[Battlezone580]

Just have some fun, I only drive my camaro a few times a week and I drive the shit out of it. These cars are engineered to go fast, to drive it any other way is an insult!

All jokes aside congrats on the first V8 and welcome to the addiction, from now you'll only want more and more horsepower and more expensive cars. Enjoy the car!

[00 Trans Ram]

Follow advice given before me about how high to rev.

But, know that doing "spirited" driving all the time (or most of the time) is going to give you very low MPG.

My car has 12k miles and is just over a year old. My lifetime MPG average is 10.3 mpg. Yes, there is some stop-n-go on my daily commute. But, there's also some freeway driving. My current goal is to get a monthly MPG under 10 (without cheating and keeping it in 4th at 80mph or something).

Some people like "hypermiling" - I prefer "hypomiling".

[MackSteelPrivateEye]

Originally Posted by pennektj

All - I am a proud new owner of a 2018 1SS 1LE. I am currently waiting for the second round of winter to leave the midwest, so the weather can warm up and I can put some miles on my new toy.

I am not new to "performance" cars. I have owned several turbo 4 cylinders (WRX, Evo MR, BMW 3 series, mini cooper) and then some normal cars (g35 coupe, minivan, sedans, etc). But no V8s.

I was drawn to the V8, I am in love with the noise, the vibrations, the entire experience. But I am not sure how to properly drive this car yet. Not talking on race track (I know how to beat the shit out of the car). I am more looking for daily driving tips. I have driven 650 miles so far, breaking the car in, getting her loose... so not a lot of miles (or experience) yet.

My question: How do YOU drive your car?

I am used to 4K RPM 1st gear shift points in the turbo 4's, even when I am not pushing the car... is that too much with a V8? Waste of gas? Unnecessary wear? I hear people complaining about the 1-4 skip shift... it isn't a problem for me how I currently drive the Camaro.

What are your daily driving shift points? Again, turbo 4, I could cruise down the highway at 75mph and be at close to 3.5k rpm... cruising. Is that OK with a V8 drive train? I am used to "bogging" in the turbo 4's and keeping a higher RPM. Do I need to change my mindset?

When on the highway... 6th gear feels useless at 70mph (no power, low RPMs) do you just cruise in 5th on the highway? Is 6th for super high speeds? Maybe the car just needs to loosen up.... and I need to get more seat time and I will figure it out?

I know these are noob questions, but that is what I am when it comes to V8 engines. I also know there is no single right way to drive, but I am sure there are wrong ways... so just looking for some advice and how YOU drive your car.

Thanks in advance!

You can drop it into 6th gear at just 50mph if just cruising on level ground and want to save gas. No issue of lugging at that speed.

[dotfiles]

When just cruising around I usually shift up around 2-3k. No need to rev to 4k in each gear if you're just lightly accelerating since these motors have so much low end grunt. Also 6th gear is just meant to be a cruising gear for good MPG. I only use 6th at 55+ mph and if I need to pass I just drop to 5th or 4th.

[pennektj]

Originally Posted by 00 Trans Ram

Follow advice given before me about how high to rev.

But, know that doing "spirited" driving all the time (or most of the time) is going to give you very low MPG.

My car has 12k miles and is just over a year old. My lifetime MPG average is 10.3 mpg. Yes, there is some stop-n-go on my daily commute. But, there's also some freeway driving. My current goal is to get a monthly MPG under 10 (without cheating and keeping it in 4th at 80mph or something).

Some people like "hypermiling" - I prefer "hypomiling".

I have a 2017 Civic Sport (6m) as a daily driver... fun little car and I get great gas mileage. When I drive the Camaro, I will not be looking at MPGs at all. Just don't want to damage or put unnecessary strain on the drivetrain from being too high (or too low) in the RPM range.

