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Hey guys, just looking for a little advice here. Like the title says i just taught myself to drive a standard. Anyways I know you should shift around 2500-3000rpm when you drive regular. But say you want to put the pedal to the floor? When should I be shifting in what gears for the best result?

Thanks a lot!

 
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take it to red line, then shift if you are testing it out. Dont take it into redline.

 
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Well there is always a max speed in a single gear. Like first gear is max 30km an hour and it takes 1 second to get it to 20. Wouldn't it make sense to at least go to 5000 rom in first atleast?

 
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...What?

If you put the pedal to the floor your throttle body will be in the "wide open" position. With more air in the engine, the more fuel that gets added, and the faster the RPM's climb. Your engine can only handle 6,750 RPM's. So for each gear, no matter how far the pedal is pushed to the floor, as long as your under the 6,750rpm's, you wont get into the red and hit the rev limiter- where the ECU cuts off the fuel to the engine.

If your trying to hit a top speed on a .25 mile track for instance, you would want to shift as high as possible- just slightly before redline.

For every day driving you should shift at 3k for a smooth shift. if you shift sub 3k, you wont have a smooth shift- instead the engine will glug and you'll have no power. After you shift, you need to be at atleast 1,500rpm's, if not the car will be unhappy and make a funny noise which means it needs a lower gear and you shifted too soon.

And never downshift into first gear. The lockout (the reason its tough to shift back into 1st while in motion) is because its dangerous. Shifting from 2'nd @ 20mph into 1st to engine break will be too strenuous on the engine- just kick the clutch in and use the breaks.

Hope that helps.

 
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w00t! civic redline!!

 
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Ok thanks for your help.

 
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You should be doing it based on the sound of the engine.

 
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i agree. ive also been having this 'debate' with my gf over the past few days when im in the car while shes driving it. she doesnt seem to understand that you go by sound and feel of the pull when you shift a gear. she drives a cavalier though like most girls do, so she says shes not used to it. in our particular cars, id say on regular driving, dont go past 3500-3700 before shifting...that should drop you to about 2200-2300 into your next gear. you should never be below 2000 rpm.

 
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Those Calgary boys got it right.Paying attention to your rpms is important when your first learning to drive, but start to get the feel of your car so you can keep your eyes on the road rather than trying to hit exact rpms. Soon you'll just start doing it.Do that and you wont even look at your tach anymore.

 
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I hit the rev limiter the other day. NOT a pleasant jerk on the highway. I thought my car got destroyed.

 
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you gotta floor it to get vtec

 
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the manual states for best shifting and mileage you shift basically at 3k rpms, but it actually states what mp/h u shift at not rpm.

when u're good you can do all sorts of shifting with ur car.

- shift with no clutch is one.
- using 1st gear to slow down is easy
- or downshifting to 1st is easy

 
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I taught myself how to drive an automatic.

 
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haha nice.
i havent learned that one yet.

 
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Another question. One of my friends drivers an 01 corolla and his is 5spd. He never keeps drive in 5th unless hes going 80km/h or more. I usually put it in 5th gear even when im cruising at 60. and it idles at about 1,500. Advice?

 
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haha...NOOOOOOOOOO
DONT DO THAT.

read back up and look at my post from a couple weeks ago. you should be shifting around 3500 rpm and it should drop by around 1500, to about 2200 after the shift. build up again and shift and you should be again around 2200. your ideal cruising speed should be around 2300ish. if youre below that, you should be up in a higher gear. dont drop to 1500, the only time your vehicle should be in that 1500 range is when youre in first gear and youre going PAST it to hit 2nd. otherwise you should never be in that range. its bad for your car and it ****s your valves up.

in our particular car (theyre all different) if youre going at 60 kmh you should be in about 3rd gear. once you go up to around 65ish you should be hitting 4th and then around 80 hit 5th. but just remember and this is important. do not use your 'speed' as your guideline for shifting. use the rpm.

heres an example. in gear 2, at 4000 rpm, you might be going 45 kmh if youre by yourself in your car. now if you have 3 other people in your car, in gear 2 at 4000 rpm, you might only hit 37 kmh or 38. either way youre still at 4000 rpm. thats the reason you use your rpm as a guide, not your speed. ignore the speed thing.

 
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Seriously? ****, I didn't know that. I don't do it all the time but the occasional time when I'm on 5th and cruising at 70-80 km/h (don't know what that translates to in MPH), then yeah.

 
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why does the honda manual say always drive in the highest gear for better fuel mileage? in my auto at lower speeds, im hovering between 1-1.5k rpms all the time in 4th.

 
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Yea thats what I figured. Lower rpm = Metter mileage. Why should it be around 2200? Also why is the cars rpm so high on the highway? The car is about 3900rpm to go 120 km/h. In my last car (Nissan Sentra) It was automatic but it was 2900 and I was going 120. Does that mean im kiling my gas mileage if I go 120 on the highway?

