I'm constantly in bumper-to-bumper traffic, with a mixture of stop-and-go and just extremely slow driving. Despite this, I still insist upon a stick a4. However, when I try to get away with "inching-by" in 2nd my RPM is always very low [well below the recommended 1500 limit], yet if I was to be in 1st, I would be constantly overworking the engine, and my RPM would be at a constant 3500-4000 [in 1st!!]. When it is terribly slow, or just stop and go I use 1st and its not a problem, but I am worried about driving at slow speeds in 2nd when my RPM falls between 800-1200. How can I avoid this? Is it hurting my car? When driving like this, the car often has a soft vibrating struggle, should I be concerned??





By the way, its a 98 a4 2.8Q

 

I drive to school everyday in stop adn go.

basically, you can be in 2nd all you want. even if it is idle RPM. just dont step on it. if your car is shaking, it means you are giving it too much gass. if u want it in second, and u want to accellerate a few mph but dont wanna downshift, just very gently press the accellerator and it should smoothly speed up. i also hate first. when ur in it, you cant slowdown or start to accellerate without jerking the **** out of yourself because of transmission play.