Best RPM Range for Fuel Economy?

wondermalt

wondermalt

Well-Known Member
184
69
Toronto
Vehicle Model
Subaru WRX Sport
Hello guys,

I have been looking at the other thread and I was blown away by the gas mileage you guys are getting.
I recently learned to drive manual and I want to know where is the power band/best rpm range for daily driving.

I keep my car at around 1250rpm - 2000rpm... it lugs a little bit but isn't the lower the rpm the better?

Thanks!
 
wondermalt said:
bit but isn't the lower the rpm the better?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Absolutely not! You don't really ever want to be under 2000 RPMs while in gear. Lugging is bad and will actually cause you to burn more fuel if your RPMs are too low for a gear.

Typical driving would be to shift at 3000 RPMs if you want good fuel economy while not under-revving the car. The car prefers shifting closer to 4000 RPMs though.
 
Great question and welcome! Don't be too scared, my numbers are from pure city driving in a very hilly area of Pittsburgh! I actually find that when I'm right around 2k RPMs I get worse mileage according to the little gauge... So either I keep my revs lower (no lower than 1600) or around 2300-2700 and find that gets me the best mileage. Has anyone else noticed a "flat spot" at 2k for mileage?
 
2000-3000 is perfect, i dont think going that low is good for the engine. I shift at around 4000 like @squiggy said. If you do that, it should prevent you from going too low
 
shift where you want in the lower gears (up to 4k) but when cruising freeway keep it AT or UNDER 3,000RPM for best MPG. Don't remember exactly how fast that is.... it's been so long. Probably 70mph in 6th. Over that and you're bucking huge wind.
 
Ahh! I see! I'm gonna try that this week!

Thanks for the advice... I'll let you guys know the results :)
 
On AT this is the most efficient I'm getting at.
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Yeah, I have a couple of weird spots in my mileage/rpm/speed as well. It seems like from 63-67 it doesn't move and then from 71-76 the same again. Right in between just kills it. On all highway trips, from KY back to NY, I get just under 40mpg doing 75/76 with the cruise control. Running at 55 in the boring parts seems to drop it right down to near 30 but 57/58 is around 35/37. The 65-67mph don't get a ticket range seems to hover in the 36-ish mpgs.

2500 seems to be a sweet spot as does 1750 rpms.
 
ADExternal the AT is geared differently then the MT. I'm with JakeDBP about 2900rpm @ 110Km/h (68m/h). This is the first MT and it's weird to see the RPM's that high as my other cars (AT tran.) were a little over 2K. Good to know now that lugging will burn more fuel. I try to keep the rpms at about 2000-3000 unless just cruising around town on a flat road in 5th, they may drop down closer to 1600-1700.
 
Hey guys! Thank you so much for your tips... But my mileage did not improve at all.
My driving experience, however, did! But I'm still bummed out about this... My car shouldn't be guzzling so much gas

Maybe cuz Canadian weather sucks and my car takes forever to warm up~~~~ But just standing at start up for 1 minute will take 10km away from my range.
Is this is a 2013 problem?

Btw Torontonians: who else agrees with me that gas prices have been ridiculous?
 
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