 
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albertross and gearbox, the higher your gear means the lower the rpm, and that basically means using less fuel. so yeah, essentially the manual is right. i know ive heard it a bunch of times from some mechanics ive asked and from a few select guys i know that know their cars inside and out, that when youre driving in very low rpms, that bogging sound is pretty much unhealthy.

let me be a bit clearer....when i say driving in lower rpms such as 1000-2000 range...i mean 'driving' in it, as in going from 1k-2k, switching up a gear, going up from 1k-2k again, then switching gears up once more. that isnt good for your car at all. but thats basically what im gathering that protan is asking about.

you on the other hand gearbox, if your car is auto it probably shifts around 2500-3k through the gears, which is fine, then once youre in your 4th or whatever, you hover around 1500 as a coasting speed rpm. part of that is because you drive an auto and it tends to let you drop your rpms fairly low before shifting down a gear so it lets you coast around 1500ish. but either way, coasting at a select rpm is different than going through your gears using from 1k-2k as your rpm acceleration range, a lot different.

i think what ive always heard the harmful part of it all is, is forcing your car to accelerate with basically no low end power unless youre in 1st gear. thats the reason the coasting thing isnt really a problem, youre not really forcing your car to speed up. (part of the reason in an auto if youre at a 1-1.5k range and coasting, and you pin it, it drops down a gear and accelerates.)

 
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protan, thats how our cars are designed. mine basically goes 3500-4000 when im heading up to the 130-140 so yours sounds about the same as mine and the rest of us. i still drive in that range anyway because im not all that concerned with fuel economy as most people are. i think thats because im not driving some 5 or 6 litre gas guzzling truck.

as none of us like to face it, our cars arent really designed to be a fast car, nor to go at mid to high 100+ range like a lot of other cars easily do. we dont have fast cars, we have 'fuel efficient' cars that have just become more and more sporty over the years, so people tend to misunderstand it.

a sentra is fairly fuel efficient too, but again...its a nissan and not a honda, and theyre designed different in many ways, the main one in this case being the gear ratios i think. thats probably the main reason you get the lower rpm at the same highway cruising speed.

yes going at 120 kills your gas mileage. to drive at 120 you have to keep pushing the gas down, or hold your foot pressed in a fair bit the entire time.

deeper the pedal is pushed = the more gas used.

 
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but how does driving at a 1,500 RPM mess with ur valves or anything for that matter?

im just not seeing it, i drove from FL to Seattle with the RPM hovering at about 1,600 and then did it going to NY, then Camp Lejeune then to Orlando, FL, again and when i took the head off for the fun of it a few months later, everything was shiny new and looked perfect... even with driving like that my car's entire life: 80,000 miles.

i just dont see how making your engine spin at a slower but steady rate in a big gear is bad for it compared to spinning faster in a smaller gear...

im gonna google this one, cuz this is interesting and would completely change how the world drives... lol

 
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well, in a previous post i was comparing a coasting speed thats under 2k rpm, to accelerating with your foot to the floor at under 2k rpm. they are much much different.

once youre at your designated speed, you only need to apply enough throttle to keep you there (like on your long drives), so thats when the 2k cruising speed would be fine. thats much different than continuously driving in the city such as leaving from a red light, going up to 2k, then going down from 1k back up to 2k in the next gear, over and over and over. thats where 'they' say the damage is done. its almost like youre flooding the engine and making it bog out.

i dont know, we have hondas, and theyre designed to rev fairly high. thats where they produce the power that they lack for being a fuel efficient vehicle.

 
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Hi rev motors ftw! Unless low rev motors like old muscle cars are around. Then high rev motor ftl! Just like untuned is saying, you get up to speed without being below around 2200 or so, then once you are at crusing speed and you don't need to push the gas much to keep going, you can be lower. He would probably disagree with me but I've driven manuals of all kinds, and note that I love my honda to death and would not want to do anything to damage it, but I cruise in 5th at like 1500 rpm's alot. Anywhere 40mph or more I'm in 5th until I need to accelerate more, (for example, up a hill) then I drop into 4th or even 3rd depending on how long and steep the hill is.

 
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I do the same thing as jgcentury. If you are cruising in 5th gear at 45mph its not going to hurt your engine. I would advise, if you want to speed up to downshift to 3rd or 4th.

As others have stated, when you get used to it you just shift by the sound. I can shift at 3000rpm without looking every time by sound and feeling. I can also tell you when i hit 45mph because that is the most common speed limit in my area.

Another word of wisdom to the people who are new to manual transmissions, if you hear a grinding noise, it is not good. lol.

 
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once again for the ..4th? 5th time? accelerating and cruising are completely different things.

if youre at a low rpm in a higher gear and want to accelerate, youre going to have to literally floor the pedal, and youre going to get next to no power even when you do. its almost like drowning your car in fuel that it doesnt really want while being at that low rpm.

if youre at a high rpm and in a lower gear, its going to take a lot less throttle to increase your speed because your engine is properly using the fuel youre feeding it compared to bogging and being smothered like it is when youre in a higher gear at low rpms.

when you are at 1k rpm and trying to accelerate, do you guys not notice that it takes an hour to finally hit 2k even when your foot is to the floor? that isnt how your car is designed to be driven. you shouldnt be anywhere below 1500 rpm when accelerating (ideal should be about 2k at the start of next gear).

once again this is all referring to acceleration. when youre coasting, cruising or at a continuous speed, driving (not accelerating) at 2k rpm or so is perfectly fine, i do it too. my whole point is not about the coasting, its just about accelerating.

 
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I just agreed with what you were saying buddy! And I don't try to accelerate from 1k rpm. Read my post one more time.