[Jake Wilcox]

I've had this car for two weeks now, and I'm continuing to love it!

What RPM does everybody shift at in their Gen 3? I'm looking for that sweet spot on this car.

 

[Archerfish]

I've had this car for two weeks now, and I'm continuing to love it!

What RPM does everybody shift at in their Gen 3? I'm looking for that sweet spot on this car.

I observed that for the automatic one, it shifts at 2000 RPM when I run smoothly at all gears.

If I'm running on a race track, it will shift at 4000 on 1st gear.

If I'm doing it manually, I prefer to shift between 3000 to 4000 on 1st gear and 4500 on 2nd gear and the rest of gears at 3000 RPM.

If you're wondering, I have the diesel variant and that explains the low RPM.

Now I am reminded of my experience with manual transmission regarding your question, I never bothered to look at the RPM. Rather, I rely more on the sound that I hear and that is the way I judge if I should shift up.

It is recently that I became conscious with the tachometer when I started racing.

 

[Cdn17Sport6MT]

I've had this car for two weeks now, and I'm continuing to love it!

What RPM does everybody shift at in their Gen 3? I'm looking for that sweet spot on this car.

I think you'll find that for normal, every-day in-traffic driving you pretty-near have to go to 3000 in 1st - before you shift to second - as STOCK it comes alive in the 2500 - 3000 range and it's lacklustre when it's lower than that transition range. That's why so many folks talk about the OVT tune concentrating on this lower-end range.

 

[MazdaMetalhead]

I believe the max torque of 185 lb.-ft. is @ 3,250RPM, so you probably don't need to shift much before or after that. If you're driving aggressively don't be afraid to take it up to redline before you shift. It's not necessary but it's fun.

 

[Archerfish]

I believe the max torque of 185 lb.-ft. is @ 3,250RPM, so you probably don't need to shift much before or after that. If you're driving aggressively don't be afraid to take it up to redline before you shift. It's not necessary but it's fun.

I never understood this thing back then, it's totally different when you are running at 80 kph at 4th gear compared to running at 80 kph on 2nd gear.

Speaking of redline, I wasn't able to get past the redline at 5000 RPM on 2nd gear. I think the car won't allow you to go beyond it, to protect itself from people like me.


Sorry, I'm off topic. I know this is for manual transmission.

To be relevant, can you go beyond the redline for the manual? I mean, is possible to go to the last digit of the tachometer?

 

[Beefalo]

if you want to accelerate you would need to shift about 3500--4000 rpm in first gear because the gear gap with second gear is huge and the rpms drop after you are in second gear. after that 3000 rpm for upshifting.. I like the gear spacing in the higher gears

 

[Cdn17Sport6MT]

I agree. I was suggesting shift 1st to 2nd at 3000 only to more-or-less prevent being clobbered from behind, in that 1st gear, also, is short... hardly takes you down the road at all.

 

[tickerguy]

Yeah the 1-2 gap is rather egregious on this transmission. The rest of the ratios are nicely-spaced -- that one, not so much.

If you're mosying around it's fine to short that first gear shift, but if not you need to wind it up or you'll have nothing in 2nd as you're out of the torque band.

 

[MazdaMetalhead]

I believe the max torque of 185 lb.-ft. is @ 3,250RPM, so you probably don't need to shift much before or after that. If you're driving aggressively don't be afraid to take it up to redline before you shift. It's not necessary but it's fun. <img src="http://forum.mazda6club.com/images/smilies/5.gif" border="0" alt="" title="" class="inlineimg" />

To be relevant, can you go beyond the redline for the manual? I mean, is possible to go to the last digit of the tachometer?

No. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, the computer will cut fuel delivery around the redline so the engine can't exceed its maximum "safe" RPMs.

 

[tickerguy]

Yep. It actually will start to pull fuel a few hundred RPM below redline (~200ish) in stock form. There is a hard cutoff at the redline, if you manage to hit it.