Thanks for the info guys.

JDN, since I'm only getting the 525i, I may get the chance to wind in each gear, we'll see. I am looking forward to the manual. Hopefully I won't tire of it quickly. Traffic is not too bad unless there is an accident. And, I will have to get used to driving a manual in the snow, but I am anxiously awaiting her arrival.

 

I like stick, The stick on my car sucks. I have no idea what the problem is. Most people rave of the tranny. I hate it. Its defective or smething,

 

Hormazd, I understand where you are coming from. On a motorcycle, you can feel and hear the bikes capability, so like you said, if you're going 30 and then try to punch it, you won't get much. I always thought you'd just downshift to the correct gear to get that ummpphh, and then go. BUT, it sounds like I should already be in the gear that will give me that zip if I need it.

 

Hormazd, I understand where you are coming from. On a motorcycle, you can feel and hear the bikes capability, so like you said, if you're going 30 and then try to punch it, you won't get much. I always thought you'd just downshift to the correct gear to get that ummpphh, and then go. BUT, it sounds like I should already be in the gear that will give me that zip if I need it.
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Aaron,

Please do not think this too much. As a motorcycle rider there is little that anyone on this forum can teach you. Its the same principal. Just change whenever you feel right. You cannot hurt the car. Downshift to whatever is appropriate. I am often cruising in 6th at 60mph and shift down to 4th to get the appropriate punch. You won't go wrong.

Hormazd

 

I personally like to keep the RPMs down so that I can save on gas mileage. If the need to pass another car arises, I would just downshift and then get the job done in a jiffy. By changing gears at 2500-3000 RPM and using higher gears, I managed to achieve 21mpg combined, and I am not a slow driver at all.

 

Try reading this site... It has a section on up shift and down shift... Its kinda of a more advance read but read it a few times and try to understand it. Ask more questions when they come up.

http://www.318ti.org/notebook/shifting/

As most people say what gear you're suppose to be in depends... really depends on what you need to do. The higher the gear and the lower the RPM you're in the less power and less responsive your car will be. So when merging and when you're about to pass or when you dont know when you suddenly need power its best NOT to be in the highest gear.

Too low of a gear and you will hear the engine scream, yell and be too loud when its not needed, in turn will burn more gas...

So try it out. say cruise, drive constantly at 40 mph. and try 2nd gear 3rd gear and 4th gear and even 5th.

You'll notice that in 2nd gear the rpms will be higher around 3500 or so (*I dont remember exactlly so bare with me on the numbers, just relativly speaking*) You'll notice the car is is very responsive to the gas pedal. Step on it and the car will accelerate forward pretty fast but you have depressed the gas pedal pretty far down right? Indicating you're buring more gas and probably have more power than you need.

In 3rd the RPMs would be 3000 or so you'll notice that you dont have to step as much into the gas pedal as you would in 2nd and the car still accelerates very well and is responsive to the gas pedal.

In 4th its like 2500 RPMs and the car is less responsive but still moves when you step on the gas pedal but you'll notice that it wont accelerate as fast as you would like and if you push EVEN harder into the gas pedal it'll accelerate just like how it felt in 3rd but your foot is a lot deeper into the gas pedal... This indicates that you're not in the best gear for acceleration you are burning more gas to accomplish the same type of acceleration as you would get with less gas buring in third because you wont have to step into the gas as much as you do now. And if you did in third the car would accelerate EVEN faster!

In 5th your RPMs at 40 mph would be about 1800 and when you step on the gas pedal the car does not go. it will but a lot slower than you would want. In this situation it would not be ideal if you need to speed up to pass or avoid other cars or whatever. It would be ok if you were jsut cruising and want to conserve gas. You'll only need to step on the gas pedal a small amount to keep the car moving at 40 mph.

If you were in 2nd gear and you wanted to keep the car moving at 40mph you would have to step A LOT into the gas just to maintain that speed which isnt ideal since you're burining un-necessary fuel.

So basically I said all that to tell you that you need to judge in each situation what you want the car to do and what you want to do to pick the appropriate gear.

If I was to cruise I would use 5th.

If I was to pass I would probably use 4th.

If I was to pass aggressivily I might use 3rd. More power faster acceleration.

If I was to race the E500 next to me I would be in 2nd and FLOORING IT!

 

Car is so quiet that if You have stereos on You can not "play by ear"!

Skaffa

 

I have always done this too along with waiting till you hit that sync speed when approaching a stop that you can just slip the car out of gear without using the clutch. Not on an E60 though so maybe I am talking out of school.

 

Not me...see my signature!!!

And, thanks for the link. I'll read when time permits. Thanks for everyone's input.

 

EBMCS03,
I've actually read this before...was on here a long time ago when the heel and toe questions came up. I think I'll read again though.