This might be a silly question:

• Was driving on the freeway, fifth gear at 100km/hr doing about 3500rpm - is this normal?
• Speed up to 110km/hr, rpm goes up to about 4000rpm - normal as well?

Reason I ask is because the other time I was driving at similar speeds in fifth gear, I don't recall the RPMs being so high..

That sounds high to me. usually about 20mph/30kmh per 1000rpm in a petrol car is about right.
also the difference between your speeds works out at 10kmh per 500rpm,
so 20kmh per 1000rpm

6000 rpm would make 120kmh/75mph

sounds all wrong to me, i'd check again.

deeyup

Yeh I thought it was odd.. There won't be many times where I'll be driving at 100km/hr in the city anyway, so I'll get it checked when it goes in for servicing.

Has it done any damage to the car by driving at that level of speed vs. RPM?

luvduvs said:

Yeh I thought it was odd.. There won't be many times where I'll be driving at 100km/hr in the city anyway, so I'll get it checked when it goes in for servicing.

Has it done any damage to the car by driving at that level of speed vs. RPM?

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Assuming that fifth gear is top gear then it definitely doesn't sound right, something may be wrong yet again. Are the rest of the gears ok?

Higher RPMs will cause more engine wear and significantly higher fuel consumption, just don't go on any long trips until you get it looked at.

BTW mate what are the service intervals on GPs here in Aus?

Crap.. I've driven at 100+km/hr for a little over an hour.. hope not too much damage done

Yep its a Dualogic so fifth is the highest gear. I haven't noticed anything wrong with the other gears or fuel consumption though. The gearbox had been re-calibrated very recently - would this have anything to do with this?

Also what would be causing such high RPMs?

Don't quote me on this but from memory I think the service intervals are every 15 000kms or half a year. Obviously will have to check simple stuff like fluid levels on a more frequent basis. Will have to check the manual a bit later to give you a more finite answer

Don't worry it should be alright, just as long as you're not on the highway everyday.

If it was a traditional auto I would say the torque converter isn't locking up, but I'm not too sure how these dualogics work.

The only other thing I can think of is that it isn't actually changing into 5th gear and it might be stuck in 4th. Do you think this is a possibility or are you positive that it was in 5th?

Most new cars are serviced every 15,000km these days, having to go every 10,000 on my current car is annoying with the amount of mileage I do.

Yep, pretty sure it was in 5th (there's a dash indicator ). We rarely go more than 80km/hr in the city anyway so I'll get it checked out whenever I go back to the dealer next.

Just wondering though, how would the dealer be able to check if its doing too high RPMs at 100+km/hr? Would they have to actually jump onto a freeway, or can they just lift the car off the ground and run it at that speed? (Sorry I know my questions are silly, but I'm not very car-savvy so trying to learn as much as possible).

A little off topic here, but from memory you're looking to buy a car, right? And from your threads you seem to do quite a bit of long distance driving, so I guess you're looking for a reliable and economical car?

Are you guys getting servicing every 15,000km?!
that's early, here in NZ it's every 30,000km or 12 months which ever comes first.... the only time you bring it in earlier is in your first year when it comes back for a check over after 6 months.
I'd double check your servicing luvduvs

oph and all they would do to check the rpm is plug it into examiner and it will tell them all the info they need about the engine. literally EVERYTHING!

small reliable long distance car, 1.3 manual GP!

Yeh I'll need to check the manual to be sure.. though I do remember seeing the sticker on the windscreen for the next service is this coming April, so you're right its the first service should be around after six months of ownership.

And thanks for the info about the examiner - I was starting to get a bit worried about them having to drive all the way out onto the freeway, but now thinking about it again that's just silly!

it's amazing what the exmainer can tell them
i had a guy once trying to claim that a stilo was rubbish as the engine had blown on it one morning when he tried to set off to work, we plugged it in and it showed that someone had been out in it and hit the rev limiter over 10 times in 5 minutes. the next day we got a phone call apologising for his ranting and raving, his son had tajen it the night before when he was out and was trying to rally it in the local supermarket car park!

they will just plug it in and see what is going on.

Servicing every 15,000km seems to be the standard nowadays, although there are still a lot of dealers that make you go every 10,000kms which is ridiculous.

I've never seen or heard of any cars in Australia with 30,000km service intervals, that would be fantastic. What the bloody hell is going on in this country?

I do over 160kms a day and the cost of doing that in a petrol car is quite high even though it is quite good on fuel. So you're correct, I am looking for a reliable and economical car but it has to be fun as well, hence the reason I'm looking at a GP.

luvduvs said:

This might be a silly question:

• Was driving on the freeway, fifth gear at 100km/hr doing about 3500rpm - is this normal?
• Speed up to 110km/hr, rpm goes up to about 4000rpm - normal as well?

Reason I ask is because the other time I was driving at similar speeds in fifth gear, I don't recall the RPMs being so high..

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What engine and what gearbox what wheels/tyres?
I can count it for you if it helps...

IMO there is no way to have different RPM's at certain speed, whilst you didn't change gearbox,tyres (wheel size).

regard
Greg

Turbodiesel, you will find that the service intervals on the GP are much higher than that of other cars. that is the biggest selling point of the cars at the moment. everyone is scared of euro cars over here as they are known to have higher servicing costs. something that the GP can now go against.

I would be 99% sure that they would have the same schedule as ours in NZ, after all they are all australian spec cars.... worth a check. it'll save you a fortune!

fiatdownunder said:

it's amazing what the exmainer can tell them
i had a guy once trying to claim that a stilo was rubbish as the engine had blown on it one morning when he tried to set off to work, we plugged it in and it showed that someone had been out in it and hit the rev limiter over 10 times in 5 minutes.

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Sssssshhhhh



15000km servicing? what that about 11000miles? in uk its 15000miles/year.

T14086 said:

Sssssshhhhh

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sorry i let it out of the magic circle!

1.6 km's to a mile.
servicing is every 30,000km here so every 18,750 miles!

Isn't that a bit long to go without changing the engine oil though?

When I get the chance I will definitely ask someone about it, now that I have a kiwi GP owner as the direct source

Even if longer service intervals end up costing a similar amount it wouldn't worry me at all. It's one less thing to worry about.

I own about 6 GP's..... i'm a dealer!
any questions just give me a yell.

the servicing costs arent much different really, just more spread out. i have a customer doing 30,000km/year and he loves his. had no problems at all and loves the fuel economy now that he has got a few k's on it

fiatdownunder said:

I own about 6 GP's..... i'm a dealer!

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Think you might get a sell here mate

not from across the pond i wont!

All i want is the GP to take off with the Ozzies and then they will want to bring more Fiat's in. We havent got Panda here cos Australia wont take it yet, they want to see how the GP goes.

If Oz dont take them we cant afford to support them in NZ on our own.
Bravo, Panda, Trepuino i want them all here so.....

COME ON OZ, BUY THE GP!!!!!!

fiatdownunder said:

not from across the pond i wont!

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LOL