So my wife’s econobox was in the shop, and she’d needed to drive my X3M instead. Of note she hates my car - so she pretty much never drives it unless she’s taking a turn on the freeway or something. In other words, with me in the car - until today.

So she messages me today saying she’s confused about why my car is so slow and also why it’s so loud. I was a little busy at work so I don’t really figure out what she means but it turns out she was driving around in first gear unaware that she had it in manual mode.

She probably drove it 20 minutes or so in first gear at about 30 mph. Periodically redlining the poor thing. She burned through about 2 gallons of gas.

So my question is, what damage might be done? I know these engines are built to handle high revs, but you’re not really supposed to drive it bouncing between 6000 RPMs and red line for 10 minutes straight or longer.

Any way to check? Sidebar, is it actually possible to overrev the engine into blowing up? Or do the nanny features prevent you from doing that nowadays?

  • SummerVast3384B
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    1 year ago

    She probably drove it 20 minutes or so in first gear at about 30 mph. Periodically redlining the poor thing. She burned through about 2 gallons of gas.

    That is some horrible gas mileage

  • NCSUGrad2012B
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    1 year ago

    My first car was a 2000 Acura TL and my mom did the same thing to it. Drove it to 243k without any issues. Lol

  • humdizzleB
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    1 year ago

    still amazing how many people dont understand how gears work. did they never have a bicycle with gears as a kid? or just leave it first and pedal like a madman everywhere lol.

    i let my wife drive my dct M2. she knows how to drive a manual, but i have to clearly explain to never touch the paddles and always see ‘D1, D2, etc’ on the dash to ensure its in automatic mode.

  • JWBIEREB
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    1 year ago

    My wife doesn’t drive my Bimmer, she could but doesn’t like driving a manual. OP these engines are pretty stout, you’ll be fine.

  • MKTekkeB
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    1 year ago

    Sounds like she’s not used to driving a SUV that is heavier and slower to get up without putting more torque down. That’s not how most women drive SUVs they usually drive them slow. Seems like she’s mashing the gas and braking too hard.

  • MasterRymesB
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    1 year ago

    Imagine how dumb you must feel when someone explains you that you haven’t noticed it that the Car is all the Time in 1st Gear. How ignorant or uninterested do you have to be to not notice it?