Basically if you are wheel spinning off the line at traffic lights you are not in control of the car. Unless of course you intend the wheels to spin. It won't damage the car but it does reduce the life of your tyres.

...... and gearbox, drive shafts, etc, so yes it can damage the mechanics of the car.

Good to hear what you're all saying. I've been driving mine the same way and I've been worried all the time

If I may ask, Duggie, what MPG do you get? I get about 23-25 in town but on highway I get about 42. I'd like to get MPG to 28-30 in town...

Good to hear what you're all saying. I've been driving mine the same way and I've been worried all the time

If I may ask, Duggie, what MPG do you get? I get about 23-25 in town but on highway I get about 42. I'd like to get MPG to 28-30 in town...

Ha He Ho, erm... i'd say you're doing pretty well for a 1.4Mpi... it's an old felly engine remember... a 20 year old design... I must say i'm getting about the same as you around town but after the remap at Jabba i'm getting slightly better motorway MPG (around 45ish) and better throttle responce. If i'm seriously careful i can get 28-29 around town but you have to drive REALLY economically, i mean stick it in 4th/ 5th and roll down hills, try to use the engine breaking at traffic lights, never ever put your foot down... enjoy annoying other road users essentially...

As for getting real excitement from a VRS, i'd love to but the insurtance is a killer... why don't people get this? At the moment i quite like having to rev the little furb to get it's best performance so for now i'll enjoy being the better driver and i'll leave you to your mobile sofa... couch potato!!

-Duggie (now keeping a low profile)

Mine was the same.

Have you tried disconnecting the battery for half an hour then taking it for a ruddy good thrashing?

Mine felt a lot perkier afterwards.

Yea did that, seemes ok now i think it was just shocked a little when i started to drive it. I will have it remapped soon and now the EGR is leaking theres **** all over the engine bay. :thumbdwn:

I think this was one of the reasons i posted my mate's comment, i wasn't sure to be honest...

It seems that the majority thinks that it is ok to give it the beans but only when safe and legal to do so. As for the wheelspinning i'd say that half the time i mean to do it half the time i don't... time to brush up on my clutch control!

Oh, and thanks for the "your driving seems ok" comments, it's nice when someone says they'd feel safe in a car with me.

-Duggie.

so long as you were shifting around those revs on purpose and getting on move on then yeah, no worries. it's the older generation that seem to revs the nuts off the car and use the clutch to control the speed of the car that would make me worried - we used to have neighbours next door but one either side that you could hear parking/manoeuvring cos the engine would be running at alike 3-4k and the clutch was being slipped to keep the car crawling

Yea did that, seemes ok now i think it was just shocked a little when i started to drive it. I will have it remapped soon and now the EGR is leaking theres **** all over the engine bay. :thumbdwn:

Mine seems quite slugginsh, is it worth a try removing the battery terminals for a while? does it reset the computer then and I presume there is not going to be any damage as a result.

Will the radio be ok, (stock radio)?

Ha He Ho, erm... i'd say you're doing pretty well for a 1.4Mpi... it's an old felly engine remember... a 20 year old design... I must say i'm getting about the same as you around town but after the remap at Jabba i'm getting slightly better motorway MPG (around 45ish) and better throttle responce. If i'm seriously careful i can get 28-29 around town but you have to drive REALLY economically, i mean stick it in 4th/ 5th and roll down hills, try to use the engine breaking at traffic lights, never ever put your foot down... enjoy annoying other road users essentially...

As for getting real excitement from a VRS, i'd love to but the insurtance is a killer... why don't people get this? At the moment i quite like having to rev the little furb to get it's best performance so for now i'll enjoy being the better driver and i'll leave you to your mobile sofa... couch potato!!

-Duggie (now keeping a low profile)

Well, my style at the moment is pedal-through-the-floor-and-break-with-gear. I might be spending fuel but at the same time I'll save a ton on brake pads

Btw, I have noticed something wierd: the momentary fuel consumption gauge tells me that engine is still recieveing fuel on about 1500 rpm. If I let it coast from 2500 to about 1600, then fuel consumption is 0 but after it reaches 1500 fuel consumption will go up. I wonder why...I'm not touching accelerator. And I've always been told that engine will start recieveing fuel again when it nears 1000 rpm. Imo 1500 rpm is a bit too soon to start wasting fuel if I want to brake.

And I hardly ever use 5th in towns. Low-rev toddering(i have no idea what that word means, just seemed appropriate) kills the engine.

stop being a woos.... its a 1.4 you NEED to rev it.... 7000rpm at least id say

...... and gearbox, drive shafts, etc, so yes it can damage the mechanics of the car.

I'm struggling to see what damage you can do that is not being done by simply pulling away normally. The fact the tyres are not gripping the road simply means there is less resistance on the drive train and engine. It would be similar to putting the car on a rolling road?

I think it's down to mechanical sympathy... If you go revving the nuts off your engine every time you drive it then it will suffer a premature death, as will the gearbox/clutch/brakes/tyres etc etc.

If you allow it to warm up and cool down properly, ensure it's well maintained and don't go bouncing the engine off the rev limiter then you will be ok.

I don't thrash my cars, but I do make them perform from time to time and I've never had any significant mechanical failures as a result (and I do a high mileage).

IMHO you will cause more problems by under-revving the engine or never letting it work hard.

your "mate" thinks that is thrashing???

he's obviously never driven a hire car! :rofl:

i believe that it is tha law when driving a rental that you have to get to the redline before you're allowed to change gear!

Exactly, its all about mechanical sympathy, when you wheelspin on a dry road then the mechanical stresses are much higher on the CV's, drive shafts, gearbox, clutch etc.

Nothing at all wrong with driving a car to its full potential, however a bit of mechanical understanding and sympathy will lead to less premature wear and breakages.

I dont know exactly what the redline is on the 1.4 petrol, but if it is less than 6k rpm I'd be amazed.

You warm it up, and that is a good thing, and revving to 4k rpm on a petrol, that seriously is nowhere near trashing it.

Dropping the clutch at high revs and getting prolonged wheelspin is not mechanically very nice to the car (or tyres). I'd be concerned about wheel hop, as that can cause proper damage.

My Rover 100 was revved way higher than 4k rpm as otherwise you couldnt get it up to motorway speeds

Hehehe...I just learned that using rev range to full is very necessary. I had a friend's car for a quick spin and since he wasn't with me I decided to give it some pain. So, with warm engine I gave it a good go on highway and looked in the mirror: lotsa smoke black smoke and engine noise was also bad. I then called my friend, asked him how he usually drives: well, the answer was" eco-drive". Said bye, tortured it a bit more until no more smoke came from exhaust and then discovered that his car moves much better now. Wonder, if he'll notice....

And Nissan can't even be compared to my beloved Skoda. It sucked to be honest