OK my cousin was visiting me for the first time after a year this weekend and wanted to drive my car. So I let him drive us back home from lunch and it made me cringe. He revved the engine to over 4000 rpm every time moving from the stop light and at one point revved to over 5000 rpm when he was getting on to the freeway on the up ramp.

You see for some reason, I feel 3k is the limit before whichone should shift up to the next gear. When I drive I rarely let the rpms go over that during my daily commutes around the city. The only time it goes over 3k rpms is when I am cruising at 75 mph on the freeways.

Anybody else agree with the 3k ceiling? I want to think I am putting less stress on the engine components with my driving style. Or do u guys think it really doen't matter?

 

Hi. If you drive your car conservatively, it will usually run longer with fewer headaches as long as proper maintenance is done. I don't think that revving and engine above 3000 rpm will hurt it, as long as it is at normal operating temperature and is not dry revved. But hey its your car, and with you being conservative like you are, in the long run you'll save money on fuel, maintenace and repair costs too.

P.S. Let's not forget that German cars like, Audi, VW, Mercedes, BMW and Porsche are engineered to safely and reliably drive up and down the Autobahn at well over 100mph!! Think the engines are spinning over 3000rpm then? [sm=smiley20.gif]


2003 A6 2.7T Tiptronic

 

yea i always wondered when everyone else shifted or let thier cars shift ... 3 is my limit unless im messin around then its 6500 lol

 

haha I would say anyting under redline is fine, you should try shifting at 6,500 sometime its fun.

 

Well I don't have the 2.7T model and there is only so much fun to be had in a 3.0.I am just trying to baby it and hopefully it will reward me by being reliable The only time I openher up is on the highways where I usually cruise at 80-90 mph cuz driving at 70 is just plain boring.

 

yea i would go that far ... if u shift at 3 all the time ull have ur call for a while

 

You are fine, it's all a matter of preference. My normal "conservative" shifting varies from 2k to 3k. If your shifting occurs lower than 2k, your begging to foul your plugs.

I'm with joetm, I like to rip it to 7,000 RPM too! Especailly on I-276

 

Now that we are talking rpms, I noticed that most of the guys that answered Saintforlife have 2.7t I know there has to be a difference between driving a turbo and a non-turbo. I have a 2.8l, do you think it's safe to shift and downshift between 3,000 and 4,000. I ask because every now and then I like to use the tiptronic, so I brake anddownshift to 2nd usually at 3,000 rmpsbefore a curve, give it gas and then shift back to 3rd before 4,000 rmps, I read somewhere that if you downshift at high rmps you would be putting extra tension on your timing belt and it would force you to replace it sooner than you would if you don't shift at high rpms. I would hate to shorten the life of my TB so I would like to know if I should change my driving techniques. Thank you very much.

 

My dad taught drivers ed 40 years ago. He used to tell me the right way to shift was to match the rpms to the engine speed so the car neither surged when you upshifted nor "braked" when you downshifted. It should just slip into gear. So I usually try to make those perfectly smooth shifts.

In general, I shift in the 2000-2500 rpm range and accelerate conservatively. But I do drive it fast like Saintforlife, cruising the I96 at 75-85.

 

that sounds about right i shift between about 2500 to 3k normally but sometimes you have to treat yourself to a litlte fun redline shifts on the interstate are the way to go!