Pretty sure the Fit's rev limiter is at 6500rpm and the tach is just reading higher. It happens in the 350Z too where they think they're the rev limiter's at 7000rpm but in fact it's just hitting at the factory 6600rpm.

Oh yeah, there's a sweet spot on most N/A cars that's before the rev limiter. I haven't really played with the Fit much but the way the factory cams are designed in most cars, they start dropping in power before the rev limiter. I think they do this because they try to discourage the customer from revving so high.

 

This is my first Manual Transmission car. Just for fun I was trying to showoff to my wife by shifting just before redline (starting from a complete stop). When I shifted into second it felt like the car lurched forward and gave us that free fall feeling in our stomach. I was like "Sweet!" Since then I couldn't figure out how to do that again. How do you get the Fit to do that again?

 

If you time it just RIGHT you can look at your tach and just when the needle is about to creep into the red at 6,500 react and blip the clutch in and out while you pop in the next gear without letting go of the gas. If you do it just right the engine will bounce of the rev limiter ONCE during the clutch blip (meaning no engine braking will be felt), you'll just hear the rev limiter bounce once and the next gear will engage instantly as the bounce of the rev limiter will push down your revs enough for the next gear to go in smoothly.

I can do this consistenly on my Fit at the race track (a local road course) and doing it saved me .4 seconds off my lap times. I don't recommend do it to much if you can't nail it just right, as the ammount of things that could get ****ed up are innumerable. But doing it JUST right will only hurt the clutch a little bit.

 

like in any car you want to start the next gear where your power band starts, so since the rpm gap between each gear drops as you up shift the shift point should technically drop, but since the power band is so high because of the vtec i would just redline it every time.

 

well if i recall the rev limiter just cuts the fuel off so i think its possible for the momentum of the motor/transmission to let the motor rev higher than what the limiter is set at.

 

seems like the car's fastest at 5.5K, but not sure. this is running a ssi.

 

Yeah it is fast at 5.5k, but if you can get it to 5.75k (yeah i know, random ass number), thats when I've noticed the peak. (right between 5 1/2 and 6)

 

[quote=codei;181577]so for all you guys that race fit...
where do you find is the best shift point?

and

for those who cares about the fuel ecom.
what's the best shift point?


On track we found upshifting at 6500 rpm works best and about 3500 the least downshifting. The trick is keeping the engine turning between 3500 and 6500 with emphasis on 5000 to 6500.
you need to stay between peak torque and peak horsepower. Torque = acceleration; horsepower = top speed. The last 300 rpm (6500-6800) doesn't help much unless you're holding a short bit to keep from double shifts.
good luck.

 

The owner's manual for my 2015 fit 6 spd MT gives this advice...
So why would I ever use 5th? Any opinions?

 

And does anybody have a graph of the GK5 6 speed power curve?

 

I shift around 6k cuz it feels like the power drops off right after 6k.

 

I guess this is part of the answer: https://www.automobile-catalog.com/c...x_6-speed.html

Maybe it's backwards, but my goal (when accelerating) is to be at 3,000-3,500 right AFTER I shift. My assumption is straddling the top of the curve is the most efficient way to accelerate.

 

Judging by that curve chart, if I'm gunning it, I would want the rpm's to be around 4000-4500 after I shift so I can use the higher end Torque more efficiently.

 

How would your answer change for racing vs driving for economy? (Would it?)

 

If I'm driving for economy, I'll usually shift below 4000rpm and move into the higher gears quicker, since I don't need to worry about using all the available torque.

If I'm racing, in dry conditions, I'll most likely shift around 6-6.5k to keep the rpm's in the 4-4.5k range. This way I can stay in the higher end of the torque band and get quicker acceleration

 

For city driving with lots of stop & go, I'd recommend to up-shift early (2,500-3,000 rpm) and coast whenever the opportunity appears.

For open road & highway driving, your shift point don't matter too much.
Obviously you want to get up to speed fast before you merge with traffic, so feel free to rev up right before redline.
Hwy fuel economy will depend on how good you can "feather" the gas pedal so that you're burning the least amount of gas while maintaining same speed. For this you need to rely on the car's instant fuel consumption gauge or get a SGII.

 

Having set some national drag racing records short-shifting well below the internet norms in Mustangs back in the 00s...I've always targeted landing about 500rpm below peak torque.

Per that graph I'm going to start my testing looking for about 4200rpm or so after the 3-4.

 

pull up dyno graph for stock of your model year and then just make dedicated RPM spacing that results from shift of one gear to next, using average total horsepower as target, you can get generic if not 100% accurate (for all space points) by searching top seed in each gear and difference between as set RPM range. Even just looking at a graph in MSPaint without proper tools if you do the method right its very easy. Its worth doing yourself to get the image of whats going on in your head for more reasons then straight line speed, but In a stock fit defaulting to near redline is fine, on corner exit for example its good to know how punchy max throttle will or won't respond at top end of RPM band while avoiding wheel scrub, but for your short answer just redline it.

There is indeed a Dip in early stock fits around 6400-6800 but even so the gearing is such spending all your time at as high a RPM as reasonable gets you where you would want to be, later fits the dip can be less pronounced. In such case say its a early fit you would only shift early with stock powerband if we somehow shaved your Fit into a really low Cd missile shaped bonneville car (aka still all stock motor, trans, but way higher speed and caring about 4th to 5th etc) where sticking to say between 5500-6400 sweet spot may become relevant, in 1-2-3 and arguably even to 4 we don't have that luxury, the gear spacing is such simply redlining it works.

 

My shifts vary greatly in rpm depending on the circumstances at the time.
But I have never even once taken my car to 6000 rpm, much less to redline.
Very very rarely it might hit 5000 or just over.
Normal driving i shift between 2500 and 3500 rpm, if needing to accelerate quicker, or climbing a steep hill, then 4500 ish.
Maybe once a year, for 1 second, it sees 5000 rpm.
I'm not in that much of a rush to get anywhere.

 

In GK Fit/Jazz the most fun is between 4000 and redline, and shifting just before cutoff gives defenitely the best acceleration. I want that joy daily. Best fuel economy comes by following the shift indicator arrow, which suggests keeping the rpm below 2000 unless in uphill.