Pretty much mine too, learned that from my dad when I learned how to drive a stick.

 

No my point was that with such low rpms in 6th gear at 40mph (around 800-900) you are better of just coasting in Neutral since the rpms will be about the same with less stress on the motor and 800 rpms is not going to keep you at a constant speed. Yes you can down shift to a lower gear for steep grade etc. But my whole point is that such low rpms put stress on the motor. even if you go 1/4-1/2 throttle you will feel the car struggle. Sure you can drive it with a light foot but how long will it take you to reach 60 mph when you are already in 6th at 40 and slowly accelerating? Prob about 5 mins...
In Mass the slowness limit is 40 on the HW and if you drive 45 on a hw around here you are likely to get alot of road rage since everyone will be beeping and throwing crap at your car. Its great in mass speed limit says 60 everyone does 80-90...gotta love m******* drivers.

I have no prob with people useing 5th or 6th gear you are missing my point. I use 5th around 40-45 it keeps the car at 1500 rpms. NO NEED to go any lower then that.

accelerating in 6th at 900 rpms does put uneeded stress on the motor/tranny. Every try to ride really fast in a mountain bike in like 20th gear? Its hard as hell and thats what it feels like to your motor.

I can see if you were driveing in like FL where it is totally flat and there were no hills or abrasions in the road where you would have to down shift...but in most places there are dips and hills etc...where keeping it in 6th is not the best course of action. Yes you can down shift but why not just keep it in that gear so you dont have to? To save MPG? Chances are you are just buring gas keeping your car at such a low rpm while trying to accelerate or even feather the pedal to keep the car up to speed

 

yeah I think 800 rpm is bogging the engine down as well. like someone else mentioned the lowest rpm is not always the best for gas mileage, because of torque production. Generally I ry and keep it real low, bt if you have it in th gear at a low mph then you need to give it more gas to get the car moving, whereas a lower gear like 5th producing more torque will require less throttle.

I know what your saying when you say to coast in nuetral. It really does work in the right moments. If i'm going thrugh a side street I get up to speed about 25 mph then throw it in nuetral and coast to the next stopsign. I lose just a few mph during that travel. I also throw it in nuetral when I see a red light up ahead and just coast. Many peopole just keep gasing it until they get right on top of hte light and then hit the brakes hard to stop. I have been realy surprised at how well the car will coast without lossing speed, of course there are hills around me so it doesn't work everywhere, but if i get the chance i will do it. I have also seen an improvement in gas mileage using this method

 

yep, the neutral coasting really does help
i tend to use it a lot

 

I could'nt resist posting my views in this thread so here goes!

I live in the UK, gas prices here are at 83.9 pence per litre ($1.6/litre).

I have a 16 mile round trip to work and back, 5 days a week. I spend £20 ($38) a week on petrol, it makes me laugh when I see you guys worrying about gas mileage!

As for 6th gear speeds, I have a few flat roads around here and I find my car will happily support 38mph in 6th gear with no throttle at all, idle appears to hold the speed just fine. Granted acceleration is slow but it will pick up if you feather the pedal gently.

Good mpg = lowest rpms possible + maximum possible manifold vacuum as far as I know.

I can downshift if I want to have some fun!

 

5 minutes? Actually, 40 to 60mph in 6th gear takes 10 seconds with light throttle. Check it out sometime.

Um, what? Florida is not a flat state. Any driving away from a developed city would make that abundantly clear.

 

lol this discussion is still going on? nice.

 

Same her man . as long as you dont mash it Down full throttle its capable of toting the car along at 40+ MPH in sixth . Mine does a fine job at it .
Like you said , for speed..Down shift .
I actually do not drive my car in a traditional sequence either . I skip to the gears required for the situation . Like 1st to 3rd -2nd to 4th- 1st to 5th-4th to 6th . I like to keep my RPM's low as long as im not looking to accelerate real fast . I can actually still get a good amount of speed shifting from 2nd to 4th or 1st to 3rd w/ease getting good gas milage all the while .

 

16 miles round trip? I'd kill to live 8 miles from work. Pay more for gas, but drive less. We pay less for gas, drive 2-3 times that distance to work (and back). It all works out to be about the same.

 

old pickup trucks with no OD run down the highway at 3.5k all day long for over 300k without a hicup

 

4 yrs, 5 jobs....

farthest i've been from work is 4.5miles

for a year before that i was about 8-10 miles...

i rock

 

I'm about 2.5 miles from my work and about 20 miles from school (I hate school) All one way miles

 

I got you all beat. my work is 1 mile from my house on the complete otherside of town.

 

You suck... I drive 80-100 miles a day, monday wednesday and fridays... But on tuesdays and thursdays, its close to 190-200 miles, but I enjoy every mile in the Z28! It's kinda like my mini vacation everyday. Then I head to the track on the weekends, and it all good!