Somebody earlier mentioned something about minimum RPM's for shifting from the owner's manual, so I got curious looked in the owner's manual and here is what they recommend for normal driving:

1-2 8mph
2-3 16mph
3-4 25mph
4-5 28mph
5-6 33mph

And for "quick" acceleration:

1-2 15mph
2-3 25mph
3-4 40mph
4-5 45mph
5-6 50mph

That's crazy. I can't believe this is correct.

 

Maybe if my grandmother was driving

 

Yah right. The correct shift point in every gear is 6.8k-7k rpm If you follow the manual, you're always going to be in too high a gear, and that's not necessarily good for your car or gas mileage. When driving normally, just shift between 2.7k-3k regardless of speed. I don't even look at my tach anymore.

 

It's like this; if you were riding in an automatic car and was just barely pressing the gas because there was no need to accelerate fast, the car would shift quickly and smoothly below 2000RPM's... I do this all the time commuting to work, the 6MT G has plenty enough torque to do this...

Some people say this is crazy, but I say they are crazy because I average 26MPG during my weekly commute driving this way with my 6MT. On the other hand; when I want to run the f*** out of my car I shift at 6500-6800 (or wherever the hell I want in between that) and that is usually on the weekends and days off (I still get at least 19MPG.)

There is NO SANE REASON to turn the engine fast if you don't need to or want to, it just burns gas and causes wear... I've been driving manuals for more than 24 years; trust me on this!

 

So you shift at 2K rpm? Doesn't your car make a deep hum once the car is in too high of a gear for low speeds?

 

So we could technically shift 1-3-5 or 1-3-6 and increase MPG, correct? Kinda like what the new corvettes do.

(I posted something similiar in the "Is the VQ engine inefficent" thread)

Hooman

 

I agree 100% I drive 75% highway and 25% city in a 35 mile one way comute every day. Shifting at around 1800 to 2k in the city is not a problem. I average 22 to 23mpg with my 6mt. I have been driving manuals as well as some automatics for over 30 years.

 

I sometimes shift 1 3 5 in the city and if I am going to do this I shift at 2500 rpm.

 

Yeah, but let's say I was cruising in town traffic and we were doing 40ish and i'm in 6th... Now the traffic is slowing and we're now at 33; I'm still in 6th with no complaints from the engine, no noise, lower than 32 in 6th starts to get that feeling it needs to be downshifted... I usually downshift to 5th when I see traffic slowing to less than 35, then to 4th by 25, then into 3rd by 20 and so on...
20 MPH is a good 3rd with AC on, and can easily be 4th without AC... There are several school zones on my way to work (20MPH) so i drive about 22MPH in 4th through those... Plenty of torque to cruise, just as long as you don't plan on accellerating fast from there, your car only needs to keep rolling and it needs little help to do that.

Did you ever notice how long a 6MT can roll in neutral; there is very little resistance.

 

I use all gears, all the time, I never skip; you can do that, it won't hurt your G, I just don't.

 

Heavier flywheels give it more initera so they roll longer in neutral. If you changed the flywheel to a lightweight one they don't roll in neutral as well.

 

Sorry my friend, rolling in neutral has nothing to do with that, you can roll just as far with the engine running or not, the flywheel weight will help cruising speed mileage though; in the past, i've noticed lightweight flywheels cost fuel efficiency on the highway; just my observation.

 

I've noticed a weird correlation between skipping gears and grinding tranny complaints, sorry I'm too lazy to dig up all the threads where this subject has been discussed. Actually someone recently IMed me about that. I don't see either how skipping gears will hurt the transmission, but apparently the G's tranny has a mind of its own.

Then someone explain to me why I've been told all my life that driving in too high a gear (let's say @ 1,500rpm) will use MORE gas than driving in a lower gear let's say @ 2,200rpm.

 

The flywheel has nothing to do with it when the car is in Netural or when you have the clutch depressed. With the car in neutral and the clutch out the engine is not directly connected to output shaft of the trans. With the clutch depressed but in gear the flywheel is not connected to the trans via the pressure plate, and with the trans in neutral and the clutch in both the clutch and the gears in the trans are not engaged to the flywheel. In any event the flywheel will make no differnece. If you don't believe me go 30 miles an hour and put your car in neutral and let it roll. then do the same thing but also turn the engine off. There will be no difference since the flywheel in not directly connected to the output shaft in either case. The only effect a heavy flywheel has is when you launch hard and you get the extra energy stored in the added weight of the spining flywheel.

 

That depends on who's been doing the "telling"... My dad built and raced american cars from the 50's on and became a big NISMO fan when the 240 came out and he is the one who told be that turning the engine for nothing is bull****... The first car he let me drive had no radio and was manual, he said I needed to hear & feel the car and pay attention to the road before I played the music; you just learn the machine after awhile, the way it sounds, pulls; the vibrations...

They called it "Lugging" when you were in too high of a gear at a low RPM, try to see where you feel that, just as a short test, then never drive in that gear at that low of an RPM and you will be fine.

I hope this makes sence.