GEAR CHANGE MPH
1st to 2nd 11
2nd to 3rd 17
3rd to 4th 25
4th to 5th 32
5th to 6th 45

now, i was driving in 4th yesterday, travelling at around 45 mph with the RPM barely reaching 2k. after reading the manufacturer suggestions, i tried shifting into 6th at 45mph, and the RPM went down to 1300. i didn't even dare touching the throttle at those revolutions, but according to Nissan - it's how you're supposed to drive??? so is the manual for idiots after all?

I never go by speed or rpm when shifting (probably because my first manual car did not have a tach.). Always by feel. If you feel the engine is running too fast, upshift. If you feel it's running too slow and struggling downshift.

I believe it's TJ that said in a previous post: To achieve best fuel economy, drive in the gear that will make you press on the gas pedal the least.

If you upshift too quick, you will have to compensate by giving it more gas to keep up.

If you don't upshift, you will also have to give it more gas to get enough RPM to drive the desired speed.

There is no magic numbers. The best thing is learn to feel how the engine is doing and adjust the gears accordingly, so that man and machine becomes one.

I never hit 6th until at least 60mph. Barely use it at all on my commute as the traffic is so stop and go. I found that keeping the revs in the 2k to 3k powerband actually gets me better gas mileage than letting it plod along in 6th at 1500 rpms

56kz (and formerly, TJ) is right. You drive by feel more than by numbers.

On a related topic, I often make use of the OD off button on my auto when climbing steep grades. Rather than gradually pushing down more and more on the gas pedal until the TC decides to unlock and then until the tranny decides to drop from 4 to 3, I just go ahead and get those revs up early without mashing the gas to do so. Similar to how I would anticipate a hill when driving with a stick.

That reminds me of the Speedometers on the old Volkswagon Bugs showing shift points. Useless!

I'm with Roger, you want to keep your RPM in the range where you have maximum torque for what you're trying to do. I don't have the specs but the '05 and up was somewhere around 2500 RPM. Accelerating in taller gears is pointless unless you aren't holding anyone up and you're not in a hurry.

That's one of the reasons why I purchased the 5 sp Auto. I didn't want to play with 6 gears in traffic and only use 3 of them regularly. On roadtrips I generally use the CC and it usually will drop about 5-10MPH before it downshifts and gets back up to speed going up hills.

I used to drive Rx7's, most of the time I would shift from 1st to 3rd and then be well over the speed limit and throw it in 5th. Those MMMmmmm cars really loved to rev... Ahh those were the days...

Those seem about right to me. I typically keep the engine running under 2k, usually 1.2k - 1.6k with shifts at or before 2k. The only time I go beyond those numbers is when I'm getting on the interstate or in stop and go traffic where I'll keep it in say 3rd, and just use the rev in the 3k range to slow the truck without using the breaks or shifting down to close gaps in traffic.

Maybe it's me, but this engine seems to labor very loudly when pushed past 2.5k. I have no doubt it's a very fast and powerful engine and all that, but without making a show of it (loud reving in the 3k range + the lurch effect between gears), I'm always left in the dust of those people with automatics that like to get to the next light as fast as possible.

well, i spoke to a performance dept. mechanic at a dealership and he said, those numbers are put in the manual to match the fuel economy figures, but in fact, you should NOT drive like that. eventually you'll have enough carbon build up in there to significantly decrease your performance.

having already put 1600 miles on my X all over the state of Maine, i would say fuel economy concerns is the last thing on mind, when deciding which gear to use. sometimes you just can't use a higher gear because you will simply lose traction in a turn. there plenty of single lane roads here, where with a speed limit of 55 you end up averaging 40 MPH because of the turns and uneven pavement. i'm not even going to mention the multitude of various size hills...

judging from how the throttle responds in the lower range RPM in the first 3 gears(in second you start feeling major torque at 1200), driving under 2000 RPM isn't too stressing for the engine, unless you floor it and shift instantly, i guess...

Or you can put it in Drive and go....

Man sounds like a lot of you need to abuse your truck more. I regularly shift mine right at redline in the city. The only time I use 6th gear is on the highway and I cruise at 110km/h which works about to about 2k rpm in that gear. When passing on the highway I normally drop down to 4th for more power but if I really want to pass quickly I use 3rd and run it right up to redline and then shift to 4th.

I bought my truck to drive it not to baby it although I buy a new truck every year or 2 so I'm not really concerned about longevity.

I did not mention any RPM in my post since I never driven a manual Gen2. I would also never mention RPM because there are too many factors affecting what speed you must shift. Half the manual cars I owned did not have a tach so I never paid attention to close attention to RPM, I go by sound.

The faster you accelerate, the higher you will shift. Take Gord Hunt for example, he redlines everytime, which means he must be accelerationg at WOT. If while still accelerating at WOT and shifting 3000RPM, the engine would bog in the next gear.

Think of your 10 speed (or more) bicycle. You are the engine on the bicycle so you can imagine what happens if you shift too quick or too slow.

as far as body roll, i think it has to do with the VDC feature(vehicle dynamic control). i guess at lower RPM's the corrections made by the system aren't as pronounced due to the low torque... and of course, it's disabled in neutral, and that's when i feel the most roll on turns.

All other things being equal, gas mileage is dependent on three major factors: vehicle weight, aerodynamics, and engine RPM’s. It’s counterintuitive to think a vehicle would get better mileage by shifting at a higher RPM. Just as it’s counterintuitive to think that a vehicle would get better mileage at a higher speed. So if you want the best mileage, shift early and often. Keep the pressure off the accelerator. You want just enough power available to accelerate at a very modest rate using very little pedal. Its not fun being passed by everyone, but it’s the price for mileage. For the best mileage you will be shifting at well under 2k revs. The first to second shift will happen even before you get through the intersection. You can even skip 1st and start in 2nd. And you will have to use 6th gear regularly. If you are cruising at a steady rate for any length of time 6th gear will save you gas (although the diminishing returns below 40mph make 6th gear unnecessary below that speed).

Now as to the issues from lugging the engine, I wouldn’t worry too much about that. Just because it is running at a low RPM doesn’t mean you are lugging it. If you are trying to accelerate and find the engine at low RPM and your foot well on its way to the floor, downshift. But other than that the engine makes more than enough power to handle the pace of city traffic without going much beyond 2K rpm.

Carbon build-up is not a serious problem in today’s modern fuel injected engines either. Carbon build-up is generally caused by too rich a mixture at some point in the fuel map. It’s more associated with carbureted engines or poor engine tuning.

Still not convinced? Then look at the automatic equipped Xterras. The tranny is programmed to progress through the gears as quickly as possible at light throttle. Nor is it shy about using its top gear in steady state cruising.

-Old Army

It's called a "dummy light" for a reason...

Do everyone a favor and post up the VIN # of your Xterra so that when you sell it/trade it in in 2 years, we all know not to buy it. Thank you.