I havnt driven my own manual car before, though I have learned to drive a manual. I plan on getting a manual 8 by the end of the year (B-day present )

Just wondering, before I get an 8, what gears are good for what speeds. I'm not asking when to shift, just what gear to be in generally for certain speeds... like if I'm wanting to go 65-70 ish on the highway or just 30 on a road around town... what gears fit best? any other shifting tips would be nice too. Thanks!

-Maniac

 

Ugh...your question is a little too general. If you know when to shift, you don't need to worry about the velocity.

On the highway, you're going to cruise in 6th. When you're going 30, you can cruise in fourth or fifth, but if you want to really get your RPMs down (helps fuel economy) then you can shift into 6th.

Now if you want to drive like the 'Maniac' that you are, 2nd gear can get up to 65ish, and then you obviously want to shift up sooner or later.

You might know this, but never shift into first while the car is moving.

Do you know about rev matching?

Yeah...

 

Why never shift into first while the car is moving?

 

The manual states not to shift into first above 11mph; it is okay within 0-11mph.

There are synchros in first gear on the 8; on most older cars (like my first car '81 Volkswagon Rabbit) did not have them.

 

Just use logic to match the gear to what you are doing. That is if merging on to a busy road you will want a low gear, but if in a 25 mph zone you can be as high as 5th or even 6th. I do that when comuting through a golf course as extreemly little chance I will want sudden acceleration and there is commonly radar. I have even used 2nd & 3rd at idle in 8mph traffic. Then when thinking of passing I will be in 2nd or 3rd (or ready to downshift).

Downshifting to 1st is a big jump, so requires time for the syncros to work and generally faster to just downshift to 2nd. Rarely would there be a turn so sharp that 1st is the best gear.

 

Wtf! That's awesome, but where in the manual?

 

Ahh ok. good to know because often times when I'm barely rolling i'll shift down to first to get going again. Anything more than 10 mph or so and I notice downshifting to first tends to bring a pretty big lurch when you try and let the clutch out and give it gas.

I hear alot of guys talking about driving at ultra low rpm's...but doesn't this actually worsen your mpg?? I read somewhere in the manual (don't have it on me) that between 3k and 4k rpm's are the optimal rnage for a gear.

 

Don't worry about it too much... If you're on a flat road, generally speaking, keeping your rpm's at, or just below, about 3k rpms will net you excellent fuel economy. But, I'll have to suggest NOT going any lower than that. Doing so will bog the engine, basically resulting in you dumping far more fuel than necessary into the engine just to maintain speed or accelerate (this becomes particularly apparent on hills...). If you come onto any sort of incline, keep your rpms up to at least 3-4 k. Even though the engine is spinning faster, the more appropriate gears will actually SAVE you a bit of fuel I just proved this on my last tank of gas by NOT keeping the car in 6th constantly, but instead always downshifting, or keeping the car in a lower gear, any time I was in a hilly area. I gained a good 30-50 miles on that tank by doing so.


Cliffnotes...

1.) On level ground, anything around 2500-3000 is ok.

2.) If you're going up an incline, 3500-4000 is better. Slightly higher if the hill is particularly long and/or steep.

 

First order of business is to acquire your RX-8. Second order of business is to get familiar with the "speed in gears" figures for the car. If you want to get best performance, select a gear that puts the engine in the power curve. Otherwise, just let it cruise in the 2000 to 3500 RPM+- range. It isn't rocket science. Just for grins, here's the (max) poop on the gears:

1st gear, 39 MPH
2nd gear, 65 MPH
3rd gear, 89 MPH
4th gear, 124 MPH
5th gear, 147 MPH
6th gear, 148 MPH

Obviously, that's a max performance attempt in each gear. Want to just chug around town? 2 to 3K is just fine, which simply means shift sooner.

1.3L

 

It was mentioned in the Quick tips guide that came with the car. I just went through the manual and realized it was in the quick tips reference guide.

I misquoted it though, this is what it says: " ! WARNINGS: Do not shift into 1st above 20 mph or clutch failure could occur.

Resting your foot on clutch pedal while driving and using the clutch to hold your vehicle at a stand still while waiting on a hill may reduce clutch life"

I probably read the bit about 11 mph on the forum.


Here is another similar thread: https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...t=mph+shifting

 

one thing while driving is never shift to 1st gear
some cars wont even allow you till your at a really slow speed
i guess you can force it into gear and ruin your gearbox

 

just out of curiosity, what if you double clutch and rev match the shift to 1st gear while doing ~20mph, is this still bad?

 

It may block the gear electronically if doing 20mph. I know it does block 1st under circumstances just haven't tested the limit because rarely if ever would it be beneficial to downshift to 1st for slowing the car. It seems too tempermental since it is the low gear.

 

The manual shows recommendations for shifting p 5-9

Upshifting

For normal acceleration, we recommend these shift points.
Shifting around 2,900rpms

1 to 2 23 km/h (14mph)
2 to 3 35 km/h (22mph)
3 to 4 47 km/h (29mph)
4 to 5 58 km/h (36mph)
5 to 6 74 km/h (46mph)

For cruising
Shifting around 2,800rpms

1 to 2 23 km/h (14mph)
2 to 3 34 km/h (21mph)
3 to 4 45 km/h (28mph)
4 to 5 56 km/h (35mph)
5 to 6 68 km/h (42mph)

That is really what a person should use when breaking in the car (keeping it under 3,000 rpm for the first 600 miles and then slowly ramping up from there)

 

Personally I find that shifting between 3,500 and 4,250 gives smoother shifts and doesn't feel like I am shifting all the time.

Some people get the RPMs to 4,000 or a bit more and skip gears.
An example being if a person gets rpms to 4,500 they could go from 3rd to 6th and be going faster than the recommended low shift point to sixth from fifth.

Another way to guage shifting is @3,000RPM:

1 to 2 20mph
2 to 3 30mph
3 to 4 40mph
4 to 5 50mph
5 to 6 60mph

so downshifting:

5th 50mph
4th 40mph
3rd 30mph
2nd 20mph
1st 10mph

See the relation between the two?

I believe it simplifies it to round the numbers or to use the rpms for shift points instead of trying to memorize the Manual tips on driving shift speeds.


Disclaimer: It is up to the driver what they feel is optimal but this works well for me after driving over a year in the 8.

 

What gears are good for what speeds? What a silly, silly question! It goes like this:

1. Turn on car
2. Put in first gear
3. WOT until beep or fuel cutoff
4. Upshift
5. Repeat steps 3-4 until you reach desired speed
6. Ease off accelerator and cruise to the sweet, sweet sound of high RPM rotary bliss

 

i usually shift at around 4k RPM. but if i want/need the extra power, i'll go shift around 6.5k RPM. and if i want to push my car, i'll take it to redline