Quote:
Originally Posted by wbradley
I you make a point of not upshifting to the next higher gear when you are around 3000 RPMs you won't need to downshift so often.
For example at say 55 MPH stay in 5th, or at 40 MPH stay in 4th.
This car likes to cruise ABOVE 3000 RPMs. You will ocassionaly find the engine bogs under excessive load if you, like many others, get right up to the highest gear possible at a given speed and end up cruising at 2500RPMs therabouts. If you watch the instantaneous mileage gauge you will find the car seems to maximize efficiency cruising at ~3200 revs.
If you need to climb a hill or accelerate you will zip past the torque dip and if you REALLY need power cruise above 4000 revs, where you are almost out of the dip.
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This car comes with such a nice manual gearbox I don't get why people don't like to downshift. I cruise in 6th gear at 2000 RPM at around 40 MPH all the time. There is just enough torque to hold your speed and nothing more. No passing power and that's fine. Because if I really need to get up and go, I clutch in, blip the throttle and do a 6 to 2 downshift and I'm gone. If I'm on the highway, then it's 6 to 3. That is what makes driving a manual fun. That plus clutch dumps, chirping tires on upshifts, kicking out the back end mid turn and all that other good stuff. But that's another story.
Now if you don't want to downshift because you don't like all the noise it makes at high RPM, ok I can understand that. But you can plug the sound tube and it will be much quieter
I think the FR-S needs to have an AVCS light the way the Civic SI has a i-VTEC light. I know it's really gimmicky but I think we need it on our car so people know that if it doesn't light up, you're driving it wrong.