Best RPM to shift at?

[Silver Bullet GT]

It says right in the owners manual to shift at 2250rpm for best gas milage.
But I rarely shift that low. More like in the 3500 range for "spirated driving".

 

[sixstringthing]

can someone explain this skip-shift thing to me? Ive heard about it but never bothered with it. Do you just skip one gear? any random gear? How does it work and why?

 

[oogtdude]

can someone explain this skip-shift thing to me? Ive heard about it but never bothered with it. Do you just skip one gear? any random gear? How does it work and why?

why would you wanna skip a gear and lug the engine? i'm thinking maybe the mustang wasent the right car for you

 

[Phoenix00GT]

around town I keep it docile and shift it around 2300RPMs most of the time...not that I'm afraid of revving it (which I frequently do at lights when there is little or no traffic and getting onto the freeway) or using too much gas, but just that it's the most plush place to drive the car in the RPM range. You aren't going to save much gas by changing where you shift it...you bought a 289ci motor when you bought that GT and you should have understood when you bought it that you were going to be spending more money on gas than the guy in the Acura next to you.

 

[sixstringthing]

I didn't say I wanted to skip-shift, a few people here said they do it so i'm curious as to how/why it works? Nothing wrong with learning new info.

 

[Turbo92PGT]

GM uses that skip shift method. At the right load, rpm and everything it will force you to shift from first to fourth gear. My car doesn't have enough guts to do that. But my dads vette does. I some times will take the revs up to about 2k in 1st and then shift into third. Skipping second.

Its a 281ci

 

[KLozeR]

I shift under 2k for normal driving. Like 1800 maybe? 4th gear however i rev up to 2k because 5th gear is so tall.

But ofcourse there are occasions where i open her up to hear the music. (i love how it sounds at 4k+)

 

[Modular2v]

uhhh he didnt buy a 289ci motor when he bought his gt he bought a 281ci motor....they are not at all the same

 

[85GTlover]

I didn't say I wanted to skip-shift, a few people here said they do it so i'm curious as to how/why it works? Nothing wrong with learning new info.

I hear you, you read the other posts, they said they sometimes do that, so you asked, that guy dissed you due to his own ignorance. Had he read all the threads he would not have likely said that, I hope. They would consider that if the conditions were right I guess and you were at a speed and rpm that it would not lug going into the next gear, maybe to save wear & tear on the gear you skip, but there would be no real good in doing that that I can see for obvious reasons that you are likely thinking. Don't waste your brainpower thinking about it.

 

[snoopy98]

well i think what they are talking about is like what i do sometimes lets say you are going up a onramp about to enter the freeway you usually whant that power to be able to accelerate so you keep the car in 3rd gear and accelerate to about 70 really quick to get into the flow of the freeway once you're up to speed with the rest of the people on the freeway instead of shifting from 3rd gear at 70 to 4th you skip 4th gear and put it in 5th gear. whats the point in putting it in 4th gear for couple sec if you know that your are capable of putting it in 5th at 70 mph hope that helps clear stuff up. i do it all the time or i wind my first gear till about 30 mph insted of going into 2nd gear i skip it and go staight to 3rd gear same concept you aren't damaging anything you might lower the life of your gas tank but thats about it. i don't do it all the time either i do it when im being lazy or i wan't to hear that nice rumble of the higher rpm's

 

[85GTlover]

Yeah the guy above gives a good reason, but no real advantage per say. Good explanation. Hey above post if you read this what rpm are you at in first at 30mph? are you near max?

 

[Barjam]

As mentioned earlier vettes use skip shifting to improve gas mileage... if it works for them (vettes have a larger engine, more hp and better gas mileage than our cars) then I don't see why it might not help ours. But I have no proof it does

I do it for the reason given earlier, if I am doing 60ish in third gear there is really no reason to drop into 4th.

 

[Barjam]

As mentioned earlier vettes use skip shifting to improve gas mileage... if it works for them (vettes have a larger engine, more hp and better gas mileage than our cars*) then I don't see why it might not help ours. But I have no proof it does

I do it for the reason given earlier, if I am doing 60ish in third gear there is really no reason to drop into 4th.

*In general, obviously there are exceptions.

 

[GoBabyVroommm]

I have a 373 in my car and with the new 4v i shift at 2000rpm and honestly i can get 260 280 out of the whole tank. The most i could get out of my 2v shifting at 2000rpm was 215. Maybe its because my 2v was old as hell and had almost 100,000 miles.

 

[koadriver]

I think I read that for best gas mileage shift at 2k (on cobras anyhow). No idea if that is true or not.

I don't know if it helps or not, but I skip gears as well. I might run THIRD to a tad over 2k and skip fourth entirely (or some other gear).

Not sure about the GT but on the cobra engine (2001) you don't get into the fun range until north of 3k