how often do you take it to redline?

okay, this ones for the rennlist vaults... my recent gearbox failure and others here who've recently toasted their 'box and motor prompted this. as my mileage approaches the half-century mark, i fear my engine might let go as well. half the time i drive "like i stole it." my car sees redline several times a day--but i have yet to miss a shift and over-rev the motor. Q: how often do you push it? daily? rarely?

I hit the rev limiter all the time - that is how my little 2.5 can keep up with the S and the 996 on our drives. Means nothing. Range 2 can damage the motor. I have no range 2 revs. And, this is not my car but a friend's Boxster S - on it's second motor.

What exactly is a "Range 2" and a "Range 1"?

I think Range 1 is a normal shift at the red-line, and a Range 2 is an improper down shift that results in the engine over reving.

I think range 1 is when the rev limiter kicks in as you accelerate just past red line. Range two is when you downshift, and the engine is forced to way over redline, in the region of 8000 rpm or more. I rarely hit redline, if ever, on the street. There is just no reason to. OTOH, I generally hit redline on the track, but rarely hit the rev limiter.

I almost never hit redline on the street. On track, I try to keep the RPMs as close to redline as possible.

Thank you Tiptronic!!

almost every day i drive i accelarate to full gas padel .. but i have tiptronic dose this effect?

if you hit range 2 and you blow your motor, does warranty cover it? I heard of some people purposely blowing their tranny on Bimmers back when I had a bmw if they felt it was weakening, and the dealer would replace it under warranty. However, with the Porsche I want to know because I didn't purposely break my car, but it seems like it is about to go because i've been driving it a bit too hard.

i have hit redline about half a dozen times in 13K miles...rev limiter 3 times...due to driving by feel and having no noticeable torque drop off at high 6000s like in cars in the past...no bad shifts, so based on what you guys are saying no Range 2s. i too am curious how porsche will respond to hitting rev limiter...

I've hit the rev limiter about 5 times since new. I understand that it cuts out fuel to keep from damaging the engine. Can anybody further educate me on this?

Intuitively, I'd think that keeping the car at redline for extended periods is worse than occasionally hitting the rev limiter. The computer screen reads "number of ignitions in range___" Which implies rpm's times minutes(or fractions thereof) I'm pretty sure there's nothing in the manual which limits the use of the upper limits. There is a proviso against lugging at too low an rpm in my tt manual. AS

The rev limiter cuts fuel. I was told by the shop foreman at my local dealer several years ago that he did not know of a warranty claim being denied due to range 2. My friends Boxster is not bad. The total operating hours are 1167.2. The last range 2 was 1111.0 hours. So the motor has 56.2 operating hours on it since the last range 2. Now, if his engine failed and the operating hours equaled the last range 2 incident - then there might be some questions. Jeff

ToolPants: does that mean he hit the redline 30+ THOUSAND TIMES???????????????? If so thats CRAZY...

I was told that pushing the engine (maybe not necessarily red lining) made the car run a bit quicker? Call me crazy, but I felt that my 02 Targa (sold) was quite a bit faster than my 03 C4s (or should I wait until the miles are equal to make a more accurate 'feel' comparison)???

I did not cover the VIN on this car as it is a 1998 Boxster and the warranty is over. I met the owner last year at a tech session we put on. Nice guy - but I would think twice about buying his car. He just needs to learn how to shift. Note the low operating hours. Jeff

I rarely hit the redline on the street, on the autocross events however I've hit the limiter several times. So far no problems (keeping my fingers crossed), I'm out of my warrantee.

As for a tip on a Boxster. I cannot find my pictures. But I was there. First was a 1999 and we joked after it was hooked up that you cannot even get into range1 since the computer will shift. Then the owner Steve let me drive his tip. Still nothing in range 1 or 2. Then George, on another day, with a 1998 tip had 20 hits in range 1. Nothing in range 2. Never though you could get an over-rev with a tip, but I was proven wrong. Jeff