Camry 2007 V6: How to use the Sportmatic

Hi all,

I am new here, so firstly nice to meet you all.

I have a half-year old Camry 2007 V6. I read the manual and it doesn't tell me the RPM's to shift for the gears in Sportmatic mode.

I am not a car-knowledgy person, so my friend tells me that to use sportmatic without over-wearing on my engine (http://www.camryforums.com/m_4125/tm.htm#), I need to find the RPM boundaries to upshift/downshift.

But where do I get these? Or is this not needed, b/c a sportmatic will shift you when you get too low / too high?

Also, why does my sportmatic always start in gear 4? I thought that at low speed gear 1 is better, so if I start from 0 speed, shouldn't it be in gear 1?


Thanks alot,
J

not one person here knows the answer??

i dont know about the rev limiter??? um never really drove one of those manumatics but shift before it hits the red line :lol: you would shift right before the red for max performance....

Did you get an owners manual with the car?

That's where your answers are............

Why not just leave it in D if you're driving leisurely?

Even though it starts in 4th, it will still go through all the gears up to the 4th.

I swear, this camry forum has the most 'why don't you RTFM' people ever.

I swear, this camry forum has the most 'why don't you RTFM' people ever.

Thats because oh... 99% of these types of questions are answered in there thoroughly.

I read the manual. The section that describes manual driving doesn't tell me the RPM at which I need to down/up shift.

You can always leave it in D and take note at what rpm the cpu shifts in what gear.

I think of the Sportmatic as a "top-gear" limiter. E.g. if you have it on 4th, it doesn't mean you are in 4th gear. It just means that the transmission will not shift past 4th. It will still start from 1st, 2nd.... etc. It is still an automatic.

In the city, if I want a more spirited drive, I set it to 4th, and leave it there. I don't bother shifting manually between 1st to 3rd. This way, I can keep my car out of overdrive(s), and I can have the "punch" the power whenever I need it.

On the highway, I can keep it at 5th. For maximum mileage and regular driving, I just keep it in "D".
Awesome. That helps alot for a car noob like me. Thanks!

EDIT: btw, by 'punch the power' do u mean u can push it closer to redline, so its more fun to drive (more torque less speed) sort of thing?

Less torque, more horsepower.
Horsepower is a function of torque applied over both time & distance.

The best time to accelleration is the highest average of horsepower output.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v414/Toysrme/Data/2gr-feCamry.jpg





In the case of a stock ECU'd engine... Drive it as high as it will let you and shift if you want the maximum accelleration. Provided the engine is warm, you won't destroy it.

Less torque, more horsepower.
Horsepower is a function of torque applied over both time & distance.

The best time to accelleration is the highest average of horsepower output.

In the case of a stock ECU'd engine... Drive it as high as it will let you and shift if you want the maximum accelleration. Provided the engine is warm, you won't destroy it.

oooh i understand more now. so basically "punch the power" is the same as "overdrive", both of which means as you push it over the RPM boundary you would normally shift at, you get more HP which means a faster acceleration; usually a car's CPU will shift you at the correct RPM so that the acceleration you experience is constant (change in acceleration = 0).

err, at least thats what i think now.

Thanks

No. Overdrive is simply any gear who's output is greater than 1:1.
When he says punch it, he just means give it wide open throttle.
The ECU will shift whenever it's programmed to shift, for whatever the major reasons the engineers & bean counters want it to do under the current conditions.
Be it right, or wrong.


The gearing changes the torque output to the ground. As you climb gears (higher ratios), the torque provided on the road (After the engine torque convertor, transmission input, planitery gearset, differential & outer tire diameter have been taken into consideration).

Higher the gearing less is made. But the drive speed is higher.







The parts will wear faster VS shifting at lower rpm's, but the engine will cut the fuel & ignition before it get's grossly out of specification.

I read the manual. The section that describes manual driving doesn't tell me the RPM at which I need to down/up shift.

The manual gives you the maximum speeds per gear for up shifting and maximum speeds for shifting down into the different gears.

and the tach has a red-line.

No. Overdrive is simply any gear who's output is greater than 1:1.
When he says punch it, he just means give it wide open throttle.
The ECU will shift whenever it's programmed to shift, for whatever the major reasons the engineers & bean counters want it to do under the current conditions.
Be it right, or wrong.


The gearing changes the torque output to the ground. As you climb gears (higher ratios), the torque provided on the road (After the engine torque convertor, transmission input, planitery gearset, differential & outer tire diameter have been taken into consideration).

Higher the gearing less is made. But the drive speed is higher.

The parts will wear faster VS shifting at lower rpm's, but the engine will cut the fuel & ignition before it get's grossly out of specification.

Thanks for the detailed response, but i was wondering if you could clarify a couple things.....

you say "as you climb gears, the torque provided on the road" but then you don't complete your thought. i left out the stuff in parentheses.

you also say, "Higher the gearing less is made" what is being "made less" of?

and you also say, "the parts will wear faster VS shifting at lower rpms" are you saying that if you shift at lower rpms, the parts will last longer.

so what is the advantage of shifting at higher rpms?

I learned driving from automatics (in the early 90's), and all the cars i have ever driven have been automatics. and people say, "just listen to the car and you can tell when to upshift and downshift" But the camry is so nice and quiet!

my "knowledge" of manuals comes from playing video games. so any "newbie" level knowledge is greatly appreciated.

so supergoop is saying that in the city, he leaves the sportshift in 4th gear so when he speeds up, he'll never go into 5th gear, and he'll just be at the higher rpms in 4th gear instead of the lower rpms of 5th gear.

and if i'm understanding this correctly, the trade off is he'll put more wear and tear on the parts and use more fuel, but in return, he gets better/faster performance at the higher rpms

thanks