Originally Posted by Overdrive (Post 3029846)

How you maintian the engine is likely to have more of an effect than your cruising rpm habits will. If you're good about that and you don't do 20,000 mile oil and air filter changes with a track day every other day and jaunts down dusty country roads on the off days, I think you're going to be fine for a long time. As long as your driveway isn't the on-ramp to the highway and your fluids have time to heat up a little before you start your 4k cruising, truly don't sweat it. There's another 3500 rpms available to the engine, and you're looking at likely several years and tons of miles before you can even lightly perceive any sort of effect on your engine due to wear. I mean, are you cruising/commuting for 4 hours or something crazy like that?

You're less likely to have problems doing your daily cruising and good regular maintenance than the person who only drives it for a few hundred sunny-day-only miles in the summer, barely lets it stretch a leg, and packs it away the rest of the year like it's a $20 million Ferrari GTO.

The only thing that'll really be hurting from sustained 4k compared to sustained 3k is fuel economy. Just the price to be paid for quicker acceleration. Of you have to cruise at higher speeds to avoid being anhazard on the road going 20mph slower than everyone else, so be it.

Originally Posted by StraightOuttaCanadaEh (Post 3029847)

I'd rather not say how fast I'm going, but I will add this is pretty much the staple left lane speed around these parts. But I am in 6th gear when I am at 4K. Thanks for your post and the technical details, it looks like there isn't much to worry about.

Originally Posted by Jordanwolf (Post 3029852)

They think they are slick trying to get your speed like that. You deflected that confession as fast as you were travelling.

Originally Posted by Jordanwolf (Post 3029837)

I don't find it abnormal in anyway, just don't feel like it's the optimal cruising RPM if that makes sense.

Plus, would RPM not directly relate to how hard an engine is working, besides lugging the engine and some other small things that can happen at strange RPM's? 0.7k idle vs 2.5k idle?

Edit: Maybe I should rephrase "working harder than it should" to 'working harder than it needs to'

Originally Posted by Myriad (Post 3029873)

This is an interesting discussion. Having a 2017 myself I also wonder at what RPM should I shift at for normal cruising. I've been driving my old Integra for 16 years and I know to shift her about 3K. It's instinctual by now. But I still have to think about what I'm doing with the 86. I've been shifting about 3 or 3.25 k, but I've been trying to run it higher, probably since I keep reading on this forum that it's a high revving engine and it's meant to revved. After the hundredth time I've read that it's got nothing until you go 4.5 K and up, I think it's influenced me try higher than I'd normally go. But I agree with you Jordanwolf, it sounds harsher than it needs to. I thought I was alone in that. I think I might shift back at 3 K again and save the higher RPMs for passing and merging maneuvers like I initially was doing. And I thought we were all just a bunch of high revving gear heads? Who knew we could be moderate?

Myriad

Originally Posted by Jordanwolf (Post 3029883)

And oh my god does the car feel much better at 5k+.. everything feels so solid/tight/precise like the car wants to be at those RPM's only, but of course everything in moderation and winter tires suck.

Originally Posted by Jordanwolf (Post 3029813)

In any gear? In a '15(this is what your description says)? I'm always cruising at 2.8k when I can if not slightly lower. I have a stock 17 and feel like it's working harder than it should when above 3.5k, not in 6th gear, and cruising, based on the sound it produces.

Originally Posted by Clipdat (Post 3029836)

Source?

Originally Posted by PandaSPUR (Post 3029913)

Yea pretty much in any gear (on the highway). On the street I'll usually be going 25-30 in 2nd. On the highway I try to keep myself in the "power band", so 60 in 3rd gear most of the time. 80 in 4th if its clear. Pretty sure all those are over 4k rpm.

Also, I wonder if the whole "sounds like its working harder" is because of exhaust drone? I remember my Injen droned terribly around 3.5-4.5k RPM.

Originally Posted by ermax (Post 3029918)

But the powerband is just a shift away.

The working harder sound seems to just be resonation. This engine sounds like a lawnmower between 2500 and 3500. Drives me nuts. But at the same time it motivates me to keep the revs down unlike any other car I've ever owned where it's so smooth and quiet that it's easy to creep up to 4k for miles and not even notice.