I just purchased a 2009 HHR SS and have read in the owners manual about the competition mode feature. I know how to turn it on and I have also tried the launch control which works perfect. The manual said something about being able to shift without taking you foot of the gas. Is this true and how exactly does it work? This is a 5 speed manual car.

Thank you for any help.

 

Its a feature call "no lift shift". Do a search on here and google. Some refer to it by acronym as well "NLS". I still have not tried it. It is counter to over 20 years of driving, but it is neat.

 

It keeps the turbo spooled and yep, I've had to relearn technique and it's cool as hell!

In most cars you would risk breaking something!

 

I have now gone out and tried the no lift ****. I cant seem to make it work. I have it in competition mode and in first gear. When I go to shift I leave the gas peddle to the floor and push the clutch in and shift. Is this the correct procedure?

 

The key is doing it right at redline, with a super quick shift.

 

I was also curious of this... I had heard mention of it, but also never tried it. Had I known more about it a couple of weeks ago I coulda put it to good use at the track!
Also, I struggled with good launches at the track and wasn't sure in the competitive mode/launch control what was appropriate for launch!?!?!? I'm used to launching my transam and it's NOTHING the same!

 

Thanks for all of your help. I tried a few more times tonight and I now have it figured out. What I found is that I was actually pulling to hard and to quick from 1st to 2nd. When I slowed myself down a little it goes right in gear. I learned that because it worked going into 3rd and 4th great so I knew it was something with my technique. Thank you for all of the help and suggestions. This car really is a blast to drive.

 

Launch control holds the car at 4400RPM so you're not burning rubber but you're not waiting to spool. From what I've read its a huge asset to amateur draggers and kind of hinderance to someone who is an expert. I am pure amateur since I've never dragged except messing around while daily driving. This is a huge help as the hhr ss and cobalt ss are good roll draggers and not good dig draggers like the bigger engine sports calls. Were better off the roll with turbo kicked in...faster than most any stock car out there. So if you drag a higher end sports car doing it rolling drop a gear...and go. The NLS and LC are nice options to compensate for a turbos few shortcomings.

 

No-Lift Upshift (SS Models)

If the vehicle has the 2.0L turbo engine and manual
transmission, it has the capability of No-Lift Upshifts.
This feature maximizes vehicle acceleration by allowing
you to shift the transmission to a higher gear without
taking your foot off the accelerator. No-Lift Upshifting is
enabled in all Electronic Stability Control modes. See

Electronic Stability Control (ESC) on page 4-7

for more
information. Use this feature only when the engine has
reached normal operating temperature. Correct shifting
allows the engine to maintain boost pressure during
shifts, while also keeping the engine from over-revving.
To utilize this feature:

1. Accelerate the vehicle by fully depressing the
accelerator pedal.

2. Just prior to reaching the maximum engine speed,
quickly complete the upshift utilizing the clutch while
keeping the accelerator pedal fully applied. A quicker
shift maneuver gives the best performance. If the
engine is operated at the maximum engine speed for
greater than one second, the engine exits the No-Lift
Upshift mode and resumes normal engine overspeed

protection.

 

The 1st-2nd no-lift-shift is pretty tricky because redline comes so fast and the tach lags a bit, and it often results in tons of tire-spin, so I rarely do it but it is fun :)

I pretty much only NLS from 2nd to 3rd, which I've gotten pretty good at. By the time I hit redline in 3rd I'm heading towards "go to jail" speeds so I've only tried the 3-4 NLS a few times. It is very counter-intuitive to keep the gas floored during a shift, but after a few days it becomes second nature. A botched no-lift-shift does feel terrible though