Is average RPM driving not good?
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When I hear about people cruising in 6th in town I want to vomit. You can feel the engine lugging. It doesn't save gas and it is bad on the bearings. You can get taken by fiat unos and bicyclists on top of that.
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From: sunny suisun
going 40mph in 6th is something i do, but honestly it doesnt feel right. and yes to the previous person that posted fuel efficiency shouldnt be the first thing that springs to mind when driving the S but you know what its a fact of life that gas is expensive.... so i roll in neutral 
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From: Pawtucket, RI
Originally Posted by INTJ,Apr 14 2008, 12:06 PM
When I hear about people cruising in 6th in town I want to vomit. You can feel the engine lugging. It doesn't save gas and it is bad on the bearings. You can get taken by fiat unos and bicyclists on top of that.
This is not in-town usage, btw, but rural back roads. Near-zero traffic, low speed limits, few stops along the way.
I am not lugging the engine. It's only in top gear for *light-throttle cruise*.
Light-throttle cruise at ~40-45mph constitutes about 75% of my 33 mile drive to work.
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From: Team Blue!
Originally Posted by qbmurderer13,Apr 13 2008, 07:45 PM
Actually I heard its better to keep the motor at at least 3, anything under and your lugging the motor. Believe it or not the engine has to work alot harder to accelerate under 3k rpm. Quoted directly from the manual
Recommended Shift points
"Drive in the highest gear that lets the engine run and accelerate smoothly. This will give you the best fuel economy and emissions control.
1-2 15mph
2-3 25mph
3-4 40mph
4-5 47 mph
5-6 52 mph"
If your doing anything under than 52mph in 6th gear your making the engine work harder than it should and actually decreasing fuel economy.
Recommended Shift points
"Drive in the highest gear that lets the engine run and accelerate smoothly. This will give you the best fuel economy and emissions control.
1-2 15mph
2-3 25mph
3-4 40mph
4-5 47 mph
5-6 52 mph"
If your doing anything under than 52mph in 6th gear your making the engine work harder than it should and actually decreasing fuel economy.
26mpg FTMFW!
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hey Red, can you shine some light on something related to this? i don't have any problem driving the car around 3,000 RPM, and i don't think it lugs the engine in any way. the car doesn't have any problem cruising at 45mph in 6th gear on a FLAT road (there's enough torque at that engine speed to maintain ~45mph), and if i need to do some serious acceleration, of course i'm going to rev-match and downshift to 3rd or 4th gear.
my definition of lugging the engine has always been if you're driving a 4-banger like 30mph up an incline and the car stops responding to throttle input, at which point you must downshift to 2nd gear to better match the engine speed to the transmission speed. that really isn't the case at even 40mph in 6th gear, though.
my question is...if i'm in traffic, and all the cars are starting off as a red light changes to green, sometimes i'll shift 1>2 earlier (around ~3200 RPM or so). i've found that if i do that, and i suddenly want to punch it in 2nd, the car will hesitate for a split second right at 3000 RPM and then take off as usual. i don't think it's heatsoak (i can replicate it in 40 degree weather) and it's also suspicious that it will ALWAYS happen at 3000 RPM if it does indeed happen. is that "lugging" the engine?
my definition of lugging the engine has always been if you're driving a 4-banger like 30mph up an incline and the car stops responding to throttle input, at which point you must downshift to 2nd gear to better match the engine speed to the transmission speed. that really isn't the case at even 40mph in 6th gear, though.
my question is...if i'm in traffic, and all the cars are starting off as a red light changes to green, sometimes i'll shift 1>2 earlier (around ~3200 RPM or so). i've found that if i do that, and i suddenly want to punch it in 2nd, the car will hesitate for a split second right at 3000 RPM and then take off as usual. i don't think it's heatsoak (i can replicate it in 40 degree weather) and it's also suspicious that it will ALWAYS happen at 3000 RPM if it does indeed happen. is that "lugging" the engine?