Now that I'm past my break-in period (1600 mi) I'm curious how much I can (occasionally) crank the RPM's without causing any longterm damage. The "growl" is so deep when I get to 5K RPM that I often chicken out and shift. I'm looking to have a little fun with my baby without doing any harm. Like most people, I enjoy clicking through 2nd-4th gear pretty hard on occasion.

Thoughts???

 

Depends how you like to drive. I'd say I hit the redline daily when I get to the quieter roads (well, they're quiet before I arrive )

 

I only drive hard when I get on the freeway, because you can shift high on about 4 gears before you are going 80. Rarely will I hit redline, the car is fast enough and I find by 5000 you are going pretty fast and ahead of traffic.

If the guy in the car next to me has a comparable car in speed, and gives a nod, thats another story

 

Up to and touching should be fine. Manufacturers set redline based on the engine's capabilities. Occasionally revving the engine to redline shouldn't cause any longterm consequences. Daily flogging is another story.

Rev until you see the blue and red warning lights in your rear view, and then back off a bit from that point.

 

Even if you hammered it everyday, I would think you would still get 100k miles out of it easily... I wouldn't worry about it and enjoy the car. Why pay $34k if your not going to have fun with it...

 

My philosophy is that God created a redline for a reason, and that's to put the tach needle in it! My car has seen the redline more times than I can count, and don't forget, we do have a revvvvvv limiter!

 

Excellent advice!

 

Its probably good to see the redline once in awhile. The old cars needed it to burn off carbon deposits...the new cars probably don't really need to do it but it couldn't hurt.

 

What is the lowest RPM everyone shifts at when driving conservative. I find 2500 RPM is fine to shift at the car does not even struggle to keep up with traffic.

 

You should be able to redline daily with no problems. The 3.5 DOHC is not a pushrod motor, just be sure to use synthetic oil for max upper rpm protection.

 

3000-3500 rpms....

 

When you strap on an AEM cold air intake, your desire for WOT in the upper rev range increases tremendously

You want people you're passing to KNOW you have a powerhouse disguised as a family sedan

If I'm driving with the family in the car or on a sunday cruise I'm shifting at 3.5, maybe 4... kind of hard to make a blanket RPM statement since it truly depends on the situation.