6th Gear?
 

Newbie here. Just got my 2018 Fit Ex (Orange Fury), manual yesterday at what I think is a great price--$17,383 out the door. I have been looking and emailing dealers for a couple of months, and nobody really wanted to deal. The price I paid was $2,000 less than the best quoted.

Anyway, I am used to manual 5 speeds, but not 6 speeds. I know that 6th is like an overdrive, but I wondered if and how people used it in city driving? What little I have driven it, I usually shift to 6th after 40 mph. There still seems to be some power in 6th.

Comments/suggestions?

our 6th gear is somewhat of an anomaly, over time you'll notice that while cruising at highway speeds .... rpm's are way too high for its own good

with my prev cars, Id shift to 3rd at 30 mph, 4th at 40 mph, 5th at 50 mph, and so on. I've discovered that with our 2015+ fits, we dont have to follow that by any means, and with some scenarios (like a smooth flat road) shifting early is fine. you'll notice on your oem gauge cluster, it lights up GREEN when youre driving with good mpg's and it goes to BLUE when you're doing not so good with mpg's .... follow that thing

(seems like your onthe right track, cause I too usually shift early, and into 6th gear around 40-50 mph)




nice 1st post btw, WELCOME! hope ya stick around!

Not to mention that 6th on this gen FIT is the same as 5th on the previous ….they shoehorned 5th in there, it's like a half-step between 4th and 6th …..seems siily, but, I kinda like it for my area of driving, when just taking a drive in the mountains …..closer spaced gears can sometimes come in handy.....think of a 27 speed bicycle (or whatever the the state of the art is now) …. having some closer higher gear ratios come in handy when driving in the mountains around here in east TN. Still sucks at 70mpg, though.....3500 rpm is a lil much, but, I don't mind all that much

Both 5th and 6th are overdrive gears. This is how it's been in most 6 speed cars I've had.
4th is actually slightly overdriven on the Fit as well, but is very close to the usual 1:1 ratio.

For manual trans, the owners manual recommends shifting into 2nd @ 16mph, 3rd @ 26mph, 4th @ 35mph, 5th @ 41mph, and 6th @ 43mph. Pretty much no difference between 5th and 6th

Thanks for the comments.

I had no idea about the colors or what they meant. I didn't get a very good briefing about the car, but that was mostly my fault.

To get the great deal, I had to rent a car and drive about 4 hours to the dealer. A long day of driving and I didn't want to spend any more time than I had to at the dealership.

I'm guilty of not reading the manual

its crazy how they want the driver to shift from 5th to 6th over a 2 mph differential .... smh

Yeah, I often shift from 4th to 6th.

It would have been nicer with a slightly taller 6th gear ratio - for highway cruising gas mileage would be slightly better, fewer engine revs so a bit quieter and less engine wear.

I'm on board with team "I want a taller 6th gear"

I was on a drive today with my wife and I was saying the two things I wish the car had was a taller 6th gear and heated exterior mirrors and also a rear view mirror with a compass. So 6th is a wash, I can survive without the mirrors being heated but I am getting a new rear view mirror.

BTW I almost never use 5th but when 6th craps out I will start using it.

just keep up shifting...your better than an automatic..you can see the future..it cannot!....7th or 8th gear would be nice!!

I've only been shifting to 6th at around 50mph or higher. I was generally shifting whenever I hit 3000rpms. Maybe this explains why I am getting less than 300 miles out of a single tank.

I go into 6th whenever I'm cruising above 40 mph on a flat road. And freeways always 6th unless passing someone --> :vtec:

So on roads with above 40 mph speed limits, I am in 6th gear, if you shift to early into 6th and rpms are below 2000 you are lugging the engine which makes it work harder.

On hills I use 3rd or 4th gear to go up and get the eco light turning green, cause 6th gear is hard uphill in the city.

You said you always use 6th on freeways unless passing someone? Not trying to be rude or anything but what is the reasoning behind that? If I am going 65 or 70 on a freeway and I want to pass someone, I would generally stay in 6th and accelerate faster than them, in order to pass their speed and flip around them. Or maybe I am misunderstanding what you are trying to say, if so my bad ��

Lower gear = better acceleration (which is something this car needs when attempting to pass people on the highway).

I generally try to avoid any heavy footed acceleration in 6th. I generally shift depending on the grade in the road. 5th gear sometimes comes in as a highway passing gear; if my rpms would otherwise be too high for 4th (usually above 70). 4th gear is fun; i'm careful not to ring it out and usually drop into it for passing if between 50 and 65mph.
1st is annoyingly short; sometimes, if i have plenty of time to accelerate, i find myself rolling slowly directly to second at 1.5k rpms (roughly 7-10mph). Lastly i generally only use 3rd for intown passes and highway on/off ramps.

Haha no worries mate, I get where your coming from.

Generally while cruising at 68 mph on the freeway, I may come across a car going 50 in front of me which I need to pass on the right. Now being where I live generally people drive 75-80 (which would kill the mpg of the fit cause of our high revving 6th gear) so I elect to use 4th gear to be at peak torque in order to pass quickly to not impede the other drivers in the outer lanes. (I see it as not my job to police their speeds by making them slow down behind me)

If its an open highway with little traffic then yea, I will just keep my cruise control and go over and continue on my way in 6th :)

*On a side note downshifting it into 3rd gear and shifting at the redline into 4th is so satisfying, while not even breaking the law, cause the fit's gearing is pretty short :D

I find 70-75 still yield 40mpg. Just so long as your light on the throttle and around 3.3k-3.9k rpms the engine seems happy.

I think the biggest reason to avoid overtaking in 6th is the added stress on the motor because overdrive.

I agree, its nice that 70 is right in the middle of the speedometer. Will make OCD drivers happy lol

Regarding 6rh gear use: If I recall correctly, the owner's manual says to use the highest gear that still allows the engine to run smoothly for best fuel economy. I have found that I can use 6th with a very light throttle (no acceleration, just cruising) all the way down to 30 mph or even a bit slower on flat ground (when the engine is fully warmed up). This correlates with the green ambient dash indicator telling me when to shift for economy. No lugging. No vibration from an overburdened engine. I'm sure the i-VTEC is helping out here.
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As far as the spacing between 4, 5 and 6, the frequent shifting in flat city driving is a bit annoying but the ratios do provide good performance in mountainous driving and I really appreciate them in that context. It all makes sense in the context of a small, normally aspirated engine with VTEC. It's an old school Honda in philosophy and execution.
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