How to shift gears properly..?
 

I have a question....might sound dumb but how do you shift properly? I was always told standards are faster than automatics and now that I have a 6-speed I feel like a automatic would whoop me. It seems like when I up-shift that my car takes a long time to get up & going and an automatic would be meters ahead of me by then. What do you think im doing wrong? I mean I know how to shift but wtf? Lol I seen some drag racings 370z vids & they don't seem to be making the big studder movement like me. BY THE WAY IM A COMPLETE NEWB BUT IM SURE YOU'VE ALREADY REALIZED THAT. *AHEM help me change from :ughdance: to this :happydance: thank you fellow 370zers. Ha:bowrofl:

lol:rofl2:

With the 370, the auto is definitely alot faster at shifting. The manual doesn't like fast shifts due to the heavy flywheel, the RPMs literally wont drop fast enough to match a fast shift from 1st to 2nd.

secret is 7k then shift. in every gear.

:iagree::iagree::iagree:


Manuals haven't been as fast as autos off the line for a decent amount of years now... Sorry OP

Knowing my manual will definitely out live any auto is a win. And it's a lot cheaper to replace.

Manual is much more fun to drive, unless it is a Ferrari of course!:tup:

Thanks for this. I bought my z 3weeks ago and I've been wondering why I have to wait that long for the rpm to drop so I can shift from 1st to 2nd gear.
I'm guessing changing to lightweight flywheel helps?

That doesn't make sense, u can shift from 1st to second at 7500rpm. Heck 0-60mph is pretty easy in this car since u can hit it at the end of second. The mt hate on this forum is always funny. It's always the inexperienced mt owners who default to blaming the car.

I personally prefer MT but I'm still getting used to the car. What rpm do you shift when daily driving?

I set the shift indicator light at 4K and I'm usually shifting by the time it starts flashing (3500 RPM) during casual driving. Of course, I also ignore that shift indicator on a daily basis :icon17:

With aggressive shifts at high RPMs, there's not really a wait for the RPMs to drop. Its hard and fast (that's what she said) with both the shift knob and the clutch pedal. It just takes a little practice :tup:

Good question. It really depends on the situation. I think it's between 2000-4000. I'd have a better answer but my car is in storage still and I don't usually pay very close attention for city driving. I launch the car around 3500 but that isn't an everyday thing, ha.

The type of driving you want to do is what decides when you shift. Lets say you want to get really good mileage out of your car. Barely depress the accelerator (it takes almost no throttle to get our cars moving) and shift around 3k. With that easy type of driving and shifting you should see close to 25mpg. Now burry the throttle and shift at 7000rpm's and you should be seeing around 17 mpg. It just depends on your driving characteristics and ofcourse your driving route. I avg 21-23mpg on my tanks due to the fact that I work night shift and I catch almost no traffic coming home. I have light traffic in the afternoon but I am not that hard on the throttle. I changed out my factory trans oil at 30k and noticed that shifting had improved by about 30%. I also flushed my clutch fluid and regularly change the sump out so it stays fresh.

How often are you supposed to get your clutch fluid flushed? Thanks for your response. :tup:

I dont understand how hitting 0-60 is ok for the car. When i tried to rev mine up like that once it made a clutch burning or some funky hot smell so I stopped doing that. Lol, thanks for all the responses. Oh, & whenever you down shift, say you're in 5th, when you see traffic and want to slow down.. do you go back to 4th, then 3rd, then 2nd? Never really understood that. I just put mine into neutral and then guess around what gear would be good to throw it in according to the speed im in... help?