Highway Driving

[mrnabeehhasan]

It seems as though I was underestimating my car, or babying it. Nevertheless, I owe an overwhelming amount of gratitude for the helpful posts. I no longer have to duck down for fear of being rear-ended when I merge onto Interstate 94.

So, I would like to know at what speeds or rpms do the majority of you shift up?

I appreciate the time spent replying to my thread.

[sweetcarz.com]

glad we could help you out man, yeah I am use to a much more horsepowerful car, so I have to keep that Civic in high rpms.

[mrnabeehhasan]

Excuse me Sweetcarz.com, but you wouldn't happen to have a link to a picture of your Hatchback would you? I would like to see it if possible.

[Rice-Rocketeer]

You should'nt hit redline in every gear if you want your engine to last any decent period of time so when you're getting on the highway:

1st up to 20-25mph
2nd up to 50mph
3rd up to 80mph
4th...you should be going fast enough where maxing out 4th is just stupid.
5th when you've reached your desired speed.

That'll leave you a safe 500-1000rpms before you hit the rev limiter but still get maximum acceleration out of the engine.

[mrnabeehhasan]

I didn't have the faintest clue that the DX could survive that kind of driving. I thought it was so underachieving that I didn't want to risk it over revving especially with a car mysteriously not equipped with a standard tachometer. And those speeds aren't abusive to the engine at all? I truly was babying and underestimating the DX. It will take quite some time to reaugment my technique to fully exploit the future engine that will be transplanted into the little coupe.

Thank you all.

[Rice-Rocketeer]

Well it's a small engine, it's designed to make most of it's power up high in the rev range. And because it's a small engine, it'll rev higher with less stress on the components than a larger V8 engine would.

I mean, you're not supposed to drive ALL the time like that, but every now and then you need a little more power, highway driving is a good example. But the tach really isn't all important, all you need to remember are the magic three numbers, 30, 60, 90. Don't drive in first beyond 30, in 2nd beyond 60 and so on. Keep it below that and *make sure* that your engine's fluids are always clean and changed regularly and it'll last 150,000 miles without any major difficulties.

[mrnabeehhasan]

That was rather helpful. I will keep the 30, 60, 90 in mind while driving home tonight. I sure appreciate all of the efforts put forth. It was a totally different experience this morning driving to work. I pulled away from the pack (mostly morning station wagons and such) quite a ways until the steep hills started to roll through. I believe I took it as far as 100mph before the hills interupted the pure pleasure of speed. I can really see where the torque is missing when it comes to the uphill drives.

Again I thank you.