[spkingsley]

Originally Posted by ampere

I think basically if you remain under 3 digits you should get the possible mileage. Esp 90-100 on 6th gear or 85-90 on 5th (For the 5-gear 85 bhp version). The issue is on 4-lanes with wafer thin traffic we let our speeds run wild. And that coupled with AC is a sure shot FE killer.

For city I think FE is directly proportional to chaos!

More than driving styles, I would say choose your time of commute and you would be surely rewarded with a better FE.

FE is directly proportional to the no of gear shifts

[ampere]

Originally Posted by spkingsley

FE is directly proportional to the no of gear shifts

I meant it in a lighter vein. Of course Chaos/Bumper to Bumper traffic means more gear shifts. However not just gear shifts alone. On a highway if you run it much faster than the sweet spot of the engine's RPM/power band, FE goes down there as well. Thats why mostly on 4-lanes you may tend to get lower FE compared to 2-lane roads. because on 2-lanes you are restricted to under 100 and also on the same gear for long. While on 4-lane you run on triple digits and many a times go beyond the sweet spot of engine's power band.

[spkingsley]

Originally Posted by ampere

I meant it in a lighter vein. Of course Chaos/Bumper to Bumper traffic means more gear shifts.

Agree... In fact I didn't read your reply carefully

[pahwa]

Originally Posted by ampere

I meant it in a lighter vein. Of course Chaos/Bumper to Bumper traffic means more gear shifts. However not just gear shifts alone. On a highway if you run it much faster than the sweet spot of the engine's RPM/power band, FE goes down there as well. Thats why mostly on 4-lanes you may tend to get lower FE compared to 2-lane roads. because on 2-lanes you are restricted to under 100 and also on the same gear for long. While on 4-lane you run on triple digits and many a times go beyond the sweet spot of engine's power band.

Thanks guys.

Offtopic - I have always been a careless driver and therefore these questions which may seem very basic to fellow BHPians -

In city traffic is it better to shift gears to stay in 1500-2000 RPM range or stay in lower gears to reduce the number of gear shifts?

[honeybee]

Actually on the old Indiacar forum someine had asked a similar question on how long one should stay in a particular gear, and the then Indiacar autoguru Mr. S. K. Gupta had replied that one should at least travel a km before shifting gears. Of course this was meant as a guidance, but really how long should one travel before shifting gears?

This is slightly OT but I don't think this question has been asked before.

[himadrimondal]

Originally Posted by honeybee

Of course this was meant as a guidance, but really how long should one travel before shifting gears?

This is slightly OT but I don't think this question has been asked before.

Strange queries are actually coming up.
A km in a gear, asking someone to jott down a driving style!

I would just say feel the engine with your heart rather than with the foot on the accelerator and hands on the gear, so to speak.
If you got that right, even without the rpm meter you would unconsciously up shift or vice versa.
Traffic, no traffic, city drive, highways anywhere, when you are 'connected' the shifts will come automatically. No one has to tell you when to shift, neither do you have to follow any page on the net to know how to shift.

The faster you get this, longer will your engine life be, longer will the gaskets and rubber seals last.
I have seen this thrice in real life.
85kms plus I left my three cars consecutively, without any engine sweating, to my drivers to use.
All three times there came complaints of engine sweating within a months use.

It cannot be coincidence. Unnecessary racing of engine on lower gears, wrong gearshifts both up and down will result in all this. Good luck.

[honeybee]

The query is more of the nature: I am driving on the crowded JVLR stretch where there is a traffic light every 400-500 metres. As soon as the traffic moves and I move along with it, I have the option to go through gears 1, 2, and 3 and by that time it's already time to go back to neutral, or only shift to the second gear and nudge the engine a little faster and avoid shifting to third.

Feeling 'connected' etc is all fine, but there still must be some 'right' way. After all each time one shifts, there is some little bit of friction, wear and tear and loss of power. So is there a technique to it?

[BUXX]

Here's a free tip: You will get the max FE, if you keep the rev meter as close to the 2K mark and driving in the highest gear that's possible to achieve this.

