When do we get peak torque? In other words, when can we change gear or downshift?

1st and 2nd dont do thing for me with VDC on. I usually go on 4rth and downshift to 3rd on high RPM which kicks right away.

What would you suggest?

 

You will have to look this up. In the owners manual (you know the book that came with the car ) It tells in there where to shift to use the torque to your advantage or where to shift to use the HP. And that is about all I have read in the owners manual myself.
As to the VDC there is a button to thw lower left of the steering coloum on the lower dash. Push to turn VDC off, you will see a VDC off light come on on the tach.

 

the book reccomends 2nd gear at 8 mph, and 6th at 38mph. seeing how 1st can hit 32 I think, and second 62. I often skip a lot of gears. max torque is mid 4000s and max hp is 6200. I shift around 3000 for normal driving tho. thats plenty of power to get around with. otherwise, its redline all the way.

 

I know this is a MT thread, but just for variety, my 5AT is usually in manual mode anyway. Torque peak is 4800rpm and hp peak is 6200rpm and when I'm in town I usually use a light throttle and shift at 4000rpm, its the smoothest shift point. When I want to hussle , 3rd gear is usually my choice since it stays close to 3000rpm or better. If I am ambling I put it in 4th at 40mph in town.

If I REALLY want to haul ***, I slap the shifter into full auto and if the revs aren't too high, I can get 2nd over 5000rpm and it matches revs and optimizes the full auto mode. Its damn spectacular and I can blow by traffic fast! Its debatable which mode optimizes speed the best, but the manual mode is really nice to have when you are tired of full auto. I drive faster when I use the manual mode, though I can't tell you why.

Boomer babble

 

I have to aggree with this completely, however seeing that my car is neither broken in, nor do i really have myself in tune with this car yet (daily driver was a 7th gen civic for past 2 years, and fathers c5 with full auto - no manual mode) i still have to learh this manual mode shifting thing. Im sure in about a month ill LOVE it more then i do now.

 

It takes awhile, just be patient and practice. Do not try to manually put it in 1st, it defaults to 1st when you stop. I tried and got a very loud CLUNK I don't want to hear again; you can downshift to 2nd under 25mph in manual. It has only those quirks but they are important. Have fun. I do.

Boomer