Why does GM have skip shift?

Every single time it kicks in i wish that it didnt have it. Yes i know it is pretty easy to get rid of, but why even have it in the first place? The only thing i can think of is that it can help get the car a higher rated milage and possibly less taxes on the cars?

You hit it... it slightly increases fuel economy for CAFE stuff....

Yep, it gives an extra mpg or so on the FTP. Be thankful that it is calibrated to not be very intrusive at all. You can defeat it by blipping the throttle, or better yet, just don't start the shift when the light is on. Come to a complete stop, start off, and stay in first gear at light throttle (I believe the cal is 25% or below). Note the rpm at which the light comes on, and then stay in first accelerating lightly (still below the throttle threshold, or it will kick out of skip shift). Remain in first until the light goes out. Skip shift has an enablement range, so the skip shift will only happen if you try to shift from 1st while the light is on. Once you learn the rpm at which it shuts off, then you can just make sure your engine is past that point before you shift (it is only like 2500 rpm or so), even if you don't want to focus on the light.

1 2.2k ohm resistor (If I remember correctly...) and 8 inches of electrical tape = much freaking easier. :D

I used to hate it as soon as I first got my car since I was just learning how to drive stick. But now it just doesn't even matter. In normal traffic I'm not going to speed anyway, so I'll just skip shift. If I want to accelerate a little higher then I just listen to the engine to climb to 2500 RPM and shift to second or give it more throttle and it shuts off automatically anyway. It really doesn't affect anything at all for me anymore...

1 2.2k ohm resistor (If I remember correctly...) and 8 inches of electrical tape = much freaking easier. :D

Yeah, it took me all of 20 minutes to go to Radioshack & come home and lift the car and install the resistor --- good mod, and super easy
I think it was only like $0.50!

1 2.2k ohm resistor (If I remember correctly...) and 8 inches of electrical tape = much freaking easier. :D Yes, or there is that option. :D

My point was that it isn't really hard to avoid it coming on when driving. The magazine clowns always gripe about the "horribly annoying skip shift feature", and I'm always confused, because I never encountered it unless I was TRYING to let it skip shift, just to be different.

My current car has the eliminator (previous owner did it). My Dad's '94 Z28 had operational skip shift, though, and I never got annoyed by it. I guess I just tend to shift after 2500 rpm in first (or short shift to second before skip shift would come on). Every once in a while I'll intentionally shift to 4th from 1st when the light is on in my car, just to feel what it would be like to do it. Other than a little gear rattle, the car moves just fine in 4th gear. :)

or, you could just start in 2nd. unless you have 2.xx gears that is...

I had my skip shift eliminator before I had my car!! :D

They threw it in for better numbers on the epa test, but they also designed it to be easily defeated by the above method. Kudos to the guys who were responsible for that one! :bow:

Well, for me i dont possibly see how it helps out anything. I mean when i go from a dead stop, it kicks in and i have to either a) shift to 3rd, or put it in N then back to 2 if i want to. It just takes unessary time and effort. All i do now is just rev to 3k in 1st and then shift to 3rd that way i beat the skip shift and still kinda get decenet mpg. But with the skip shift i would think that it would hurt mpg since the motor has to work harder at lower rpms to reach cruisen speed :confused:

:lol: Well its suppose to help out only if the driver follows what it tells you to do, go from 1st to 4th between 1500-2500 RPM. That is when its actually affective, if you try to get around it of course its not going to do anything :p

More load > higher revs when it comes to gas milage.

It wasn't designed for real world use, it was specifically calibrated for the epa test, using the shift points and throttle settings specified in the test. While running the epa test cycle w/in it's parameters, the skip shift WILL engage, and save a BIT of fuel. But It was also designed for real world use, in that you can go over I think 20% throttle, 20mph, or wait it out for about 5 secs I believe and not have to mess w/ the thing. It's also easily defeatable by any of the above methods...by design. I think you can also set the parking brake up one notch to kill it. The brake light is on, but the brake line doesn't have enough tension to actually actuate the parking brake.

Simplest thing to do is get an eliminator, or the proper resistor.

W/o skip shift, most of the V8/6 speed GM cars would get hit with the gas guzzler tax. At least that's how it was explained when skip shift first came out.

Dont even worry about the rpms or speed. Just give it a good amount of gas and shift as normal. It only kicks in if you drive it easy. I dont abuse it but I leave with authority!

It really doesn't bother me to much, I like using it when I am city traffic. The only times I hate it is when I go up a hill it lugs really bad and making left turns at a big stoplight intersections, because speed is so low.