Poor acceleration from 3rd gear
 

Hey guys, after about a week and a half with the car I started to notice something I otherwise haven't felt yet. Coming around a corner (street driving) at about ~35-40kmph in 3rd gear, coming out of the corner I've put my foot down to accelerate forward and I feel as if there's just nothing there in the lower rpm range. I mean once I hit 4/5k yeah it'll throw me back in the seat but the initial pull isn't there anymore and I feel like the acceleration as a whole lags quite a bit.

Is this typical? When I first got the car I felt like no matter what gear I was in I could put my foot down and it would just fly. Maybe this is the way the car actually is and having owned it for a week now I've started to get used to the way it actually drives? Or is the car under performing because of wear and tear?

About my car:

- picked it up about a week ago
- was a used 2013 BRZ no mods with 33,000kms on it.
- I'm fairly new at driving MT daily and still trying to figure out the quirks of this particular vehicle and its needs/wants in its MT. So could be my driving style but unsure.

Any tips will help :)


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My guess would be you are getting used to it. This car has no low end torque. That has always been the major complaint about this engine. The worst is the torque dip where power drops off at about 4000 rpm before it picks back up again. But even on other 5 speed or 6 speed cars I've driven, if I'm below 40 km/h and I want to speed up I will probably pick 2nd gear, not 3rd.

A couple of things you might want to check: See if your air filter is dirty and needs replacing. And use the recommended 93 octane. Other than that, just keep downshifting. This car comes with an awesome manual transmission and an engine that really comes alive over 5000 rpm. And we have a redline of 7400 rpm so we might as well enjoy it

Yeah, so that's where I was unsure - whether or not I should've actually been in second. It was just very very strange because it was almost like there was a lag in the acceleration.

I'm gonna try and swap out the filter next week and check out some engine cleaning products. It's a car with 33k on it from a previous owner and I want to bring it back to its original luster as much as I can.

Dealer put 91 in it and recommended that. 94 is best? I'd have to see if esso has 94 (I think they do). I usually put shell 91.


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While you *can* use AKI 91, the engine prefers 93 (or higher)

I'd say you've just become normalized to the power. But also, you're better off at partial throttle in second high rpm than foot down in 3rd. When you put your foot down lower rpm your car goes rich and you lose power. I don't even take corners in third with a header and tune.

Going to have find out which gas station has 93 and try it out.


That's most likely the issue here. Thanks ! :)


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Well you don't necessarily need to swap out the air filter next week. I'm just saying you can take it out now and inspect it visually to see how dirty it is.

The manual recommends 93 octane but Toyota/Scion advertises the car as using 91 octane. The car is designed to run on 91 on reduced power so technically it is true. But I think it's a bit misleading for Toyota to advertise the 200 horsepower you only get on 93 octane. Subaru's advertises 200 horsepower and the 93 octane requirement together which I think makes more sense.

I use 94 because I prefer Petro and they only go from 91 to 94. Esso has 93 octane. But I don't think 94 will give you any more power over 93 since the stock tune was designed for 93

I had intentions of swapping it out over the next few weeks anyways.

I'll have to try the 93 and see how it does. Very misleading on their part and I wish I had known earlier.


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That calculates out to about 1900-2200 RPM in 3rd gear, which is kind of lugging this engine.

Try downshifting to 2nd gear before the corner. You should be around 2800-3200 RPM and should have much better acceleration.

3200 rpm is probably the worst place to be for acceleration due to the upcoming torque dip that goes all the way to 4500 rpms. 35-40kph = 22-25mph which is where 1st gear shines @4700-5300rpms. That's why this car is so frustrating to drive sometimes with the stock powerband, lol...
OP, use 1st gear if you can do a double-clutch rev-matching downshift, lol

40kph isn't even maxing out 1st gear, let alone 2nd. In third, you're at cruising speed. If you want to pull from 2000rpm, get a small turbo. Or, as others have said, downshift to 2nd, where you'll have enough power to get going and, in a turn, enough to fishtail. One of the appeals of this car is that you actually have to engage to go fast.

Even the 4.8L V8 of my 550i wouldn't pull well from 2000rpm.

I don't have any issues with bad acceleration in 3rd gear .. simply because i rarely use it :). My bad habbits result in using floored 1st & 2nd (goes till 95kmh at redline) to get upto cruising speed, and then followed by cruising in 5th or 6th depending if it's in city or outside :). 3rd or 4th gets used only in few ocasions of cruising at relatively low speeds in moving slower then normal speed limits heavy traffic or at few overtakes on highway if i want it done sooner with higher acceleration. This gearbox feels really nice to switch gears on, and engine really livens up >4K rpm. Why rob oneself of pleasure? :)

As others have said these cars dont make much poer\torque below 4000.

But running 91 fuel will make it worse.

On the stock tune engine will knock especially in lower rpm range arround 2000-3500 if you try to accelerate hard.
The ecu will pull ignition timing (reduce IAM) and actuallt richen up fueling in that area to combat knock on low quality fuels.

This will result in less power and slightly worse fuel economy when using low quality fuels.

Best to use 93 or above if you can get it, after you fill with 93 it will take a few miles for the ecu to put back the timing and fueling to normal.

Don't use Esso, they use 10% ethanol added.
94 Petro is the only way in Ont. :)