Sorry for being a complete noob but what is a good downshift? At certain rpm?

 

Do you have a GSR or MR?

 

Depends, what are you trying to accomplish? Are you just driving around town to the store? Are you racing someone? Getting on the highway?

 

How fast are you going also?

 

lol +1
be a little more specific!

 

He could do what I do, and just always rev it to 7000

 

 

Oh sorry, for daily driving.

 

I just go by feel. It is difficult to watch the tach and drive. I think over time you just kind of know. I have made mistakes of course but usually catch them as I let off the clutch and quickly push it back it and shift back up but for the most part it just comes natural after a while. Of course it differs on how you are driving. Spirited driving you are trying to keep the rev's up, daily driving probably trying to keep them down. Although I have found that it is very difficult to not drive the evo in a somewhat spirited manner. I feel like a smoker who keeps relapsing. Every day I get in my Evo and tell myself, no high speed turns, you will kill the tires, and the first on ramp I come to I relapse and kill my tires. Then I feel guilty for having no self control. That turns to depression and sleepless night. Next day the same routine. Is there a support group for this problem?

 

Still rev it to 7k every time.

 

Dude, you're telling a guy who obviously doesn't have much experience with a manual transmission "just figure it out, you'll know."

That's like saying "Just read this book in Russian, it'll make sense eventually."

Generally speaking, between 3-4.5k for normal driving. If you're in a slower, residential area, maybe 2.5-3k.

 

Honestly that's how I learned, dude. You can kind of tell from even driving an auto when you need to shift by the sound of the engine. I don't think that was bad advice. I think everybody goes off the feel. Every new car we buy may have a different shift point. How do we know when to shift? BTW, my Evo is the first manual I have driven in 20 years.

BTW you say 3-4.5 the other guy says 7k, who is correct?

BTW part two, does an engine sound different to a Russian speaker?

Damn it, one more thing, I think the OP was asking when to downshift not up shift.

 

this helped me learn driving stick on my previous car ... when I downshift, I add 1k rpm per gear.
so if I'm going 3000 rpm at 3rd gear,
I downshift to 2nd gear and rev-match at 4000rpm

 

Generally speaking when I down shift, I don't even move my right foot. Works out perfect if you keep the same amount of pressure, b/c when you depress the clutch you're going to rev and that generally puts you right where the downshifted RPM match needs to be (assuming you're just going down 1 gear).

 

Thanks for the info guys