Nope, if you read your owner's manual I think it shows the maximum speed for a given gear. As long as you don't exceed that, you'll be fine.
What I generally do when I am in a 'spirited' driving mood is as follows:
From a stand still, shift into 2. Hold it in 2 and let it shift through 1st into second. It will not go into 3rd under about 78mph. When you get going and start to hold your speed, you may as well just put it into D and let it do its thing. When you get to a turn, (depending on the situation) you should be alright to shift into 2 from about 40mph (even up to 65 is doable, but I don't recommend it for you if you haven't tried before). If you don't need to slow to that speed, just bump it out of O/D. That should provide sufficient slowing. I usually tap the throttle to "rev match" so that there is less shock to the transmission. I can make a video to show this stuff if you think it would be helpful. 1st gear is only usable up to about 34mph, you should just avoid using it unless it is from a stand still. Even going into L from about 25 jolts the drivetrain pretty good, and tends to shift weight pretty dramatically.
To those of you with 5-speeds, I know that I don't have to shift my auto. Don't tell me that. I know. And I do also know how to drive stick, so don't think that you're better than me.
The reason for doing so is to keep the car in lower gears so that the engine and gearing assists in braking. Also if the car is in 2nd going into a turn it won't be down-shifting when exiting the turn. This keeps the car from getting upset, due to weight shift and sudden changes in wheel speed. And instead of having my foot on the brake, it can be on the throttle ready to push out of the turn. Since my foot stays in position on the throttle more of the time I can use throttle to adjust for understeer/oversteer through the turns.
If you rode with me you would understand. I'm not that great at explaining it, but you get the idea. I might try to make a video in a location that makes this technique more obvious. So you guys can see what I'm talking about.
-Ben
by 99BlackSandv6 » Wed Jan 27, 2010 4:51 pm 
