Who likes driving slow?

[myShift]

Especially since gas prices have shot up, I've really had fun playing the MPG game; I always have my phone out ready to calculate my next tank, haha. Before, I used to drive semi-gas savingly, shifting at 2500 normally but with a decent amount of gas pedal. Now I'm shifting at 2100-2200 ish with like an inch of gas. 34.92 MPG on the last tank FTW

I do like to do some "spirited" driving once in awhile, taking it up past five or so. What I can't stand, though, is driving "normally" and shifting at 3000. If I want gas mileage, I drive slow, if I want fun, I floor the pedal; why would I want to shift at 3000? I tried doing that for a day and I just felt like I was burning gas, and cried on the inside.

 

[ForceFed]

Shifting at 2200....2500...3000....
Blahaaaaahahahahahaaaaa!

You occassionally take it to 5K....(boom02)

Whats redline....6250....

Man run that thing out when your geting on it..Geez..your not gonna hurt it.

You guys drive like friggin' grandma's....even when driving hard.

Wow.

 

[myShift]

Well I heard that 5.5 is optimal cause past that it kinda blows, so that's where I usually shift...

 

[njaremka]

i drive "spirited" (shifting at 4000-4500rpm) and still get 33-34 mpg.

 

[Knox Joe]

I **** mine and get about 35mpg.

 

[_ERIC]

it feels like i get better mialage driving faster

 

[myShift]

stock?

 

[_ERIC]

stock?

mine? right now i only have an intake

 

[magnumP5]

It's not about the RPM it's about the load on the engine. If you ever get a chance to look at an engine efficiency map (a lot of marine diesel engine companies release these) you'll see that there are varying efficiencies even at the same RPM - it just depends on the load on the engine. If you are in 5th going 30 mph and are on the gas to maintain that speed I almost guarantee you're making worse gas mileage than if you'd just stay in 3rd. I've even tested this by shifting up to 4th when just cruising through neighborhoods and up to 5th even when I'm going just 35 mph. From what I could tell my gas mileage was hurt because of it.

 

[Joost27]

Well I heard that 5.5 is optimal cause past that it kinda blows, so that's where I usually shift...

yeah sure that might be when peak power is made, however if you shift at 5.5 from 1st to 2nd your gonna land your RPMs right in the boggy area. I get on my car hard almost every day, Never rev limit but right up within 100-150rpms of redline. Never have any issues. I average 40mpg or so on highway doing about 70mph, and around town 32mpg when getting on it. of course this is all with the 1.6

 

[nate0123]

I get 54 MPG and I redline it from every stoplight. (ugh)

Really, I've stopped keeping track. I'd rather not know.

 

[myShift]

So if you're going 30 MPH in 5th (which is a mere tap of the gas), you're using less gas than in third? I think if you're cruising at that same speed you're using less gas in 5th, and that the gas saving in say, 3rd, comes from when you go up hills or have to accelerate.

On my next tank I'll test out and shift at 3k and cruise in lower gears. If I get lower MPG I'm gonna kill you guys =)

 

[magnumP5]

It all comes down to power used. I'm going to check if I can find one of my old marine diesel engine maps I used back in school. They had plots or RPM versus horsepower with SFC (specific fuel consumption) curves laid over top and I'm sure that would help explain this a little better. I remember having to do gearing optimization problems to maximize the power and efficiency of diesel engines in order to hit certain ship speeds. It would really be nice if there were an FSDE engine map out there.

 

[myShift]

BAHH

i drove at 3000 ish rpms for past two tanks. Mileage dropped to 30.

 

[ghettoracingkid]

in reference to the 5th at 30 mpg.

you are making the engine do mroe work becuase the gearing isnt optimal.

drop that sucker to 3rd at 30 mph you should be good.

 

[myShift]

When I watch CVT's cruise (not accelerate), they go into low rpms. At 30 or 40 mph on a flat road, it was easily staying below 1500. I figure CVT is pretty gas efficient, so if it wasn't smart to stay that low the car would be revving higher.

 

[magnumP5]

^^^ They also downshift at the slightest hint of uphill grade or when more power is needed. Also, automatic transmissions are not as efficient as manual transmissions are. The traditional automatic transmission (torque converters et al) will never be as efficient as a manual transmission.