The K9K engine is not rev-happy and performs and rewards you best when you stick to the 2000-2500 rpm limit.

[himadrimondal]

Originally Posted by BUXX

Here's a free tip: You will get the max FE, if you keep the rev meter as close to the 2K mark and driving in the highest gear that's possible to achieve this.

This would be the perfect advice wrt the Duster. Upshift or downshift but slot the gear that keeps the rpm on the 2k mark.

[Neil Roy]

Originally Posted by honeybee

......... that one should at least travel a km before shifting gears. Of course this was meant as a guidance, but really how long should one travel before shifting gears?

This is slightly OT but I don't think this question has been asked before.

I never can understand the indian automobile manufacturing community. If this is not a scream for AT across all brands and variants, I dont know what is.
Coming to your query, there is no surefire way to change gears as there is no surefire way to get your cooking recipe right everytime. The key word here is intuition. There are so many variables at play , especially for the type of traffic that you described(signal every 500 metres, bumper to bumper traffic etc). Just get the feel of the flow of traffic and things will just work out fine. If you are driving a 110 RXL in bumper to bumper traffic, you cannot even get past 1st or 2nd gear. Add to that the relatively hard clutch, your left calf muscles will have a work out only EPL players can dream of
The only 'right' way is not to fry your clutch out in peak traffic and signals. That is the biggest source of income for authorised service outlets.I have heard of a Maruti Service advisor smiling ruefully when he stated that some vehicles come for clutch overhaul as early as 5000 kms and the customers cannot understand why extended or standard warranty does not cover clutch cover assembly.
Anyways, with the traffic that we are seeing today, I dont know if you will have the time to look at your tachometer( for rpm), odometer(to calculate the distance between changing gears) watch out for two wheelers and look at the signal, all at the same time.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by honeybee

Feeling 'connected' etc is all fine, but there still must be some 'right' way. After all each time one shifts, there is some little bit of friction, wear and tear and loss of power. So is there a technique to it?

The right way or bookish way is to check the user manual and look at the torque vs RPM curve usually for diesel engine it is like inverted U , Notice the point on this curve where the curve starts flattening out towards the peak this is the lower limit and the peak should be your upper point.

As per description from posts below by Buxx and Himadri these point looks like 2000 - 2500 RPM.

Keep on shifting gear as many times as you want to keep the engine RPM between these 2 points. Just make sure that you remove your foot from clutch as soon as the job of changing gear is done.

Coming back to Duster 110 PS I think 6 gears are really too much for the rev band K9K engine has this is based on my limited test drives and I don't want to start flame war so please excuse me if I am wrong.

May be they could have accommodated same top and bottom gear ratios with-in 5 gears as well , keeping number of gears as 6 looks more like marketing exercise.

[himadrimondal]

Originally Posted by amitk26

T
Coming back to Duster 110 PS I think 6 gears are really too much for the rev band K9K engine has this is based on my limited test drives and I don't want to start flame war so please excuse me if I am wrong.

May be they could have accommodated same top and bottom gear ratios with-in 5 gears as well , keeping number of gears as 6 looks more like marketing exercise.

Not at all Amit, the 6th gear on the 110PS is like a switch, something that gives the car a different feel altogether.
As you slot on to it with empty road ahead, the car behaviour changes.

Keeping around the 2k-2.5k mark on the rpm meter, the car seems to gain on everything that's in front.
The car behaves very relaxed and composed, you can continue like this for hours.
In my recent Kolkata-Delhi trip, I maintained this 2-2.5k mark most of the time and that did the trick. Reached Delhi in a day.

[HillMan]

Originally Posted by honeybee

Actually on the old Indiacar forum someine had asked a similar question on how long one should stay in a particular gear, and the then Indiacar autoguru Mr. S. K. Gupta had replied that one should at least travel a km before shifting gears. Of course this was meant as a guidance, but really how long should one travel before shifting gears?

This is slightly OT but I don't think this question has been asked before.

