Monday, August 15, 2011

Proper time to shift in 1.9L 4 cylinder saturn?

Getting on the on ramp to the highway in my manual transmission, 1.9 liter, 4 cylinder saturn SC2, my older brother in the penger seat begins to insult me on my improper shifting timing. I typically shift when the car tells me to, as it has an a shift indicator arrow. This is usually around 2250 RPM's, which lands me at around 40 mph at the bottom of fifth gear. As a need to merge onto the highway lanes, he tells me to downshift, which I realize is necessary to increase speed. But he argues that it is better for the car to downshift into 4th and will use less gas if I downshift than if I slowly accelerate in 5th gear. He argues that the engine is working too hard to get it up to speed, where I think its working too hard at higher RPM's. Let me know what you think, tell me who is right. Thanks.

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