6th? At 35 or 40????? Holy Sheep Dip!!!

I bought a '98 Z M6 a couple months ago. I was surprised (and pleased) to see the cruise control too. I don't use 6th until I get above 60-65. I still turn off the radio often just to listen to the car, and it has always done just fine, but it sounds a bit unhappy accelerating below about 1500 rpm, especially in high gears. A good test: put the CC on, get to about 1500rpm (or whatever) and hit a hill. See what the CC does. I think you'll be pleased. No matter the RPMs, I've never hit a hill with the cruise control on and lost speed; I just love my car and rather give a few more bucks to the Saudi's than stress my engine out.

 

Cruising at higher RPMs is much more stressful to an engine than cruising under heavy load. Thats part of the reason why they had to change the engine life of an LS1 from 350,000+miles to 300,000, becuase they were learning about drivers sustaining the same speed at 3K+ RPM in lower gears.

BTW, I think you'd have to be a complete moron to mash the gas in 6th gear at anything below 60 Nothing but bad stuff can happen

 

LOL no wonder people think lt1's are slow, they are racing you! :P

 

I dont use 5th at anything less then 55-60. Other wise you cant accelerate and you are prob just better off putting it in neutral if you are going to be going 45 and in 6th gear...its prob 800 rpms at best...and the car must sound like ***...Remember have low rpms doesnt always mean your saveing gas. You are flooding the motor and makeing it work harder to get up to speed. Just coast thats what i do. Drop that B@tch in N and coast all the way to work. never mind 6th gear. I only use 6th gear on the HW. I had to take out my skip shift because it would always cause my car to be slow as hell off the line.

As a rule of thumb do this, 1-20 mph 1st gear, 20-30 2nd gear, 30-40 3rd gear, 35-40 use 4th gear 40-50 use 5th, 50-60 use 6th

 

I had no 5th gear for about 3 months. I usually shifted into 6th at about 45-50 MPH in normal driving. I could still accelerate at a reasonable pace if need be. If the speed ever dropped below 45, I'd downshift into 4th. Thank god I have 5th again.

Whenever my roommate drives my car he likes to put it in 6th at rediculously low speeds, like 35 MPH, just to f*ck with me. It still goes just fine though, even though it's "chugging."

 

I keep my car at 2000 rpms all the time. Thats where its happiest. Anything lower and it does nto want to accelerate faster then a dodge neon. 6th is a highway only gear or me.

 

my rule of thumb (with an lt1 of course) is 1400 rpms or higher
i usually like the 1500 rpms though

 

You guys are funny. LOL "Can't accelerate in 6th" that's why there are other gear choices fellas. If you need to accelerate on the highway, press the gas pedal, if you need to race, downshift. I can't imagine keeping my car at 2000 or more RPMs at all times, that's goofy. There's no need to impress people with your car's acceleration, so at this point you're just throwing $$ out the window you could be saving on gas. 5th and 6th are overdrive gears, they're there to save gas, and reduce wear on the engine.
Also, if you're that concerned about being "slow as hell off the line" and "Sounding like ***" during everyday driving, then I think I know why our insurance rates are so high...

 

Heh, my car is a toy. I dont care about gas at all with it. I have a 4cyl for gas economy. But all that aside, it still does like 22 or 23 mpg! Not bad at all.

 

lol finally, someone else with a 2nd car. I hear all about these guys using their fbodies & vettes as their everyday cars, I feel bad for them & the car. My Z was my everyday car for a month while I was selling my malibu (everyday car) for an '02 blazer (new everyday car), and I absolutely hated it. Rush hour traffic with a 500+hp car sucks.

 

6th at 40!! Wow, my LT1 must be weak or something. That'll drop me to around 7/800 rpms and my car will barely want to move.

I shift into 6th at around 60mph or 2k rpms in 5th. Anything under that and she struggles. But, she feels great at 1600 rpms at 70mph in 6th.

 

It takes me 1 1/2 to get to work in stop and go traffic. I could not take that with a manual transmission. My wife and I have commuter cars for that. Then we have the 4x4 Expedition for family trips and winter (we live on a mountain!). My z28 is strictly a weekend fun car and I would not want it any other way.

 

Putting a car in 6th gear at 35-40 mph is asinine period. It doesnt save you gas if anything you are putting more stress on motor and tranny. Our cars have a sweet spot. 1500 rpms is best for cruiseing speed 2-2500 is best for accerlerating and passing. Anything more your right is a waste and anything less is pointless. You will also waste fuel at 800 rpms while your car is struggleing to keep up speed. Like i said your prob better off to put it in N then in such a low gear at such a low speed. If anything you would be wasteing gas since you would have to keep changeing gears everytime a hill came or a slight incline etc. 800 rpms isnt exactly a good spot for ls1 motors unless they are idleing. And how does our cars sounding like *** have anything to do with insurance? Did you miss my point? What i stated has nothing to do with driveing fast or reckless. Yes if you mash the pedal in 6th gear you will go NO WHERE fast. An example would be accerlating out of a turn to avoid something etc. Where you would need the speed at that second and gassing it in 6th gear to get out of it is going to get you no where. Now on the HW that is fine but most of us dont drive every day 100% hw. I would like to see you even get on a hw in 6th gear at 45...lol


My whole point was that such a low speed and such a deep overdrive gear will only cause troubles. It puts unecessary wear and strain on the motor and trans. I agree driveing at 2000 all the time is not the best but i keep my car around 1500 or so for cruiseing on flat roads. Obviously you have to downshift when accelerating up a hill etc.

 

I agree. Trying to accelerate in 6th below 60 is putting a lot of stress on the motor. It's better to be in a gear that allows some response to the throttle.

 

Wow...you must have one hell of a factory freak if you can maintain speed in Neutral Is your way to work completely down hill or something? If so, that doesn't always work for everyone else. There would be no reason for me to chose N instead of 6th when going ~45 around town, nor any reason to chose 5th. If I need to accelerate quickly, thats what lower gears are for If I have a steep grade, I can always downshift to 5th. I'm not sure I understand your argument here.

I don't like to go below 40 MPH in 6th...but 41+ is just fine on the engine. It runs good, I can accelerate slowly, which is all you ever need to on roads around here. Whats wrong with 6th gear at 45 MPH on the highway? Absolutely nothing because that probably means traffic is backed up. When traffic gets back up to speed 6th gear will get you there fine.

Accelerating in 6th below 60 does not put any extra stress on the engine if you do it right. Of course if you bury the throttle in 6th at 55 you are a retard and shouldn't be driving But light accelaration at even 40 is completely fine.