When should I shift to 6th gear?

 

Daily driving, around 45 mph. Your manual says as low as 33, but you get absolutely no juice that way for emergency moves or passes.
Racing, you'll probably never get there, but incase you do, you shift when you redline 5th.

 

When you see the rev limiter in 5th, around 130 mph or so

 

i personally only use 6th gear in highways. and ill shift into 6th gear around 60-65 mph. any speed lower than that in 6th gear feels a little too sluggish for me.

 

If you want to know what your rpm will be at any give mph when in 6th, you can refer to the gear ratio calculator, or just look at the excel chart I created. It's attached to my post in this thread:
https://my350z.com/forum/engine-and-drivetrain/145369-gear-ratio-calculator.html

 

right after 5th gear

 

65 mph is when i usually shift into 6th, thats only on the freeway.

 

For gas saving. I go to 6th at 35mpg. Somtimes around 40. Unless there is many stop lights ahead Ill use 5th gear.

 

i've been taught that you should never change gear under 2rpms its very tough on the engine, tranny you can hear it working its butt off to move the car under 2rpms

 

I change @ 2k, and it drops to like 1500 when I start accelerating. When I lightly tap the gas, the car should get going, when it doesn't, means I need to downshift to a lower gear. But being @ 1500 and accelerating, you should be fine. Just don't shift @ 1500 lol


Ey 350ztoronto, is the quote in your sig really true? LOL
I mean when some cars burnout, one wheel does it

 

You must have grown up in a honda family jk


Whatever gear I'm in, I too try not to accel at lower than 2k rpm - especially in higher gears like 5th & 6th. 2nd gear at low rpm is no problem in the Z though.

 

i think 350ztoronto was making fun of the poster - but that is *sorta* true. read up on positrack and differentials.
in some cars, when one wheel loses traction it spins twice as fast as intended and the opposite wheel stops spinning - car doesn't move (in comes traction control - braking the spinning wheel redistributes torque to the other wheel that has not lost traction. 4X4 and AWD have something similar but with also a third differential or some type of (viscous) coupling btwn the axles incase an entire axle has lost traction. gets sorta messy to explain as you can see...)

 

3k was the lowest i would let any gear fall too...

but then again... that was with the tilton...

 

Or fourth if you've reached your cruising speed and it is adequate to use sixth. I frequently skip fifth.

Ken

 

You were taught wrong. As long you are not knocking the engine it is fine. Besides manual says shift from 1st to 2nd at 8mph. You should not be over 2k yet. They are not going to put that in the manual if it will damage the car.

 

Am I the only one that thinks it is ridiculous that "How to Drive a 6-Speed" is in the manual?! If you need the owners manual to drive 6MT, go trade it in for an auto...

Honestly, I didn't know it was in the manual but shifting 1-2 at 8mph seems pretty darned early for me. Also, 44mph to shift into 6 seems pretty early for me. My transmission clunks around like mad when I try to shift into 2 at less than 1500RPM... At 3000-4000, it goes in like a warm knife to butter.

Generally for normal driving I use the 10mph for each gear deal usually with the exception of 1-2... Really though, it depends on driving conditions and as long as you shift into a gear between idle RPM and redline you should be OK for the most part.

 

Who needs a manual? I am making a point. It is safe to shift at or below 2k rpm. The manual says you can shift at 8mph for fuel saving, therefore 8mph would be below 2k rpm.

The point to my post is it is safe. He heard it was not safe, so I let him know it was and it would not damage his car.

Therefore, if someone reads this in the manual they would feel more comfortable shifting at that speed/rpm. Trying to make him not worry.

Not sure if your post was intended for me or not. Most likey not. But that is the reason I stated it.

 

If everyeone were to drive the Z according to the manual, and shift below 2k RPMs, the estimate for city/highway MPG would be 30/35, LOL.
Maybe the manual just points out the minimum that one should shift at, as the figures do seem quite low; such as going into 6th @ 35 mph (this one's taking it too far )

 

Exactly.

I average 28 mpg

In city I am still averaging over 24-25.

That is pretty good in my opinion. Keep most of my shifts at 2k or less except when merging, etc.