At what point (RPM) should I change gears for maximum acceleration and when would I change for best fuel economy?

I have a MCS but lets open this up for both the five and six speed transmissions.

Also what about downshifting?

 

this sounds like a newbie-manual tranny question, yes?

Your shifting habits are relative to your long-term goals with the car. If you're racing and barely care if the engine makes it to the end of the race, by all means keep the engine in the powerband (above 4k rpm).

However, this is not the goal of most people. If your a sane Motorer and not in any rush, you'll ease the clutch out in 1st at as low RPM as possible and as quick as possible (while also being as smooth as possible!). This reduces wear on the clutch, and also provides a relatively smooth launch (since you're keeping your engines tourque output to a minimum). Around town shifting is proportional to accelleration needs, on average I'd say shift out of 1st around 4k, 2nd around 3500, 3rd about 3k, and so on until you've reached your cruising speed.

There are two basic rules to engine RPM and daily driving:
1. don't bog the engine (too low RPM), I generalize this around 1500rpm
2. don't needlessly overrev the engine. The higher you rev the engine, the faster moving parts go, meaning more stress, more wear, and shorter lifespan. When I'm at a steady-state speed, I generalize 3k rpm as a limit, except on the highway (when top-gear brings rpm over this). There's no need to keep the car in 3rd doing 70 steady (doing about 5200), when the engine is better off in 6th at 2900 rpm.

Good luck,
Ryan

 

Ryan you should totally write a manual! I'm book marking this page

 

word, katie...ryan is the man.

ryan, you ought to make a little newbie manual for those of us new to driving with a manual transmission.

i sure know it'd help me out a bunch.

 

>>ryan, you ought to make a little newbie manual for those of us new to driving with a manual transmission.

before my MCS, i hadn't driven stick as much in about 6 years. I think I've got it down, but I know I'm not being too good to my clutch. Always wondered why it was so jerky getting out of 1st gear. now i know!

 

Thanks for the info! I've always driven a stick but this is my first car with a tachometer. You recommend shifting out of first at 4k...I'll have to give it a whirl. I usually shift out at about 2500/3000. Especially in the am when the car is still warming up. Do you have any input on that?

Thanks in advance!

-Cyn