Question...


Is it bad to accelerate out of 6th gear say at 40mph while cruising behind traffic, and then gradually letting the engine wind up from that gear till you hit 70 or so? This is in terms of fuel economy because maybe it takes more gas to get the car moving at such a tall gear.

Would it be better to shift down maybe one or two gears just to accelerate and then going back to 6th? I'm wondering if that's my problem because I drive almost 85% highway and am only getting about 22.5mpg while cruising at around 65-75.

 

Yes, too much drag placed on the motor. At 40 your better off dropin
to 4th and work your way up.

 

Don't be lazy, shift!

 

^lol... or get an automatic

 

40 is no problem for my 6mt sedan. I shift @ 2K RPM or so and I have never had any bogging issues. My car has plenty of tourque and gets pretty good gas mileage too. (Around 25mpg)

 

+1.......and shifting down and accellerating in a lower gear will be much easier on the engine's innerds.....

C.

 

haha I'm not lazy...it's just that the engine has enough torque to move it back up to highway speed...but i didn't know if it drank more gas.

 

Your instincts are right on target for getting good gas mileage. You want to get into 6th gear as soon as possible. On a level road there's no problem with being in 6th gear at 40. The idea is to get out of the low gears ASAP. So you can have some fun and not drive like a grandma in the lower gears, but the idea is to shift into 6th as soon as practical.

 

im pretty sure it saves a little bit of gas.. most of the time im cruising 50 on a 45 in 6th gear.

 

Sounds like someone should have bought an automatic.

 

sounds like someone has too much time on his hands

 

yea that's what I was thinking... i've been trying to drive conservatively due to gas prices. Thanks for the info.

 

Just think of it this way, deeper u press the gas pedal more has u are going to waste. If there is a hill on the freeway and ur doing 65 then its better to drop into 5th and give it less gas to keep going 65 then stay in 6th and press the gas half way.

 

Look at your owners manual. It says right in there that you can/should shift to 6th at 40-42...
there's a chart that shows it

 

yes i've seen that