How to Smoothly and Quickly Up-shift from 1st to 2nd Gear?
 

After a five months of ownership of the my lovely red BRZ, I am still having a problem with smoothly and quickly up-shifting from 1st to 2nd (this is not the infamous trouble with actually moving the shifter into 2nd). I can smoothly shift to 2nd just fine by holding in the clutch (not accelerating of course) so that the RPM's to drop down to just the right revs for the engine speed and transmission speed to match; however, how does one actually go about doing this quickly? It becomes a hassle in traffic as this causes a lag in acceleration from 1st to 2nd.
I have come to find that the BRZ tends to hold it revs much longer than other cars, such as my friend's Genesis's coupe whose synchro just do most of the work during quick shifts. I understand that one could quick shift in the BRZ as well, but that will lead to rather jerky shifts (engine speed is too high compare to transmission speed), especially from 1st to 2nd and 3rd to 4th. I also understand that you can just "wham" on your accelerator to always rev high before up-shifts; however, I rather not be in constant "race boy" mode at every streetlight. Thank you very much in advance for answering!

Lol I'm in the same boat

I believe if you want to be gunning it from first to second smoothly, you need to quickly slam on the gas at ~75% just after you stop pressing on the clutch. This allows the engine to keep the car at "nearly" the same rpms it was in 1st gear without giving enough time for the engine to slow down to the lower rpms (causing a jerk).

Edit: If you go up to ~4k rpm or less in 1st gear before transitioning, it's typically a smooth transition. No waiting for the rpm drop is required, because the gear change only nets a 500-1500 rpm change, rpms that are typically already lost in the transition from one gear to the next (depends on speed of gear change).

But wouldn't be even worst? By blipping the throttle, the RPM's are even higher. What I am looking for is the opposite, in which the RPM falls faster so I can quick shift without the synchros having to rectify it by harshly dropping the RPM's. From 1st gear, I tend to accelerate to 14-16 MPH at 2.6-3K RPM then drop it it to 2nd gear, holding the clutch in till the RPM'S fall to 1.9-2.1K RPM which lead to a really smooth shift. What I am looking for is for the RPM to fall faster so that I can transition to 2nd gear faster without having to holding in the clutch for the RPM's to drop.

Lightweight flywheel

This car likes to be revved up high. I feel like the car is more sloppy when shifting at lower RPMs. This doesn't mean you need to gun the car at every stoplight, but I would wait and try shifting at a higher point than you are used to. It might not be as good for gas mileage but I feel like this car is a lot more fluid when you push it harder.

That might not make any sense, but its the best way I can describe it.

I actually get what you mean. I find that the car is at it's smoothest when I rev high (4-6k).

My only solution would be to transition to second gear at ~10mph. Less rpm difference results in less time needed to wait. Of course if it reaches 8 mph or below, the car may start chugging as a result of low rpm.

Edit: I do transition into 2nd in the higher ~1/3 of the rpm range. It's pretty smooth for me.

rpm drop for 1st to 2nd is about 1k, just shfit into 2nd a bit slower unless u are pushing it pass 4k. At higher rpm the rpm drop is more rapid so it's naturally smoother in shift.

2 to 3 is about 800. 3 or late is about 500 in rpm drop. this is just how it is on stock flywheel.


Also another thing is.............if u wanna get used to shifting really smoothly try put the speedo into km...... don't ask me why lol. cuz u can switch into 2nd at 22km, 3rd at 33, 4th at 44, 5th at 55, 6 at 66.........and ur rpm will sit like right about 1.5k to 1.8k. lol

Get an automatic.

Lol, it's a known issue that switching to second is... weird, to the say the least, in these cars. Tada himself even said it was a sacrifice they made. I don't remember the explanation. It was in a thread about weird shifting feel.

Yes I hate shifting from 1st to 2nd in this car its a real drag. If I dont need to really push it out of a green light I do what you do and hold the clutch longer to allow the revs to drop. I did that for almost a year and it just felt unnatural to me as my previous car which was a base rsx shifted from 1st to 2nd like butter. The past couple of months though I actually started revving it just a little bit above 4k, I noticed that you can release the clutch fairly fast allowing for more smoothness and optimized acceleration. I probably now do this 70% of the time and hold the cluch 30% of the time. At least thats how my twin behaves.

There's this weird thing I've found but removed grind if done. From 1-2 don't go straight, move to neutral then 2nd. This isn't double clutching as im not releasing the pedal. Try it lol, first gear, clutch in--neutral---back to second, release clutch pedal. I don't do it all the time but in colder mornings when I know the grind will be ugly I do it. Let me know n

Try slipping the clutch for a short bit while giving it some gas. I totally understand the issue. If you do this, you don't have to wait for the RPMs to drop by themselves, instead you are quickly decreasing them because the clutch is engaging and needs to match the speed of the engine but since you are slipping it a little bit, it will be smooth. It might decrease the life of the clutch by a little bit, but I don't think that is going to happen. Either way, it's better than just dumping the clutch in this situation. Practice makes perfect. It took me 9-10 months to shift well every single time.