How to shift insight?

[Rainsux]

I'm feeling a little of this, too. I think it's a motor mount starting to fail and putting a bind on the linkage.

Sam

[GuySmily]

Am I the only person who shifts through every gear like a normal car?

[theaveng]

You shift every gear in your normal car? In my Beetle I just shift 1-2-5 or 1-2-3-5. Even the automatic Hyundai I rented would skip gears from 3 to 6.

When stopping I usually go 5 to 1. It's pointless to wear out your clutch with a ton of shifts.

[GuySmily]

Yeah, I don't skip gears. Especially in the insight. If I want max acceleration, I use each gear so that my RPM stays as high as possible. Why would I shift from redline in 2nd to like 2000 rpm in 4th?

If I want max mpg, I shift through each gear as soon as possible. In order to skip a gear I'd have to let the low gear rev WAY higher. I just shift at 2000 rpm.

I don't see how skipping gears, which puts you further away from your ideal rpm, can help you in any situation.

When slowing down, I try to use regen exclusively and stay off the brake pads. I don't downshift through every gear. Too much work. It's not like there's a noticable torque curve during regenerative braking, so I usually go from 5th to 3rd to neutral. I don't like that regen stops at 30mpg in 5th, so that's when I downshift to 3rd to keep regen going until 19mph. By then I can autostop anyway, but I usually don't clutch in until ~800-500 rpm since the car doesn't seem to fight to maintain idle.

[3-Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Cobb

If the engine is anything like the one in the geo metro that is made by suzuki and in good health it could do 14-16 grand....

I really doubt that the valves would take this abuse without floating and causing damage.

Yamaha made a repli-racer 600cc road bike some 10 years ago that spun this high, but it was "designed" to operate at that rpm without valve float.

Jim.

[theaveng]

Originally Posted by GuySmily

Why would I shift from redline in 2nd to like 2000 rpm in 4th?

Because I'm already at 55 and don't want to go any faster, so I skip 3rd gear.

If I want max mpg, I shift through each gear as soon as possible.

The best fuel economy comes from Wide-Open Throttle and getting to 5th gear as quickly as possible (for steady state cruising). That means a 1-2-5 style. This has been shown in High MPG contests again and again.

[GuySmily]

Is Yamaha the Japanese king of head design or something? I think they had a hand in designing the head for all 3 generations of the MR2.

Anyway, here's a handy spreadsheet I have from the MR2 forums to help analyze gears/etc. I used it to compare the Insight to my MR2 w/6spd tranny swap.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...205YkplUm5qdWc

[GuySmily]

Originally Posted by theaveng

Because I'm already at 55 and don't want to go any faster. The best fuel economy comes from Wide-Open Throttle 1st/2nd gears and getting to 5th gear as quickly as possible (for steady state cruising). This has been shown in High MPG contests again and again.

Ah, racing to a given speed. For sorta-aggressive driving on the street, I usually taper my shift points down as I approach my desired speed. It seems less awkward than redlining through the gears then suddenly dropping to cruising RPM (which probably sounds like a mis-shift from outside).

[Willie Williford]

Back in the "60' I had the opportunity to ride a factory Suzuki racer (Motorcycle)
It was a 50cc twin rotary valve, with a 10 speed transmission.
Power curve was from 10,000 to 12,000 rpm. (Rev. limited)
(It was a ball to ride, but caused foot cramps trying to stay on the power band)

Willie
,

[GuySmily]

I need to ride a nimble sports bike some day. My main bike is a DL1000 and I've been on my dad's Hayabusa (scary fast), but I've never tried a 600-1000cc sport bike before.

I thought motorcycling would be my mpg solution, but the Insight blows our motorcycles out of the water.