gadgetman

My first time owning a six speed gearbox.

What's the best speeds to change into each of the 6? I've been using the normal 1-5 speeds, and using 6th at either 60 or 70 for the steady motorway cruise.

Is this the correct way, or does someone have a good speed/gear guide? I'd have thought it'd be in the manual.....

EDIT: For the petrol 2.0 FSI if that makes any difference.

VRStu

Use sixth as if it were fifth. It's not what might have been termed many years ago as an overdrive, it's just another gear.

Use it whenever you and the engine are comfortable with it.

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Spence2

No offence intended but is this a serious question? Driving the car will tell you when and what gears are required to fit the circumstances appertaining. The additional info provided by the rev counter will give you a head start but basically you should very soon 'know' what gear you want to suit what you expect the car to do. There ain't any manual that will tell you.

gadgetman

Yes it was. I was after a guide/others ecperience, really to get the best performance etc out of the engine.

Basically I was unsure as the changes are earlier than a 5 speed, as I can't 'feel' any difference between 5th or 6th. Both seem the same revs/engine noise wise
to me.

I'd rather break in he gearbox & engine correctly as I've done with my previous new cars.

irin

I have a tdi engine with 6 speed gear box and I change up the gears at 2500 rpm
and down at 1500 rpm
I use to change the gears in the petrol cars at 3000 up and 2000 down.
Sometimes I go to the red zone (up-hils , overtecking , hi speeds)
Everibody has his personal way of driving !

dstev2000

Use the gears of your car to keep the engine in it's peak torque band.

Or cane the *** off it from 1st to 4th then block change to 6th and ignore 5th

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postmanpat

Or look upon 6th gear as the vtec zone.............. hit 6500 in fith and then change up woo hoo another 1000 revs or so to play with

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Spence2

Quote:
Originally Posted by Spence2
No offence intended but is this a serious question?

Quote:

Yes it was. I was after a guide/others ecperience, really to get the best performance etc out of the engine. Basically I was unsure as the changes are earlier than a 5 speed, as I can't 'feel' any difference between 5th or 6th. Both seem the same revs/engine noise wise to me. I'd rather break in he gearbox & engine correctly as I've done with my previous new cars.

In which case I will copy my brief comment from a previous topic:

I was brought up to use the engine when running in but with care. Prolonged full throttle no but let the engine run freely not using imposed rev limits that can mean the engine is laboured because drivers slavishly try and stay below those limits. Car empathy is the most appropriate term, you sense the load and effort being placed on the vehicle and use the engine and gearbox to provide the 'kindest' combination to deal with that load.

Harry_vRS

And how fast would you be going if you were doing 6500RPM in 5th

As said, just use which gear feels right for the load.

postmanpat

not as fast as 6500 rpm in sixth hth

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gadgetman

Thanks folks.

Basil

As Stu points out, the 6th is just another gear, use it as such, it's not an overdrive....

I remember searching through the posts when I first got my Fabia vRS, looking for the best way to run in the car.

Few points that I seemed to find:

two schools of thought about running it in - drive carefully and not staying at a particular rev level for long (like a petrol). OR driving absolutely normally when warmed up... Peeps claimed no diff over the car's life...

For a diesel, the important thing is that they don't warm up at idle, they need load to warm up so drive off gently right after starting up.
Also Diesels are built pretty much "bulletproof", they only start to be really run in after about 10-15K, so basically don't sweat it about running in too much...
You'll notice a better mpg only after the 10-15K, and if your geark0b rattles at first, this will settle after this period as well...

Enjoy your new car and however you do it, it'll run itself in a treat!

(Probably more info than you really wanted, but I understand what you're really asking.)

HTH

Bas

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justdoit

I stick mine in 6th as quick as I can, engine pulls quite happily from 1500rpm, only drop if I need faster quicker if you know what I mean

Shifty

Running in tip - once the engine is warm, drive it as you would any other car. Diesels respond better to a good kicking

Old engines needed running in. New engines don't. I ran my ex work's DAF XF430 space cab in by loading it up to it's gross wieght of 44 tons, and going somewhere far away with it. I also kicked its head in, and it out pulled the other dafs on the fleet weight for wieght as they were generally on lighter work.

Dervs love a load.

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unclerichy

Similar usage here - when I'm not driving hard I change up between 1500 and 2000rpm. Doing that over a weekend away at the coast (once I was off the motorway on A roads) I averaged over 60mpg in my 2.0TDI.

I find that giving it some welly now and again (usually when the wife's not with me ) cleans out the pipes and still gives 50+ mpg.

Never thought I'd say this but I'm really glad I bought a diesel.

smerko

pretty sure thats it's not really the revs that eat fuel but the throttle you use if that makes sense. i.e. on slight upwards hill 3000rpm and very light throttle much better than 1500rpm and half/full throttle with a labouring engine.

Krispe

LOL that would be me. 5th gear now seems a little pointless.