Best RPMs

[Quagmire]

For those that are using the manual mode in city traffic... at what rpms are you shifting at for normal acceleration and driving. I find upshift at 3500rpms and down shift at 2000 rpms seems about right. Keeping the rpms between 2000 and 2500 seems to have the best feel. Also do you downshift when coming to a stop or just let the tranny do it for you?

[SeaDoc]

no downshift - upshift at 3500-4000rpm, will downshift if in auto mode going around 50mph as it shifts into 5th gear going around 1800 rpm which is too slow for 5th gear - the only flaw I see in the auto mode...

[jonnysan]

Originally Posted by Quagmire

For those that are using the manual mode in city traffic... at what rpms are you shifting at for normal acceleration and driving. I find upshift at 3500rpms and down shift at 2000 rpms seems about right. Keeping the rpms between 2000 and 2500 seems to have the best feel. Also do you downshift when coming to a stop or just let the tranny do it for you?

But find now that it is shifting quite nicely in auto mode so I am using the auto mode more frequently. The mileage also seems to be better in auto mode due to the conservative shift curve built into the trans/engine electronic control loop.
I do, however, pop it over into manual mode at times and shift down to 4th and then 3rd when coming to a stop or much slower traffic from the 50-60mph range mostly to save on brake wear. Engine braking is good for even piston ring break-in which I should already have by now at 1200 miles, although, the gas mileage continues to get better as well as the performance of the car as time goes on.
Just be careful not to shift down too far at too fast a ground speed or you will over-rev the engine and possibly cause damage.
Another thing I have been noticing is that the car/engine/transmission does not seem to *hunch* when in a stopped condition while in D. It does, however, seem to still do the *hunching* if in the manual mode while stopped.
Not sure why that could be but just something I have noticed recently.
There are lots of recent posts on this behavior on here so I don't want to get back into it on this post. Probably find out more about what was written if you do a search on Transmission shifting.

[a2jack]

I Shift up about 3k, run towns in 3rd or 4th. In MPH, I do 2d in the 20s, 3rd in the 30s, 4 in the 40s, and so on.

If I turn a corner while in auto, I pull the stick over and down, as if I were pulling a real manual down into second. I can then power around the turn without the trans doing an unwanted shift.

A2Jack

[BandSofC]

Up-shift at 3000 to 3500 while accelerating. Cruise at 2500 to 3000.
Average mpg total for 11 tanks is 37.6

I use manual mode almost exclusively. I downshift when engine braking is desired, otherwise I let it down-shift automatically.

Automode lugs the engine too much when cruising at city speeds - for my tastes anyway.