Torque Dip: Why all the fuss?
 

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All depends on your driving style. Driving mine now with headers and a tune and E85 with no essentially no torque dip has spoiled me -- I drove another stock one recently and noticed the difference immediately. Night and day.

I think the car is very good as is, despite the torque dip. The dip even has merits like you mention for commuting and such.

But once you go dip-less, you never go back.


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Doesn't bother me. I'm actually very impressed by the low-end torque they squeezed out of this little 2.0. And yeah, when you are going for a nice drive, you tend to keep it in the power band anyway.

I bitch about it because I autocross and when I shift to second, i keep it there. A lot of the turns will drop the rpms below 5k so im stuck waiting.... and waiting.... and waiting before Im able to "really" accelerate again.

On top of that, i have to launch and slip the clutch at 5000 rpm to stay out of it.

Waiting to get the cash to get my perrin pulley and big MAF intake, then tune it so I can finally be free of that torque dip, it's not really that dreadful but it's better when it's gone. more mid range power= happy

Definitely. 151 lb-ft of torque from a NA 2.0L motor is very respectable.

Exactly.

I auto X and not having the torque for fast exits and quick launches is very much a pain.

Everyday A to B driving I wouldn't have a complaint though.

Since we're on the topic of torque dip, which header has proven to be the most effective in eliminating it?

For me it spoils my back road driving, coming out of slow second gear turns, it either breaks then regains traction because of the dip (1st is too short), or it is just slower out of the turns from mid revs. Also throttle response is worse in the dip and thus spoils some of the car control.

But for daily duty I do enjoy the torque 2500-3500rpm and for just revving out on more open roads, there is no problem indeed.

Agree with the OP, the car came with 6 gears for a reason: to be used.

Yeah it leaves a hole that can be awful for a competitive event, but if you're serious about competing odds are you'll end up modifying the car anyway to be more competitive. It's still oodles of fun even if you pick the wrong gear.

As I used to post on the Miata forum, "If you ain't got enough torque, you're in the wrong gear!"

Nearly all of them. ft86speedfactory does really well

I'm rocking the OFHeader with Stage2 OFT tune and the "dip" is all but a memory for me... running 93oct. If I'm rocking E85 - look-out, she's damn near a rocket ship.

I honestly think it's the driver's perception in most cases for those that feel our cars are pokey... dip or not. If you try an pull these cars from 1K-4K rpms then yeah, torque is an issue, and the perception is we're slow. We are not. We're not the fastest, but certainly not slowest by a long shot.

DOWNSHIFT!!! - 5K-7K rpms is where you want to be pulling. These engines were made to wind... wind it to redline, feel the peak, bang the next gear. Make it yours - drive it like you stole it. She'll be fine.

I don't. Anyone who learned to ride a two-stroke street bike shouldn't either.

A motorcycle-specific article, but much of it applies here as well. People who do this well on a bike are difficult to stay with for people who's only option is the throttle. The FR-S feels a lot like a motorcycle to me, and is as much fun and rewarding to drive well as a bike is.

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