Have to agree with everyone else above.
There's no hard-and-fast rule, many variables will determine when up-or-downshifting is required, or desired.
I've known people who revv out (to the redline) every single gear, every time. Not necessarily accelerating hard, just using the whole revv range. Ouch.
Others do 50 km/h in top gear and expect the car to pull away no matter what. Ouch again.
What I normally try to do (remember, I have Diesel-engined cars) is to "cruise" at around 2,000 rpm. That allows me to plant the right foot any time without "lugging" at all. If it's flat and not much traffic I'll happily choose a gear that has the engine revving around 1,600 - 1,700. If I'm in a hurry I happily revv the diesel to redline (but that doesn't happen too often, there's simply too much torque to be had much lower in the revv range).
All that changes (generally towards higher revvs) when I have to carry a load, or the family.
Downshifting is pretty much the same deal, you simply want to make sure that the revvs in the lower gear are in a range that suits what you intend to be doing.
Interesting side note: I always thought of the USA as the automatic transmission centre of the world, yet here you guys are discussing manual trannies. EOS drivers must be a very different demographic
.
Seeya,
Michael
There's no hard-and-fast rule, many variables will determine when up-or-downshifting is required, or desired.
I've known people who revv out (to the redline) every single gear, every time. Not necessarily accelerating hard, just using the whole revv range. Ouch.
Others do 50 km/h in top gear and expect the car to pull away no matter what. Ouch again.
What I normally try to do (remember, I have Diesel-engined cars) is to "cruise" at around 2,000 rpm. That allows me to plant the right foot any time without "lugging" at all. If it's flat and not much traffic I'll happily choose a gear that has the engine revving around 1,600 - 1,700. If I'm in a hurry I happily revv the diesel to redline (but that doesn't happen too often, there's simply too much torque to be had much lower in the revv range).
All that changes (generally towards higher revvs) when I have to carry a load, or the family.
Downshifting is pretty much the same deal, you simply want to make sure that the revvs in the lower gear are in a range that suits what you intend to be doing.
Interesting side note: I always thought of the USA as the automatic transmission centre of the world, yet here you guys are discussing manual trannies. EOS drivers must be a very different demographic
.Seeya,
Michael
