought 1st was first...?

[ehsnils]

For AT gearboxes it's not that simple. The gearbox overrides the driver's selection when it "thinks" that the driver has done something wrong. That in order to protect the engine from overrevving or stalling.

 

But a better way to look at it is to see what Mercedes did on their AT gearboxes - they never had those "1" and "2" steps, but instead PRNDSL where S stands for "Slow" and L stands for "Low" or "Load".

 

The primary intent of the "lower" range selections on AT gearboxes is to manage towing and driving downhill to let the engine do the job of limiting the vehicle speed. During long stretches of downhill you should never rely on the brakes alone to keep down the speed since overheated brakes are one of the reasons why serious accidents occur in hill/mountain areas.

 

And - yes - as long as the engine isn't overrevving it's safe to do engine braking.

[Legacy Wagon]

You can always put it into manual mode and it wont shift until you want it to. Hit the button on the left of the shifter and a light should illuminate on the dash that says manual. This allows you to rev high in gear and wont shift until you change to 2nd. I wouldn't suggest this though. The other day my friend accidentally put it in manual mode (and for some reason he shifts through the gears on his own) and he was pulling over 6500rpm in his 91 Legacy getting onto a main road in 1st. Surprised that thing didnt pop. If you do this just remember that your car is old and with any old car you have the potential to kill it if you're driving it hard.

[Jeffzguy]

I have read a technical writeup that says the manual mode is only for 2nd and 3rd to keep it out of first, but I will try it...

[Legacy Wagon]

That's probably in your best interest then. Bryan just does things knowing he can fix crap if it goes wrong haha

 

The thing is that these older cars have somewhere around 135hp and 140ftlbs of torque. It's never going to be a fast car as long as you have the NA stock engine. Even the Turbo engines aren't all that quick.

[Jeffzguy]

Ya, nothing like my Turboed 3.0l Datsun engine! Haha!

[Legacy Wagon]

Being that it's a small car helps the cause too

[Baddog]

That's probably in your best interest then. Bryan just does things knowing he can fix crap if it goes wrong haha

 

The thing is that these older cars have somewhere around 135hp and 140ftlbs of torque. It's never going to be a fast car as long as you have the NA stock engine. Even the Turbo engines aren't all that quick.

 

I feel as if these numbers are still fairly close to what most engines do today in 4 cylinders.

 

I have yet to see many modern day 4 cylinder N/A motors get much higher then 140. Maybe 150-160.

 

I am proud of the torque these motor's put out. For god sake it puts out almost as much as those 08 Civic SI's (Vtec all for horse power or some shit)

[wish]

I feel as if these numbers are still fairly close to what most engines do today in 4 cylinders.

 

I have yet to see many modern day 4 cylinder N/A motors get much higher then 140. Maybe 150-160.

 

I am proud of the torque these motor's put out. For god sake it puts out almost as much as those 08 Civic SI's (Vtec all for horse power or some shit)

 

2006-2010 impreza 2.5i is 170hp

[Baddog]

2006-2010 impreza 2.5i is 170hp

 

Meant torque ratings

[Platinum_Racing]

Not sure about the beeping. Maybe the door was ajar and it started beeping before you started the engine.

 

Either way, the ECU should only override the gear selector when it gets close to 7K RPM. The car will upshift if its about to hit the rev limiter despite what gear the lever is in. Even with Manual mode engaged the ECU can still over-ride the gear selection. 3,500 is weird. I hate to sound accusing, but is it possible the car was in "2" rather than "1"?

 

 

 

 

And for its size, the EJ22 put decent numbers down when it was designed. Very decent infact. Nowadays the torque comes close on 2.0L engines and most of the time slightly higher on 2.2L and 2.5L engines. The important thing to remember is the broad torque band of the EJ22. It got torque early and kept building it until about 4,800 RPM.

 

My 2001 Hyundai Elantra had a 2.0L engine with about 140HP and 135ft/lbs of torque and it wasn't nearly as quick as the Legacy. It got peak torque at 4,500 RPM... No torque before that, no torque after that.

 

My GF's 1.8L 2007 Toyota Corrolla 5 speed has 130HP and about 125ft/lbs of torque, but you literally go NOWHERE before 3,500RPM. It just doesn't move.

 

The EJ22 has taller gearing than both these cars and could wipe them away simply because of its broad torque curve. Other 4 cylinder engines may produce more power, but their peak torque comes as one giant peak on a dyno sheet whereas the EJ22 motor is more like a slightly sloping hill. It also helps that the engine doesn't need balance shafts like other in-line 4 cylinder engines over 2.0L. Balance shafts are dead weight, robbing horsepower and torque as well as dulling throttle response. The EJ22 is balanced, needing no costly, heavy shafts to keep it from falling apart at revs.

 

Trust me, however... I've driven a few fast cars. The stock NA Legacy isn't going to be winning any 1/4 mile drag races anytime soon, but it deserves lots of respect for its technological advancements. In 1989 it was the largest most powerful engine Subaru had made, and it was also the most advanced. MPFI, electronic ignition, and SOHC were pretty good achievements for the time, considering even Honda, Toyota and Nissan were still using distributor-type ignitions years later. Most American cars still used throttle body injection rather than any type of port injection, and only a few American cars even had overhead cams.

 

That being said, the first gen NA cars aren't going to go smoking new sports cars, but I wouldn't think twice before racing a riced out Civic at the track with one.

[Jeffzguy]

Not unless its busted and thinks 1 is 2. Also I don't see how that would matter as I had it pinned and that should also make it reach 6500...

[Platinum_Racing]

True. If the Power light was on mine usually gets to about 6,700. If the power light isn't on it usually stops at 6,500.

 

 

Strange.

[Legacy Wagon]

Oh, dont get me wrong. These cars are great for what they are, but like Platinum put it "The stock NA Legacy isn't going to be winning any 1/4 mile drag races".

 

I cant really join in on this though cause I came from a WRX and I suppose I'm trying to compare the two. The Legacy just seems dirt slow in comparison haha

[Baddog]

Granted this is true. But we will see what the 2.2 automatic with a turbo does by the end of this year. I ran a 17.1 as my fastest time (I think I could have gotten a little better since I have a cone filter and right after that is the MAF and I get a bad surge before the car picks up and goes)

 

I am hoping for 14's We will see haha. If an 02-03 WRX can run mid 14's I am sure the 2.2 can run close to that with the automatic.

 

And what he said about civics is most of them don't screw with me if I get on the throttle. The car grunts like hell and I think they wonder whats under the hood. Too bad it's not much just yet.