There is no one correct answer to what rpm you should upshift. It all depends on what you want to do with the car in the next seconds of driving. If you want more power, then you might want to downshift or stay in your current gear. If not, upshift to keep the engine revs down to save fuel and wear and tear on the engine and accessories. Don’t upshift if that will result in lugging the engine. It doesn’t matter if you are driving a sports car, motorcycle, or family car; the following is the basic logic to follow for shifting a manual transmission for both efficiency and performance:
- Try to think ahead about the next 10 seconds or so of driving
- If you upshift to the next higher gear will you have enough power to do what you want to do with the car? (this all depends on how fast you want to accelerate and whether you are going uphill or downhill)
- If so, go ahead and upshift, but not if that will result in lugging the engine
- If not, then decide if you can attain the level of power you need in your current gear or you need even more power
- If you need more power than is available in your current gear then downshift
Keep running this algorithm in your head as you drive. You always want to strive to get in top-gear, but not at the expense of not having enough performance, or lugging the engine, or not having fun!
Dave
