The manual for my 2010 Fit recommends shift points for every gear, but it feels like the Fit wants to go to a higher gear before I get to the recommended speed. Is it better to go by the manual or the "feel"?

 

The recommendations are usually on the conservative end so far as shift points go. I've never heard of anyone wanting to short shift more than the recommendations

The 'right' shift point will be by feel - you grt to decide the blend of efficiency vs torque that you want at any given point in time.

You wouldn't ride a bicycle andbonly shift to a harder or easier gear based on hitting a certain number of rotations per minute, would you?

 

Like occam said, it depends on the moment.

Want to accelerate fast? Put the pedal to the metal and let that puppy redline!

Going out for a nice comfortable cruise? Press the pedal, maybe, 1/3 to 1/2 way down and shift around 3k rpms. Shouldn't lug or feel abrupt otherwise.

 

im flooring the car pretty much in each gear unless im in traffic but let off when i need to shift up. this keeps the ECU in its non-fuel economy mode so max power each time i drive.

i rev pretty high because i want to keep the car in its torque band when i shift up into the next gear. as you can tell, i dont drive this car for fuel economy.

 

Tell me more about the ECU and its fuel economy modes. I've suspected such, but have had little luck in finding anything out.

I rarely put the pedal to the medal but am not shy of high revs on the up-shift. Probably hold the throttle at 60% and let it catch up, FIT goes as fast as it wants to, more throttle simply doesn't make much sense to me. 4.5K on the tac is enough for me most of the time.

I'm consistently getting 38-40MPG easily and I'm convinced it's based on my driving profile. Can't say I'm a slow driver - I like to get to the speed limit quickly - and on the pike I'm at 70-73MPH most of the time. With shifting I just don't get crazy, 'cept every now and again.

Really interested in knowing how my FIT knows, smart little bugger that it is.

 

krimson- these ECU's adapt to environment and your driving habits and it's main focus is to keep emissions low and save fuel cost. basically that is the stock map. you hear a lot of folks not feeling their CAI or exhaust mods after a period of time... that's because your ECU has adapted to the mods and de-tuned to run like the stock map. one would have to reset the ECU in order to re-start the learning process to get the small drops of power it gained from the CAI/exhaust.

but, if you have a lead foot like me the ECU will continue to push the car as much as it can and will take longer to adapt to the low emissions/fuel economy stock map. the moment you start driving normal the ECU will try to get the car back to its optimum fuel economy/max low emissions parameters... so just keep pushing the car.

usually there are tuners that make "reflash" or other "maps" to keep the car in the performance mode. ive not researched for the Fit (because to me a few hp gain is useless), but usually there are programmers that have certain maps that will lean the car a little bit, raise the rev limiter, raise the top speed limiter, use multipliers in the dbw to force the throttlebody to open up sooner, etc for off-road use.

 

Thanks kenchan - you've put a few more pieces together for me.

 

The answer is...it depends on you.

The big upside of a manual gearbox is it places more mechanical control in your hands. The engine will follow suit. But you do have to know the consequences. The "recommended shift points" are there simply as a suggestion, especially for people new to self-shifting, as there remains the very real risk of grenading an engine with an ill-timed downshift (say from 6000 RPM in 3rd you downshift to 2nd).

Like Kenchan I usually don't drive with an economy mindset so I frequently keep my engine spinning in its peak torque band, even up to redline sometimes. You may prefer to keep a less frenetic pace, in which case an upshift at 2500 RPM would do wonders.