[GM Lifer]

I have two sons, 20 and 16, and both are learning to drive stick. Most of us can probably remember from our early years that the hardest thing to master with a manual was just getting rolling from a stop. Because the Camaro is so torquey, it's an easy car in which to learn. On a level road, you can actually get the Camaro moving by just gently letting up on the clutch and leaving the accelerator alone. The boys and I have done this many times in big parking lots.

And what applies to getting rolling also applies to other gears--that torque doesn't really care if you accidentally shift from second to fifth or whatever. You're not going to stall the car. One of the coolest things about having a powerful car is the ease with which it drives slowly. Surface streets where I live are pretty much all 45 mph, so slogging along in traffic I suspect I rarely get much past 2,000 rpms. But as others have said, just listen: About the time the motor's good and grumbly, it's time to shift up.

[fastball]

Originally Posted by 00 Trans Ram

Follow advice given before me about how high to rev.

But, know that doing "spirited" driving all the time (or most of the time) is going to give you very low MPG.

My car has 12k miles and is just over a year old. My lifetime MPG average is 10.3 mpg. Yes, there is some stop-n-go on my daily commute. But, there's also some freeway driving. My current goal is to get a monthly MPG under 10 (without cheating and keeping it in 4th at 80mph or something).

Some people like "hypermiling" - I prefer "hypomiling".

I do about 60-70% highway driving with the cruise set at 70. My lifetime is 18.3 which I'm more than happy with. On the freeway I can hit 26-28 mpg instant.

I also use 6th gear as often as I can when I'm not having fun, even if I'm not on the freeway so long as I'm not going so slow it would bog.

[SnakeEyeSS]

A good V8 is a wonderful thing. No lag, just go. I had a 8.87 liter V8 a dew years ago with a pretty flat powerband that got 8 mpg on a good day. Almost got 9 one day. It loved to rev, which sounds insane, but the previous owner turned the redline up too high and then put the wrong oil in it, so it didn't end well for me or the car. :Lol:

[SDG23]

I love my '17 SS M6. With typical driving I shift somewhere around 2500 RPMs, nothing major. I use 6th gear when above ~60-65 MPH and in 6th you can do about 85 MPH @ 2000 RPMs, which I've done some on the parkway and still get mid 20's MPG's (but it's hilly around here, if it were flat it would be even higher).

I also like the rev match option, very cool. You can also NLS (no lift shift) if you're at at least 5000 RPMs, which I've tried a few times, admittedly, but most of the time I drive normal because if you get on it too much, before you know it you're going fast enough to risk getting a nasty speeding ticket.

One word of advice, don't drive like an idiot. You share the road with other people, the road isn't yours and yours alone. There will be times when other cars may want to race you or at least goad you into driving too fast...don't fall for it. Drive responsibly!

[fastball]

Originally Posted by SDG23

I love my '17 SS M6. With typical driving I shift somewhere around 2500 RPMs, nothing major. I use 6th gear when above ~60-65 MPH and in 6th you can do about 85 MPH @ 2000 RPMs, which I've done some on the parkway and still get mid 20's MPG's (but it's hilly around here, if it were flat it would be even higher).

I also like the rev match option, very cool. You can also NLS (no lift shift) if you're at at least 5000 RPMs, which I've tried a few times, admittedly, but most of the time I drive normal because if you get on it too much, before you know it you're going fast enough to risk getting a nasty speeding ticket.

One word of advice, don't drive like an idiot. You share the road with other people, the road isn't yours and yours alone. There will be times when other cars may want to race you or at least goad you into driving too fast...don't fall for it. Drive responsibly!

Yeah I'm still too chicken to try NLS lol. I'm sure it works I just cringe at the thought of cooking my clutch

[SoSlow]

Congrats and sorry about the weather. I too just bought an SS/1LE - three weeks and I've only put 160 miles on it so I haven't driven mine much either. As someone already said, I think you'll be surprised at the amount of low end torque. Shifting at 4K and you'll be speeding coming out of 3rd. I had a C7 prior and I kept rpm's between 2K and 2.5K while normal driving. I cruised through neighborhoods in 2nd gear.

