6th gear
 

I thought I would ask this out of curiousity since this is my first 6 speed. My commute to work one way is about 5 miles. Mostly streets and small back roads. My question to you guys is how often do you use 6th while city driving? I usually dont go above 50mph on city with moderate morning or afterwork traffic. I usually find my self sticking to 4th or 5 mainly. I watch the RPM guage and idealy try to keep it around 2-3k.

I usually find my self using 6th for highway or city with little to no traffic.

Thanks guys!:tiphat:

Keep your motor in a happy zone. 6th for highway cruising only!

Lol the "Happy zone" I like that! lol. Thanks man!

I actually pop mine into 6th when cruising at 45 and above just to keep the rpms low and save gas, i've also noticed that when cruising around 3k in the city in 5th, my oil temp gets higher than i'd like.

I dont stay at 45 very long to be hitting 6th my commute is about 10-15 min and I hit a stop sign or light about every 2-3 min or so.

6th is only for highway. too tall for the city. i like to keep rpm above 2500 most of the time since the engine is pretty weak less than that. 5th is the highest i go in the city

:iagree:

I used 6th in city when I first started but found my self shifting too much I like to keep it between 2 and 3k. I found out keeping it there allows me to manuver in and out between lanes alot quicker. Plus its saved me on avoiding a few accidents with these crazy *** Vegas drivers out here.

For cruising I shoot for about 2k rpm. In 6th that's like 50mph. It's funny when you slow down to 40 or so in 6th and go to accelerate. Once you get at 2k rpm you're car doesn't feel like a retard anymore.

You're good to go driving that way.

A quick blip of the throttle and a downshift solves this problem:icon17:

and I just noticed you have a FnF quote in your sig, I roflmfao'ed at that:roflpuke2:

Lol thanks. I saw someone else had a FnF quote in theres about overnighting parts from Japan so I googled FnF quotes and found this one lol

With the 7AT once you are at 45 mph your are in 6th maybe even 7th gear cruising around 2K rpms.

see there you go, even the computer knows how to do it right! :tup:

Interesting thread. Coming from a sports bike world, I always like to have power available. This means that I hate the 6th gear and use it only when I am alone on the road. I need agility to avoid crazy drivers.

Sometimes I idle at 25mph in 6th gear. Why not?

Depending on the cruising speed in the city. Most of the time I only have a chance to shift up to 5th gear.

Once I got over the gas mileage, I stopped going higher than 4th gear. It makes the highway really fun, I swear!

page 5-19 (starting and driving) of the 370z manual says:
"for normal acceleration in low altitude areas (less than 4,000 ft):
gear change: 5th to 6th @ 33 mph.

i would change it to 6th gear @ 40 mph but i don't normally use 5th gear.
I would go 1-2-3-6.

6th gear @ 40 mph produces 1500 rpm, which is same rpm that my automatic mercedes runs at when traveling at same speed.

the guy on this video only used 3rd and 4th gears
(i could tell because the z shows what gear it is in) :)

YouTube - Impreza WRX STI Spec C vs. 370Z Nismo vs. Cayman S PDK vs. BMW M3 M-DCT vs. Lotus Exige Cup 260 (HQ)

I was about to say the same thing. The manual recommends shifting
from 5th to 6th @ 33 mph for max fuel economy.

Though obviously if you are about to stop shortly after reaching 33 mph
it doesn't make much sense to shift all the way to 6.

Agreed, gas prices are still stupid around here, and I appreciate every mile I get, but I usually save 6th for 45+, and like I said, if you're in a hurry, a quick throttle blip downshift can be achieved in less than a second. Or a SRM downshift for you fancy sport drivers.

my last car was a mercedes c320 with 6 spd manual
and i think that engine would not run well in 6th gear at 40 mph.

I think larger engines such as the one in the 370z can handle it because i do it all the time and there's no sign that the engine is laboring.

Car runs fine in 6th at 45, and stays at 1.5k rpms, thats my happy fuel economy zone.

Waking up a dead thread but I tried this today. Read mpg at 32 with 41mph avg! Found new cruise mode :tup:

Was completely skeptical, especially with this transmission. Tried it, engine/tranny ran very smooth to my surprise. Just don't try to pass anyone at 40mph 6th gear :rolleyes:

Edit: here's a pic. I couldn't snap the 32 mpg cuz I was driving and waited until I stopped.

Everyone always mentions wanting to have extra power available in lower gears in case of the unknown. But does anyone here actually have a story of not being able to escape an accident because of too high of a gear? I'm not doubting anyone, it just seems somewhat paranoid to me and really more of a personal preference than a practical thing.

I do the 1,2,4,6....for light traffic situations

I don't get the whole thing about driving any car, let alone a sports car at low revs.

I keep mine at or above 3K all the time, and the car feels great. Gas milage is not something you should worry about if you have a sports car. I get 18.5/19.0 MPG in LA traffic.

Im getting 13-15 mpg i think ive mentioned that a 1000 times because i do all city driving work is 5 miles away.. However the few times ive been on the freeway ive gotten 25-30 mpg that is nuts... I wish i could hit 6th gear more often, unfortunately i barely even hit 5th in the city.

Long trips and things like this. Its my daily driver. Sometimes you wanna push, other times you want economy. I like the fact I can choose. Also I cant drive the car very hard on base (rules, regulations, work reputation) so its perfect for that.

Id say I drive the car like you 70% of the time. 30% now, I cruise around. :driving:

I try to get to 6th fairly quickly, even if I'm going a steady 40 mph. It's when you try to accelerate quickly that it becomes an issue. Otherwise, I feel like my gas pedal is less pushed in than if I were going the same speed in 5th = less gas.

I learned skipping gears like that makes my gear box grind. I used to do 1,2,3,5 in my BMW, so I had to break the skip shift habit. I've also noted that trying to accelerate in the wrong gear kills mpg worse than just choosing the lower one in the first place.

I cruise around in 5th a lot. Especially city driving. Sometimes 35 or under I never leave 4th. 6th gear if its gonna be a long trip with no lights. Even when I stay in 5th on the highway, my mpg doesnt drop much. When I drive like a grandpa, I get about 450 miles to the tank.