1.4T Hill Climbing

[RichieRocket]

Conversation over the phone this morning:

Her: I made it. Lots of power, no down shifting in the mountains...like the Camaro's little sister.
Me: Thats freaking amazing! Did you lose any speed?
Her: Nope

This is with the Trifecta tune installed.

That's why we are on different wavelengths! I am talking about the STOCK 1.4T

 

[Danny5]

Actually, I just installed this tune last night.

 

[RichieRocket]

I created a chart of hp versus road speed for 3rd thru 6th gear using the Trifecta dyno run for the STOCK tune. I like to see things layed out visually rather than just numbers...

At 75mph, the hp available (at the wheel) to overcome drag and friction AND climb a hill is:
6th 48hp
5th 72 hp
4th 92 hp
3rd 118hp

So cruising in 6th, you don't have a lot of excess hp to climb steep hills with...

 

[Sonic Boomer]

Thanks for the chart Rich.
It'll be interesting to see how this works out. I may end up driving it as a 5-speed on the local (50mph average) roads. Certainly no power to speak of in 6th at this slow speed.
I do know a few places in this hilly area where I currently hyper-mile when I think about it. In this car, I may decide 6th is close enough to neutral regarding gas mileage.

 

[Gimpster]

Obviously this is just me, but below 55-60 my best fuel economy is coming from staying out of 6th. So keeping it a 5 speed in town isn't a terrible strategy. The biggest bitch is if you have to slow down at all. You're going to 5th at the minimum anyway, because below that you have to stand on it for a day to get back up to speed.

 

[dvn]

How does the Trifecta tune affect mpg?

 

[RichieRocket]

How does the Trifecta tune affect mpg?

dvn, there have been several other threads talking about that.

The Cruze owners with tune have reported 2-3 MORE mpg (on super of course)

 

[Papasonic]

My new Sonic LTZ turbo only likes 6th gear going downhill with the wind.

 

[leaky]

I test drove a Cruze Eco, which has an extra high 6th gear w/ the 1.4 Turbo. I thought it was 2500 RPM around 80 MPH. I imagine the Sonic is similar...

That was a reasonable ratio for that speed, didn't need to downshift for small hills and such.

Jon

 

[RichieRocket]

I test drove a Cruze Eco, which has an extra high 6th gear w/ the 1.4 Turbo. I thought it was 2500 RPM around 80 MPH. I imagine the Sonic is similar...

That was a reasonable ratio for that speed, didn't need to downshift for small hills and such.

Jon

Hi leaky, a while back I plotted out the road speed vs. gear ratios for the Sonic 6-spd manual, see thread:
http://www.sonicownersforum.com/forum/t640/

At 80 mph, 6th gear, is 2400 RPM

At redline, 6th gear, it's 217 mph! If only the engine had 800 hp

 

[Savage_383]

I have The 2LT 1.4T

Taking I-35 from Emporia, KS to Wichita, KS is mostly flint hills. which consists of long (some pretty steep) hills. Sometimes we even get a nice 20-30 mph south wind.

I can set the cruse at 80 leaving Emporia and never touch the cruse or ever have to shift until I get to Wichita.

The car just travels right along at 80 mph. For this little car, I'm very impressed with it's hill climbing ability.

 

[opsethb]

I have the LTZ 1.4 Seadan
I drive all over Arizona, I usually set the cruise @ 75 to 85 and only have to downshift if other cars slow me down. The 1.4 has plenty of power.

 

[ZipZip]

I downshift as well out of 6th.

 

[wingman]

Last Saturday took my Sonic on its longest road trip so far, which was about 150 miles round trip. Averaged 38.6 and took it as high as 8000'. Car did well, steepest grade was 8% with a few stretches that were a little steeper. Speed limit was 60, I wasnt able to pull that grade in 6th, but 5th was great as long as I kept it above 2k rpms. Very impressed with that. On a side note, even though I wasnt on race mode (had the wife with me) I had no noticeable power loss. Still able to pull the same grades at 8000' as 4000' in the 5th as well. Car is awesome.