What do you shift at?
3k is good for normal driving but I found if you need to get the most out of your xB to shift at 4200 to 4500, when you let the clutch out your at about 3500 right where you can feel the powreband pull the most.
The Pittsburgh area is hilly. Sometimes I'll shift at 2000; sometimes around 5000, but almost never redline. Sometimes I can even start off in 2nd gear if the car is pointing downhill a little bit.
And I agree that 3rd gear is the best, but we need a 6th gear!
And I agree that 3rd gear is the best, but we need a 6th gear!
3500- 1 to 2
3500- 2 to 3
4500- 3 to 5
I completely skip 4th gear. There is only like 300 rpm difference between 4th and 5th gear, what's the point in even going there. Unless of COORS I'm rowing gears and making the exhaust purr, then I'll slip into 4th just to roll through them all. But just normal getting around, I skip 4th.
singleshot
3500- 2 to 3
4500- 3 to 5
I completely skip 4th gear. There is only like 300 rpm difference between 4th and 5th gear, what's the point in even going there. Unless of COORS I'm rowing gears and making the exhaust purr, then I'll slip into 4th just to roll through them all. But just normal getting around, I skip 4th.
singleshot
I use that thing that sticks up in between the driver's and the passenger seat, the grey one, but not the black one with the little silver button. That one sucks. I couldn't go anywhere.
I shift by ear. But for this thread, I actually looked at my tach on the way into work this morning.
I select first, accelerate gently to 2700 RPM, shift into third, accelerate gently to 2700 RPM, shift into fifth, accelerate gently to 2700 RPM and hold that for as long as I can. That gives me a cruising speed of just under 55mph on the level.
That's for my morning drive to work on mostly level roads with light-to-no traffic and I'm trying for maximum mileage.
On my drive home, there's traffic, so I accelerate a little harder to a little higher RPMs and use all the gears so that I can go with the flow of traffic. That's for reasonable mileage and decent safety.
When I'm driving in the Cities (twin cities of Minnepolis and St Paul MN) all bets are off and I'm in full-performance, kill-or-be-killed, drive-hard-or-die mode and I rev to near redline in every gear so that I can get through without being taken out by the crazies up there.
So I guess the answer is "it depends" . . . .
-Don
I select first, accelerate gently to 2700 RPM, shift into third, accelerate gently to 2700 RPM, shift into fifth, accelerate gently to 2700 RPM and hold that for as long as I can. That gives me a cruising speed of just under 55mph on the level.
That's for my morning drive to work on mostly level roads with light-to-no traffic and I'm trying for maximum mileage.
On my drive home, there's traffic, so I accelerate a little harder to a little higher RPMs and use all the gears so that I can go with the flow of traffic. That's for reasonable mileage and decent safety.
When I'm driving in the Cities (twin cities of Minnepolis and St Paul MN) all bets are off and I'm in full-performance, kill-or-be-killed, drive-hard-or-die mode and I rev to near redline in every gear so that I can get through without being taken out by the crazies up there.
So I guess the answer is "it depends" . . . .
-Don






