Effects of driving at high revs daily

[DarkSunrise]

As Alan said, make sure to warm up the engine first before redlining (about 10 minutes of easy driving). Otherwise, should be fine.

At the track, owners are at 4500-7400 rpm for 20-30 minutes at a time. No problems other than heat (oil temps), but that shouldn't be an issue on the street.

[metier]

Originally Posted by ashtray

Actually, I meant going 4-3 instead of 4-5 by mistake. 7k in 4th would be around 8500 rpm in 3rd, so - boom? (at 100mph)

Is there not a fuel cut off if you go above 7400 rpms? It's probably not good for the engine to do this very often, but it should at least save your engine

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by metier

Is there not a fuel cut off if you go above 7400 rpms? It's probably not good for the engine to do this very often, but it should at least save your engine

Yes it is true you cannot exceed 7,400 rpm by mashing your foot down, but a fuel cutoff is not going to prevent the engine from being put in the wrong gear at the wrong speed and mechanically forcing it to exceed 7,400 rpm.

Best case is it spins up a bit and nothing bad happens, worst case you get spun bearings, metals machining each other (galling) and bent valves.

[BRZZZZZZZZZZ]

No problem as long as your water and oil temps are where they should be, otherwise keep it under 3000rpm IMO.

[zc06_kisstherain]

no. don't listen to others say it's fine. engine is not good if you always drive like that and it will likely blow and you need to pay for new engine.

yes. i am joking and you're fine. enjoy. lol

[tonyfrs86]

the only problem i can see is oil blow by. since it is a boxer engine and how the oil sits in it. ive seen people on the forum have breather tanks installed due to this issue.

[krayzie]

Run a very good engine oil (i.e. Eneos Sustina or TGMO), and change it often. This car has pretty usable torque for daily driving so I don't find myself above 4500rpm often, but at times like merging into traffic then I would take it all the way to redline if I want to.

Very hard to miss a shift with this car's shifter, I have the STI short shifter (-4mm / 10% shorter stroke) and it's even harder to miss a shift no matter the rpm range.

If you don't exercise the engine throughout its entire rev range, once it ages the engine will have great difficulty revving into the high range readily (seen it happen to friends' CA Accord and Mk2 Jetta with this problem beyond 100,000km).

[maxeveland]

I've heard from some that driving this car daily due to the low torque/high reving is tiring. What are your guys thoughts?

[Vracer111]

Originally Posted by maxeveland

I've heard from some that driving this car daily due to the low torque/high reving is tiring. What are your guys thoughts?

I'm going to say whoever you heard saying that either doesn't drive one, or doesn't know how to drive it right (turn the dang TC/VSC OFF if you think the car is boring/tiring...otherwise you are driving around with the engine output neutered and fun police clamping down on you...)

Funnest daily driver evar.... and plenty of torque at low rpms (2500-3000).

And get one of these:



Water temp to 191+F steady and oil temp at 190F+ and you are cleared for takeoff....I really need to get a oil pressure gauge though...

Hey Toyota, instead of infotainment crap or that useless analog speedometer, why not put an oil pressure guage in these cars?!?!

[Poodles]

Originally Posted by maxeveland

I've heard from some that driving this car daily due to the low torque/high reving is tiring. What are your guys thoughts?

Those guys need to drive a Miata or an RX-8 and then try saying that again...

[alan.chalkley]

Originally Posted by maxeveland

I've heard from some that driving this car daily due to the low torque/high reving is tiring. What are your guys thoughts?

Tiring is not the word! . Exciting is!
When driving brz i feel alive.
When driving camry i am bored and that makes me tired.

[DarkSunrise]

Originally Posted by maxeveland

I've heard from some that driving this car daily due to the low torque/high reving is tiring. What are your guys thoughts?

It will depend on what you enjoy personally.

My other car is a GTI, which has the opposite kind of torque curve. You get peak torque by 2000 RPM, and power falls off sharply above 5000 RPM. With an engine like that, there's no need to downshift really, just put your foot down. It's perfect when you want to be lazy and not worry about downshifting to pass, but (in my opinion), it's also not very fun.

I prefer daily-driving the FR-S because it makes you work and stay involved. You can't just put your foot down to pass, you need to downshift 1-2 gears. To me, that extra level of involvement makes driving more interesting. Also love hearing my Perrin exhaust as I revmatch downshifts and progress through the tach.

But everyone will have a different view. I also hang out on VW forums from time to time, and their chief complaint about cars like the FR-S and Civic SI is the lack of midrange torque and inability to pass without downshifting.

[Ubersuber]

The only adverse thing that running high revs does is wear the engine a little faster because the pistons travel further and this is only true in the lower gears. If you drive in top gear of course the pistons travel the same distance regardless.

You cannot break this engine unless you downshift into the wrong gear at too high a road speed. The engine cannot overrev using the gas pedal. If you have an automatic you cannot select the wrong gear, yet another advantage of an automatic. In a manual car this engine is so rev happy it is actually easy to select second gear a bit too early on a downshift when you're enjoying the cornering on a bendy road, so be careful.

There is no doubt that this engine will stay together well above its designed in rev limit. No engine manufacturer would build a street engine with no reserve of durability.

These twins have a dual personality (har, har) in that you can drive around town comfortably and never exceed 5,000 rpm. The torque dip doesn't bother you and all is well. I routinely commute in fifth at 50 km/hr (30 mph) and the engine will pull smoothly cruising at 1,500 rpm so sixth can also be used around town. My usual upshift point around town is 4-4,500 rpm, just as the torque dip is ending.

If you are driving hard then you should be above the torque dip almost all the time. There is no need to upshift until the red dot starts flashing which is equivalent to deciding to shift at around 7,000 rpm, which makes a good target rpm to commence your upshift, by the time you are in neutral during the shift the red dot will have flashed. Redline is around 7,400 and this engine is happy to pull to its redline all day every day. However, hitting the redline cuts the engine in and out to hold that maximum permitted rpm, so should be avoided for that reason. It doesn't hurt the engine to bounce the limiter but it really hurts your driving.

The engine pulls strongly for such a tiny engine (boxers make useful torque) and you will never really get what you paid for under 5,000 rpm.

[Chad86]

Originally Posted by alan.chalkley

The FA20 is designed to rev , but no engine survives high revving during warm up.
Just warm it up first and try not to lose the license to drive!

classic