Originally Posted by onehundred80
Maximum efficiency for acceleration is reached near the 'sweet spot', after that power is falling off. The 'sweet spot' is not to be found at 6,000rpm on this car, just look at the torque curves to be seen on this site.
Maximum acceleration will be achieved when the revs are kept within the power band, that relatively flat zone at the top of the power curve.
Having the car cut out when you hit the rev limiter may impress you and your buddies but on a race track you will be thought to have missed a gear, or even be missing some brains.
Agreed. There seems to be two chains of thought going on here.
The first group have the opinion (shared by my Dad) that an engine should not ever be pushed past 1500 rpm prior to the red line. Some here suggest 2k or more, effectively driving it like a diesel and losing a lot of what the car can achieve.
The second seem to think that whatever the car and whatever the circumstances, higher rpms are better. They take no interest in power bands or torque curves and think the rev limiter is a target, rather than a barrier designed to stop idiots from falling off the cliff.
Me, I love a petrol engine. I love a car that needs and wants to rev. This engine is a little lazy for my tastes and is the first car I've owned that has a single overhead cam shaft and 'not enough valves'. Under very hard acceleration, the perfect point to aim to shift is as the car hits peak power (5700rpm in this car I believe). This type of driving I reserve for overtaking and occasional showing off. Normally I change gear at around 5k when making fast revvy progress.
I have never "hit the limiter" in much the same way that I have never "done a handbrake turn". My last car had a 6900 red line, but I never saw any steeper than ~6100 rpm.
Of course it is a case of each to their own, but I would never buy a car from a person I knew had bounced it off the limiter...