At 04:37 PM 6/6/2011, Daniel Rotblatt wrote:
>Thanks for the correlation between RPM and speed in 2nd.  50 MPH =
>~4200 RPM.  I could probably chart that and figure out what's going
>on.  It does make me a little more comfortable with the hill thing.

It varies considerably with the grade, of course.

The published never-exceeds for the '89 are 33 mph in first and 54
mph in second ( owner's manual page 30).  1.9l ought to be
similar.  The engine redline is 5200 rpm and the limiter will kick in
at that speed; however the owner's manual mentions that rpm only in
connection with the manual transmission, and refers you back to page
30 for the auto-trans limits.

What exactly that means depends how you parse it and how careful they
were writing the book.  But I think they specifically disclaim the
engine redline because they don't want you to think you can go
zooming down the hill at 60 mph and 4000 rpm or whatever in second.

Somebody here has an owner's manual for 1.9l.  After all, everyone
who sinks $16k-plus into a vehicle (what my old '84 Westy cost the
first owners, only option was $500 for stereo wiring) just naturally
reads that book cover to cover and cherishes it. </sarcasm>

Yours,
David