What RPM Does MT-82 Lug At?

Traffic was opening up on my way to the office this morning and I accidentally shifted into 6th instead of 4th. It didn't lug too bad and I was at around 1k rpm by the time I looked down at the tach, but it got me wondering.

I'm really not too worried about lugging, just kind of curious.

'15 GT, MT-82, 3.31 gears

.

QRK said:

Traffic was opening up on my way to the office this morning and I accidentally shifted into 6th instead of 4th. It didn't lug too bad and I was at around 1k rpm by the time I looked down at the tach, but it got me wondering.

I'm really not too worried about lugging, just kind of curious.

'15 GT, MT-82, 3.31 gears

Click to expand...

This question depends on many variables. What rear-end gears, tuned or not, what engine in the car, etc...

With a Coyote motor with an MT-82 and 3.31 gears, I'd say anything under 1200 rpm would be lugging. There's also a difference between lugging and being out of the power band. The car can be driven around 1500 rpm safely but it won't have much power down that low.

Basically stall RPMs. I go over the speed "humps" in my neighborhood in 3rd gear and have watched the tac go as low at 800-850rpm by the time I'm back on the gas and it accelerates with no sign of stress (obviously not flooring it).

Anything under 50mph in 6th gear will lug with 3.31's. I try to keep my RPM's around 1.5K.

If you keep the engine over 1.5k it won't really lug. A little bit in 6th gear at that RPM.

I choose to not find where it will stall or lug, but find that keeping it above 1500 seems to be a good place, enough power to get back up and going if not in a big hurry. I rarely use 6th gear for my roads, even the stretch of 55 mph I hit for about a mile on my way to work, I just drive it in 5th. If I'm going to be in 55 mph zone for more than a couple miles, I may jump to 6th, but often there are idiots pulling onto the road, so I find myself downshifting too much but find that 5th will leave me with enough power to avoid some shifts.

I always found the 5.0 remarkable at driving with low RPM. There is a flat road near me that is a 40 mph road, I could click it into 6th (3.73) and drive quietly along at pretty darn low RPMs with no additional noise, vibration or anything from the engine.

My buddy's 6th gen SS absolutely refused to drive at the RPMs my car was happy to cruise with. We could never really figure out why but figured it must be DI related. It would buck and groan if you tried to feed it any fuel at all under 1400 RPM in the taller gears.

Lugging depends on load as well as RPM. If you bought your car to try to get the best possible fuel economy with it, by all means run the engine at the lowest RPM possible. If you want your engine to last and perform without any piston slap for a long time, avoid loading a Coyote heavily at any RPM under 2,000.