I agree that the torque at the wheels is whats important. However, no matter where torque is measured it will always be the same in one gear from another. What I'm saying is that in order to best use the available torque, engine rpm should be maxed (if necessary) to make the next gear start where the torque curve starts to flatten out. That would use the best of the power available when working with compromised gearing compromised gearing.I suspect you have missed the point of my post- I was talking about driving for maximum performance, not day to day driving.
The gear ratios in an MX-3 are not designed for economy (18.something mph/000rpm in top) They are designed to give a low torque engine the best performance compromise.
The torque produced by the motor at gearchage is not very relevant, only the torque that reaches the wheels is. I don't have the plots but I would suggest that you need to rev to at least 7k in 1st 2nd and possibly 3rd before changing up to get the best performance precisely because the gaps between the gears are so large.
While I'm on bear in mind that the rev counter on the car ALWAYS over-reads. It's calibration is such that it can read up to 7400rpm at a genuine 7000rpm. Jap and European (not UK) cars were redlined at 7500rpm with the stock K8 (not ZE)
Does anyone fancy doing the wheel torque/speed graph to help sort this out ? - a rolling road torque plot would from a std car would help !
Stuart
By the way, I did my own fuel consumption comparison some time ago. In fifth gear at about 3000 rpm on a 140km trip without stopping i used 13 litres of fuel. The same trip at around 4000 rpm without stopping was used 11 litres. Both trips were in similar conditions within one week of each other.
