How high to rev before shifting in each gear?
 

Hey guys, new 2014 Z owner and I have a question. As the title states, im wondering what RPM is ideal to shift at through each gear for daily driving and for having a bit of fun. The car is still under 100 miles, so ive been keeping it below 4k RPM. I set my shift light to flash at 3k and remain steady at 3500 RPM. Thats what ive been going with so far. I tried searching a couple different keywords, but came up with nothing. Sorry if this has already been asked. Thanks to anyone who can provide some help!

7,450 RPM is ideal.

I shift as the mood sees fit.

I can shift as low as 2k or as high as the redline.

Mood, it's all mood.

Normal driving though I shift about 2500 to 2800

:tup:

So you can essentially shift at any point up to the redline and there will be no damage done to the car? Still learning about manual transmissions and trying to wrap my head around everything. I normally shift out of first gear between 3-3500 RPM and at that point it starts to sound like the engine is starting to whine a little. But people are saying you can go even higher than that in first gear (5k+ RPM), so that is ok to do and wont damage anything?

Should i worry about what MPH im at when shifting through each gear or is it all about RPM? I assume there a max MPH for each gear that i should stay below?

The redline is there for a reason. In cars like ours you don't get into the meat of the power band until 5k+ RPM. That said, if you drive it hard all the time you should shorten your maintenance windows and things will wear out sooner.

Just don't money shift to a lower gear that's not designed to handle that speed. In other words, don't shift into 2nd when your speed is beyond 62 MPH.

I think you should first learn what RPM means & what it does to the pistons/rings & all moving engine parts. Then get some cool sounding mufflers & enjoy yourself for the rest of your engine's life, which should be apx. 25k miles.

Daily putt-puttin' around I shift 3500-4000.

I don't remember what I have the shift light set at, though I still need to perfect the shift at redline as to it not bouncing off rev limiter (haven't bounced it yet, but I think I can still shift a little bit later).

I don't take it to redline very much though.

I dont plan on driving it like i stole it all the time. But everyone likes to open it up once in a while. So can you, or anyone else, give me a rough estimate of max MPH for each gear (ie. what NOT to go over, if such numbers exist). I dont plan on coming close to those ranges, i just want to know for informations sake.

The reason all of these questions sound so noobish is because my first manual was a 94 Civic and it did NOT have a tachometer, so i had to base everything off of mph and engine sound. So im now trying to wrap my head around RPM being the main gauge of when to shift. So, sorry for the simplistic questions, but i am learning.

I like to keep it in 1st so I don't wear out my clutch with all those shifts.

Why not? :iagree:

It's in the owner's manual.

I did see those numbers in the manual, they are:

1st to 2nd - 15mph
2nd to 3rd - 25 mph
3rd to 4th - 40 mph
4th to 5th - 45 mph
5th to 6th - 50 mph

But i couldnt wrap my head around the point of having to shift in 5mph increments (4-->5-->6). That just seems to make 4th and 5th gear pretty worhtless imo. Im not trying to argue, just explaining my thought process.

For daily driving, I usually shift in the 2500-3000 range. However, after driving sticks for 40 years, I am one who listens to the sound of the exhaust and use that as my shift points. As others have said, it all depends WHAT type of driving you are experiencing :driving: or :eekdance: that will determine where YOUR shifting will occur.

It takes a while, but before you know it, you will be shifting automatically without the use of shift lights, RPM's or other means.