When to shift during regular driving

[RyanGphoto]

While driving around.. What RPM do you normally shift to the next gear when accelerating? I normally shift RIGHT above the 3k rpm mark (unless I am wanting to hear the engine or trying to pass or something similar). So I was wondering.. where do you guys normally shift when just driving around on leisurely drives..

I notice when shifting from 4th into 5th I hold the 4th gear a bit longer than the other gears because I have to go up--over--up to get into 5th, so I stay in 4th a bit longer..

What are your thoughts?

Ryan G

 

[Tomwa]

It just depends on so many different factors. I will say shifting at only 3k rpm does feel a bit like short shifting the car.

Now, I live in a hilly part of Washington, so if I move from 2nd to 3rd, or 3rd to 4th at 3k rpm. I'm asking the car to 'manage' even puttering around at 2k rpm or less. The moment there's some form of incline, I'm going to be lugging the engine and asking for it to provide low end tq, that really just isn't there.

For most cars this will put it into some actually engine damaging conditions. Low-Speed Pre-Ignition. Which is more common on direct injection and turbo charged cars, but in high-load low RPM you are not doing your engine any favors.

There's never going to be a "right answer" to "when to shift" whether up or down. But there is a 'good feel' for the car and some mechanical sympathy. I don't know how to give you the 'tools' to right feel, you can drive other manual cars (hard to replace decades of doing so in a short period) you could ride along with others as they drive.

You will notice differences, and not all of those differences will be explainable by what's "better", and some of those differences may even be induced by someone else being in the car. How I drive for myself may be very different than how I do when I'm keeping passenger comfort in mind, or inversely if there's a slight desire to show off. Did I NEEED to shift down for that turn? Or was it fun to know my passenger was going to hear the revs kick up and feel more force in the turn?

 

[Time2Fly]

It depends on what I'm doing. If it's just gradual acceleration I'll shift sooner. If I'm going for quick acceleration I'll shift later to get the most from each gear. But wringing it out to get to forty miles an hour seems boy-racerish. So, yeah, 3-3.5k is about where I shift generally.

 

[Six Speed Stephen]

I kinda do it by ear, when the engine starts to get loud to the point that I feel like it’s excessive relative to the speed I’m going, I’ll shift. I’m guessing it’s around 3.5-4k

 

[Tomwa]

I will say, your question had me in mind to pay more attention on my drive home, and while I was in my Evo which does have quite a bit of low end grunt, shifting in normal traffic between 3-4k was my typical. (Though until I get rather close to home it's pretty much all downhill)

Commuting and stuck behind some SUV I'm more inclined to shift up into 4th gear and just plod along over 2k rpm. Certainly we know big lumpy v8 engines like the Corvette 6spd will idle along at like 1500 rpm and do highway speeds.

I think, as I mentioned earlier, it's just too multi variable to answer.

As T2Fly says, in my regular driving it's very rare for me to wring out any gear. Exception pretty much being my big hill getting up to my house. Do I have to stay in 2nd all the way up? No. Is it loud and a bit immature? Yeah. But, it's a small joy and I know that after I'm off throttle I'll bleed speed really quickly because there's more hill to go.

 

[Nova]

I shift to keep the RPM above 2k. That's about it. Below 2k the transmission chatters and I try to avoid that.