Hey everybody. So I have been driving a '98 5 speed civic ex for about 3 months now. It's really slow! This is my first car, so I learned how to drive stick on this car. I know this car has a Vtec engine but I am wondering how far do you think I can actually push it at 90,000 miles. I havn't really ever revved it over 3,000 rpms yet.

Do you have any advice on how I should drive this car to get a little more power out of it. How far should I let the rpms go before i shift? I dont want to blow the engine. Thanks.

 

Haha. Well, for starters, of course your car isn't going to be fast if you never push it past 3000 RPMs. My buddy has a Civic of about 180,000 miles and he red lines it all the time. Granted, it's not in great shape, and the engine is coming out of the exhaust system, but his engine hasn't blown.

If I remember correctly, Vtec kicks in at about 5200 RPMs. In my opinion, as long as you're not starting up your car and red lining it when your engine is cold, you should be okay. Just use a little sense.When you're focusing on fuel economy and steady driving. Shift at 3 to 4 grand. But if you get the wild streak that runs though you and you wanna give it the beans, run the Vtec and go for 5500 RPM. Just as long as you're not doing it at every stop light, you should be good.

Live a little. And don't worry about blowing up your car at high revs from time to time. Oh, and if that's not enough. Invest in a cold air intake. About 150.00 for a good quality one. Easy install. Makes your car sound nice, and gives it a little power, too.

 

Wow, dude I change at at least 7,000 RPM. Some old man teach you to drive?!

 

yea i guess i usually shift at about 3500 rpms as thats where the engine starts to get loud. 7,000 rpm shifting? so when shifting from 2nd to 3rd you redline it? damn. i may invest in that cold air intake.

 

The engine getting loud is just a side effect of giving power, It isn't damaging the engine.

The higher revs you are at, the more torque. I only really change at 7,000 every gear if I have a nice straight road to go fast. But in normal every-day driving I change at at least 6,000.

Give it a go, and trust me, you will see the difference.

Want power?
1st Gear: Foot hard down, change at 6,000
2nd Gear: Foot hard down, change at 6,500
3rd Gear: Foot hard down, change at 7,000 (by this time you will - depending on the car - be travelling around 60mph)
4th Gear: Foot hard down, change at 7,000 (However I doubt you will have enough road for 5th unless you are at an airport or something)

5th is really a cruising gear. I drop it into 5th when coasting through town at 30mph, to save fuel. But when accelerating, drop down.

To be honest, although Civics were built for high revving, I wouldn't constantly red line it. Try 1,000rpm below your line or something.

People are taught to change at around 3,500 since this will give you the best gas mileage and is eco-friendly. It is not for power though!

Hope that helped.

 

I switch around 3.5 - 4k RPMs for everyday driving, I have went as far up as 5.5k when i get the need for speed but damn, shifting at 7k rpm that would make me feel bad lol. Than again my car has no mods and everything is stock, it also happens to be my everyday car which gets me to work and around, and its a must for me so I try to take good care of it and not beat it.

Your car is going slow because you are switching at 2k RPMs bro, dont go lower than 3k (at the least prefferably 4)

 

if you don't like revving high, then dont. trust me, i am 18 and would rev mine to 6500 all the time and ended up buying a new engine (granted it had 180,000 on it and was burning a quart every 1,000 miles) but still, its not worth it. That was a huge wake up call not to floor it all the time, only when next to a mustang

 

To be honest, any engine with 180,000 miles on the clock is going to go soon! Did the head gasket go?

 

And trust me, I realize that, but I know damn well if I drove it normally I would be 2 grand richer and would still have my original engine. And we're still not sure what exactly happend, but my guess is a spun bearing.

 

So how do you know that driving it at 10mph and changing at 3,000 wouldn't have blown it? I don't see how you can see when your engine is going to go, it could have gone at any point, no matter what you did.