I just bought a 96 Nissan Maxima and its a stick shilf. I just learn how to drive it like 2 days ago, but I wanna know when is the best time to switch gears.

my dad told me just listed to the engine but i wanna know by looking at the RPM

feed back please

 

You may want to post in the 4th gen forum...

Optimal Shift point are based on how you drive and what kinda milage you want...

-matt

 

Very wrong forum. When you shift depends on desired speed, gas mileage, power band/mods. Look in the 1/4 mile forum for optimal speed shift points. For daily driving I go to 3-4k with MEVI and no ECU (JWT = slow POS).

 

use the force luke

 

There is no fixed RPM to shift at...
For daily driving, 2500-3000 RPM is a good shift point (fuel economy, etc.).
When the car is cold (morning starts, etc.) shift early (2k RPM) until the car is warmed up fully.

 

well, in the maxima manual there's a section which tells you when to shift the best. I usually do it right after 2K RPM...but thats on a straight road, nice day driving. But dont look too much at your RPMs, i got so used to it taht I couldnt feel the car and after the year still looked at the RPM when switching (trying to not look at it anymore)

 

thanks for the heads up

 

right before the big "7" or when the redlines on the tach start showing up.

That's the best time to shift.

But any other time, it depends on how fast you want to go, and how much stress you want to put on your engine. My car feels great shifting at 4-4.5k sometimes, but all other times, i keep it between 2-3k, depending on traffic. You should feel when it's time to shift by listening to the engine, you'll feel when it's right.

 

There's something in the faq's regarding optimum shift points in both a 4th gen and a 5th gen... READ EMMM!

 

quick opinion question, does anybody else not use 3rd gear ever in normal driving, unless accelerating vigorously? personally, I havent seen 3rd in 4 days, from second the engine seems plenty tractable and smooth to go straight to fourth

 

i go 3rd to 5th

 

7,500 RPM






lol j/k, it seems the smoothest between 3-4.5k, and yeah 6500 if you want to have some fun but not all the time if you care at all about mileage and keeping youe engine in good shape, although from what i read the vq stands up to driving like that VERY well

 

yeah I rarely use 3rd too... I can get up to any city speed in 2nd and just shift to 5th to cruise. 4th is good for negotiating the onramps... 3rd is for when there is heavy traffic and I might need to use some aggressive acceleration.

 

1, 2, 3, 5. 4th is the 2nd highway racing gear.

 

gas prices these days i keep it at 2k