Might want to do it below 4k when its still warming up.

 

4000 during casual driving, 9k anytime else

 

All those rx8 armchair drivers need to understand something. If you need to do this type of sick rotary turn, you're staying in 1st gear throughout the entire turn. No chance to upshift until you're going straight again, and that will be in the 1st gear redline zone.

Stop thinking in terms of static nonsense. It's all about fluid motion and adaptability.

 

^I love my car too much to make a hi risk turn like that. Just take a right and come back around

 

I shift when I remember I have to

 

When I first got my car I drove it like I drove all other manuals. Shifting around 3K RPM. Then after doing some reading and testing on my own I now hold my car around the 4K RPM range for normal driving and shift somewhere around 5K or 6K once it is warm. I have increased my MPG by around 6 by doing this. I will also redline through first gear on my way to and from the office.

 

/\ i pactically never redline in first . Just seems to be too hard on the gearbox

 

I'd be in 2nd gear before the car straightened out there....

 

usually between 3k and 4k rpm's, once again unless my road rage kicks in

 

I amazed at how many people on this thread shift below 5k once the car is warm. I never cruise below 4k after it's warm because that is the point at which the car actually comes to life. I usually shift between 5k and 6k. The engine is built to revved not coddled below 4k!

 

I can understand Easy's shift point since he has an auto. But I wonder what the rest of the BHR and other notable rotary gods are at.

 

Shift at 3.5k until warm, 4-5k normally.

 

that's what the beeper at 8500 RPM's is for

 

Thank you for everyone's input, and yeah normal driving is under 4000 for me haha, and yeah i usually let the car sit until its warm anyway before doing any driving so..thanks alot..

 

5k - 6k, i don't cruise below 4k except on rare occasions. If my speed drops so that i am under 4k, i downshift to bring it back up. I redline a minimum of once per drive to/from work. I wind it out on this onramp back from work, topping it out in 1st, then on an uphill in 2nd and 3rd, letting off when i beep 3rd and upshifting to 5th.

It is rare that i drive before the engine fan cycles, but if i do, I keep the revs under 4k until it's warm.

 

Here's something I've been thinking about:

For racing; you go through gears 1-2-3-4-5-6 and shift close to 9k
For normal driving; do you necessarily have to go 1 through 5? For instance, 1-3-5. Why or why not?

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/transmission.htm

After reviewing that, I still don't understand the benefits/cons from skipping gears, other than avoiding Wear on that particular gear.

thoughts?

 

skipping gears will put more wear on your syncho's

 

Because these are torqueless cars to skip gears like that.

 

Paul , can you explain that one to me please ....

 

i dont know if i can picture it in my head well enough to explain, but i'll try... forgive me when i butcher nomenclature and whatnot

the synchro's job is to spin up/down the tranny gearing to match the speed of the output shaft right(?) shifting from say 2-3 puts X amount of stress/wear on the synchros as they do their job. shifting from 2-4 will make the synchro's work a lil more as they now have to spin the tranny gearing up/down more than they would from a 2-3 shift

maybe a better way to picture it is to think in terms of RPM differences engaging different gears. imagine 50mph.... lets say 3rd gear at 5000rpms. hit nuetral and the collar disconnect from the gear. the tranny gears still spinning under momentum at ~5000. shift into 4th and the motor might now be at 3500rpms. the synchro cones put friction in the collar/gear before they actually engage bringing the gear down to proper speed. now shifting all the way to fifth means the synchro does more work to mesh the gear speed with the speed of the output shaft/layshaft... i think i've got it more or less right in theory

 

Which would be cool but you have synchros for each gear so it really is no more stress from spinning as it is already spinning.

 

yes every gear has its own synchro, so your just changing wear from one synchro to another, but putting greater wear on the synchro used when you skip gears
the wear/stress put on a synchro is greater the more friction it has to provide in matching speeds of all the rotating pieces... this is why its bad to shift into first at say 30mph. 1st gear will do 30, but the synchro cant handle that kind of stress and wear for long.... see my edit to the post above you

 

I kinda see what you are saying but I think it would only apply for high rpm shifts when you try and jam it into gear - not granny driving ...

 

yeah for granny driving i think the difference in wear would be probably insignificant. i do it once in a while. but at high rpm shifting the wear is definately going to increase in a hurry.

fwiw i had a 85 S-10 that i used the clutch when at a stop, and pulling out in 1st gear. never touched it otherwise, and i never used 2nd or 4th. up and down the gears, no clutch ever, always skipped gears

 

I shift at 4k most of the time.