How close do you follow after taking off from a light?

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Golfer
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Re: How close do you follow after taking off from a light?

Post by Golfer »

when someone stopped in roughly the right place (on the sensor) and then they creep into the intersection
True story, the other day I was stopped at an awkward intersection. Really - it's not a nice straight cross one + with 90 agree angles but a funky one where cross traffic entering from weird directions (only my city can possibly engineer something this screwed up).

Anyway, we're stopped at this "intersection" and the guy next to me keeps creeping, keeps creeping, keeps creeping. Now I've gotten pretty good at anticipating green lights these days, because I'm always scouting out what the cross-lights are doing, the pedestrian walk signs, etc. And we clearly had a lot of time left before our light was going to change. But before long I swear he's dang near in the middle, almost directly in the way of "cross" traffic. I actually spoke outloud (with only myself in the car) - "What are you *thinking?!*". :D

Good for him though that traffic in that direction was light!
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Shadow
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Re: How close do you follow after taking off from a light?

Post by Shadow »

mad_finn wrote: What they teach is "set off, floor it, but do not exceed 3000rpm or so, shift, floor it, repeat, -> as long as you are on your target speed, and then shift to the higest geear that has enough torque to keep you going.
However, this does not apply to all cars....
Yeah, it doesn't apply to my car either. My car reaches max torque at just 1500 RPM and then it holds that maximum torque all the way through 4200 RPM. Plus, the turbocharger would be at full boost well before 3000 RPM. So I think a better strategy on my particular car is to use maybe 1/2 the throttle and shift around 2000 RPM. And if I'm shifting into 5th or 6th gear, I'd probably shift at a little higher RPM if I was still accelerating.

I've actually had a discussion about driving for economy on the Audi forums. A lot of people think that the car will return the best fuel economy when the turbo isn't under any boost at all (of course that's not easy to do with a small turbo that spools quickly). But other people seem to think that a bigger throttle opening and moderate boost levels is a more economical situation than trying to keep the throttle open only enough to avoid boost. It was an interesting discussion....
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Re: How close do you follow after taking off from a light?

Post by mad_finn »

I'd say medium to high boost, and when you reach the desidred speed try to stay off the boost.
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Re: How close do you follow after taking off from a light?

Post by wagner »

I try to keep at least a car's length away from the car in front of me. Up to now, that hasn't been a problem, because up to now, I've been taking off almost like a blimp leaving the hangar.
Tups wrote:Also, some people should really re-take the driving classes about economical and environmentally friendly driving. Accelerating slowly increases your overall fuel consumption, not the mention that of the poor chap in the old Ford who has to brake because you can't keep up with his 69 hp with your brand new turbodiesel.
That was me. And here I thought I was saving gas. :oops:

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Re: How close do you follow after taking off from a light?

Post by theholycow »

wagner wrote:That was me. And here I thought I was saving gas. :oops:

Thanks for those of you who disabused me. No more.
Your 2011 VW 2.5 will probably respond to the same strategy my 2008 did: Pedal to the floor, upshift when you reach 1200-1400 RPM...you might get to 3rd or 4th gear before you get all the way across the intersection. That's neither glacial nor racing acceleration, a little faster than the average car on my commute but a little slower than I've seen in some cities. It was the most fuel-efficient acceleration in my 2008 VW 2.5. There's plenty of torque from idle and it won't hurt the car.
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Re: How close do you follow after taking off from a light?

Post by Squint »

Yeah, that's similar to how I drive. Though since I have far less torque, I wait slightly longer to shift; somewhere around 2000 rpm.
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Re: How close do you follow after taking off from a light?

Post by fr4n »

theholycow wrote:
wagner wrote:That was me. And here I thought I was saving gas. :oops:

Thanks for those of you who disabused me. No more.
Your 2011 VW 2.5 will probably respond to the same strategy my 2008 did: Pedal to the floor, upshift when you reach 1200-1400 RPM...you might get to 3rd or 4th gear before you get all the way across the intersection. That's neither glacial nor racing acceleration, a little faster than the average car on my commute but a little slower than I've seen in some cities. It was the most fuel-efficient acceleration in my 2008 VW 2.5. There's plenty of torque from idle and it won't hurt the car.
shifting at 1400rpm?
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Re: How close do you follow after taking off from a light?

Post by theholycow »

Yup. That car accelerated nicely between idle and 1400.
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Re: How close do you follow after taking off from a light?

Post by fr4n »

theholycow wrote:Yup. That car accelerated nicely between idle and 1400.
so u literally shifted every second or 2?
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Re: How close do you follow after taking off from a light?

Post by theholycow »

fr4n wrote:so u literally shifted every second or 2?
Yes I did. Like I said, I'd be in 3rd or 4th gear before I even cleared the intersection.

That car really could have benefited from wider ratios and taller gears in general.
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Re: How close do you follow after taking off from a light?

Post by Squint »

fr4n wrote:
theholycow wrote:Yup. That car accelerated nicely between idle and 1400.
so u literally shifted every second or 2?
Yeah, I shift that quickly too. I'm usually in 3rd when I clear an intersection, perhaps a little after. 3rd is a super short gear for me so I only slow down my shifting once I'm in 4th and 5th.
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Re: How close do you follow after taking off from a light?

Post by AHTOXA »

Squint wrote:
fr4n wrote:
theholycow wrote:Yup. That car accelerated nicely between idle and 1400.
so u literally shifted every second or 2?
Yeah, I shift that quickly too. I'm usually in 3rd when I clear an intersection, perhaps a little after. 3rd is a super short gear for me so I only slow down my shifting once I'm in 4th and 5th.
Really? I do most of my accelerating in 3rd, and aside from top gear based on circumstances, I' spend most of my time accelerating in third. Once done I often go 3-5-6 and then cruise.
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Squint
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Re: How close do you follow after taking off from a light?

Post by Squint »

AHTOXA wrote:Really? I do most of my accelerating in 3rd, and aside from top gear based on circumstances, I' spend most of my time accelerating in third. Once done I often go 3-5-6 and then cruise.
I don't have a 6th (which I miss for highway cruising). And my 3rd is my shortest gear. I am probably in it less than I am in 1st when I am going all the way up to 5th. For whatever reason, it seems to be that way in several different kinds of vehicles. I had a discussion with a former roommate who is a manual driver about it the other day and his 3rd gear in a 00 (I think) Civic is super short as well.
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Re: How close do you follow after taking off from a light?

Post by bk7794 »

It is interesting hearing everyone's personal methods. When I am in an intersection, depending on the size I am usually just getting into second, or just leaving second depending on the size of the intersection.
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Re: How close do you follow after taking off from a light?

Post by Squint »

bk7794 wrote:It is interesting hearing everyone's personal methods. When I am in an intersection, depending on the size I am usually just getting into second, or just leaving second depending on the size of the intersection.
I paid more attention to it and realized I shift roughly every 10 mph.
At 8-10 mph, shift to 2nd.
At 20 mph, shift to 3rd.
28-30 mph, shift to 4th (3rd is my shortest gear, except for maybe 1st).
40 mpg, shift to 5th.

I can use 5th gear down to 35 or so comfortably without feeling laggy or slow. Though if I really need to accelerate, I would downshift :lol:
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