The Audi 80 2.0L engine changes things for me a bit.  I try to keep the
RPMs between 2800 and 3200 for cruising speeds.  Below 2500 RPM the power
starts to fall off.  When accelerating rapidly 5200 RPM is not uncommon, if
I am putting around 4000 to 4500 is where I usually shift.  Gas is cheap
and getting pushed into your seat is fun so this explains my driving!

My 2.0L Rabbit Pickup 7000 RPM is not uncommon due to the wild 276 deg
solid lifter cam.  There is no power under 3000 RPM and the fun begins at
4500.  Mind you are 970kg total weight who need bottom end torque!

At 09:46 20/11/98 -0500, Phillip Bouton wrote:
I also have been perplexed by the same issue.  The manual says to stay in
the green.  On my 87 Westy that is between 2 and 4k rpm.  Europeans would
rather sacrifice an engine to save gas in the long run because gas is so
expensive.  In my van it seems that in order for the next higher gear to
start around 2k, you definitely need to be shifting around 3500 or higher.
Otherwise the next higher gear will be between 1.5 and 2k.  However, I
can't say that I do this consistently because it is so hard to let myself
rev the engine that high in the lower gears.  Does anyone have any
reassurances or other comments?

><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>J
Phillip Bouton
-----Original Message-----
From:   Jarod Bishop [mailto:jbishop01@FOXINTERNET.NET]
Sent:   Thursday, November 19, 1998 7:38 PM
To:     vanagon@VANAGON.COM
Subject:        simple engine RPM question

I recently bought an '87 Syncro.  Having never owned a VW, I'm not used to
running the engine at a higher RPM rate like people have told me.

The speed seems to max out at around 3500 but I give some more gas and get
it past 4k before shifting, but I've heard you should go atleast 4.5k or
5k.  I was hoping to get input on what others typically run their vans at
before shifting up.

Thanks

-- David Marshall                                    --
-- 78 1.8L VW Rabbit, 80 2.0L VW Caddy, 87 Audi 5KSQ --
-- 85 VW Cabriolet, 88 2.0L VW Syncro 16" Double Cab --
-- Volkswagen Homepage   http://www.volkswagen.org   --
-- Volkswagen/Audi Parts http://parts.volkswagen.org --
-- mailto:david@volkswagen.org - Quesnel, BC, Canada --