Cheers!

[JamesNoBrakes]

I had a WRX 2.0, engine was tuned and rev-happy to the 7300 limit. The V8 does not rev in the same way, it's slower to rev and it's not just because of the drive-by-wire, even my old 2010 Camaro SS was like this compared to the WRX. So no, you don't have to rev it high to shift it and in normal driving, you do not. The only caveats IME are that 1, you need to rev it high enough so you can drop it to 4th for the skip-shift, unless you either short-shift 2nd or are going for more acceleration (like a zero-60 situation), but again, it's got so much torque that you better make sure there are no cops around before you shift into second like that. And 2, the engine really comes alive above 3-4Krpm, around 5 is great IME, going past 6 doesn't do anything, but the power doesn't fall off as bad as with the small-turbo WRX either.

Before I tuned the WRX, I literally could not get out of 2nd sometimes when I downshifted at slow speed or upshifted during the same situations. This was usually with the A/C on, it sucked just enough power to keep the engine from getting to turbo-borderline and just wouldn't pull. The WRX was the opposite of a modern turbo car though, like my BMW, which made FULL torque at around 1500rpm and flat from there on. So the WRX was a very traditional turbo car.

6th gear is really high gearing, so it's possible you may encounter a steep hill on a drive where you have to downshift, whereas the WRX would just build boost and be able to stay in gear. The theoretical top end speed is something like 260mph or something, so that's obviously why it can't deal with hills and that gearing. In this respect, the WRX was almost kind of like an automatic transmission, even though it was manual, because it would go into "boost mode" for hills and generally be able to deal with grades in gear.

In general, the WRX was a lot of fun at slower speeds, it'll get the drop on an SS easy with a clutch-drop AWD launch into boost. The SS will pull ahead as things get very illegal, but that's where you gotta be careful, because again just as you pull ahead of that WRX is when you'll get noticed breaking the speed limit The chassis on the WRX though was pretty poor for cornering and handling compared to even my 2010 Camaro. I upgraded the sways in the camaro, but other than that it was stock, and it handled turns so much better than the WRX that it wasn't funny, even in wet conditions it stuck to the road much better. It was only when it got icy/snowy that the WRX got an edge, but I also found out that WRX+summer tires=crap in snow, awd or not.

All in all, yes, they are very different cars and you drive them differently. I skip gears all the time in the SS 1LE, it has the torque to buzz along just fine at 1000rpm and there's no point to upshift sequentially, most of the time, it just wastes time and gas, not that you always want to go 1-4, but it's a torque-monster. I can feel the difference in the 2016 chassis and it really feels a few hundred pounds lighter than my last one. The WRX was fun, but I can never go back to that much understeer (followed by snap-oversteer).

[fastball]

Originally Posted by JamesNoBrakes

The only caveats IME are that 1, you need to rev it high enough so you can drop it to 4th for the skip-shift

Not if you have the CAGS eliminator

[Reddy1LE]

Originally Posted by pennektj

I was actually looking at the GT350, because it is rev happy, with a high limit. I couldn't justify the 15k difference (for a used GT350)... and I didn't fit when I tried it on. I am 6'7" - 260ish. The Camaro fits like a glove, and I am very happy with my choice!!!

Dang! My friend is 6"1 sameish weight and he has a hard time getting in and out with the seat all the way back on my car.

Anyway I come from the same background. I owned 2 Preludes, 2 Evo X's, 335i , and driven numerous other cars. Never owned a V8 prior to this car. I live in the city so I have to deal with stop and go but I normally shift around 1800-2200. Above 48mph I'll shift to 6th anything below that I'll shift down to 5th to cruise.

You'd expect horrible gas mileage on my car for living in the city but using the fuelly app I averaged 18.9 on my first ever fill up and 17.8 on my second.