Many responses in already, but I'd like to post my view as well from 85ps;

Driving 1km per gear is pretty harsh on any vehicle and not practical either.
The only thing the manual advises is not to rev till the engine reaches its normal temperature. This comes in around 10minutes of driving.

As @himadrimondal says, you need to feel the engine and rpm doesnt really matter.

The RPM meter to me is just to give a race feel and nothing more than that. Thats what I did till this question popped up and I had to try it out. So this morning while driving to office I kept an eye on the rpm.

@BUXX is spot On when he says, keeping the rpm around 2K rpm gets the best out of Duster at top gear. The NVH are the lowest best between 2-2.5k RPM and there is enough punch for a quick overtake or fun driving

But practicality of a bumper to bumper signal to signal traffic and driving conditions should guide you which gear to use. Duster has a sweet spot between 2-2.5K rpm, but not something you can practically hold in traffic conditions like this. You might be revving the engine and unnecessarily keeping the car in turbo range.

Bangalore traffic is no better, where opportunity for overtake is low and it is better to go with the flow. Cutting across lanes and driving hard will only save you a few minutes, which is really not work the effort and risk. When 4th and 5th gear is a luxury during peak time.

It is always the best to move to the highest possible gear as quickly as you possibly can. That said, Duster does not like to be running below 1000rpm, thats only for idling. That doesn't mean Duster cant pull. If you just leave the clutch in gear 1 or 2 without touching the accelerator, the Duster moves. Just a feather touch on the accelerator will take the rpm above this limit. 1500 rpm is good enough at around 20kph on plain road shifting between 1-2-3 gears. The 3rd gear has a very broad range so it can cover for quick overtake by pushing rpm to around 2.5k.

I find it difficult to keep the rpm at 2k in slow traffic. Duster behaves like a horse ready to gallop

Gear shift in bumper traffic will come just around 2k rpm and on highway around 2.5k. In case the car is loaded then the 2.5k rpm would be your reference point. After gear shift you will tend to lose around 500rpm.

[crazydave]

Originally Posted by amitk26

Coming back to Duster 110 PS I think 6 gears are really too much for the rev band K9K engine has this is based on my limited test drives and I don't want to start flame war so please excuse me if I am wrong.

Not starting a flame war too but I disagree. In the 110, 2000rpm in 6th gear hits slightly over 100 on the speedo. And at that speed + RPM combination, you should feel the car - its settled in. Give it a long empty road and if you had a bigger fuel tank, you could do a 1000kms easily in one stretch!

Above 2500rpm, gruffness does start to set in but then you're already at 120KMPH - how much faster can you go on Indian roads without frequent downshifts to slow down for trucks in the fast lane, cows - human and bovine kind, and toll booths?

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by crazydave

Not starting a flame war too but I disagree. In the 110, 2000rpm in 6th gear hits slightly over 100 on the speedo. And at that speed + RPM combination, you should feel the car - its settled in and having a nice lazy smoke with a glass of good scotch in the other hand. Give it a long empty road and if you had a bigger fuel tank, you could do a 1000kms easily in one stretch!

Above 2500rpm, gruffness does start to set in but then you're already at 120KMPH - how much faster can you go on Indian roads without frequent downshifts to slow down for trucks in the fast lane, cows - human and bovine kind, and toll booths?

Well in the vehicle from competition too 100 hits around 2000 RPm and 140 at 2700 rpm but in 5th gear.

If the gear ratio of overdrive is similar for example IIRC 1: 0.71 it does not matter if number is 5th or 6th.

Keeping point about Indian road conditions aside, suppose if there is more headroom in terms of power engine can deliver and the ratio can further be reduced 6 gears will makes sense like in some other high end cars with more powerful engine.

In case vehicle dynamics and road condition makes such speeds unsafe then I would say please knock off 1 gear and reduce 1 lakh :-D or give some other useful feature like 4x4 instead of 6 speed GB.

I think from market perspective a 6 speed GB pulls more buyers rather then 4x4 because for masses more gears look better and 4X4 junta won't spend 15 lakhs in the road.