I have a bit of a newb question for you all. I haven't driven stick a lot so I wanna be sure I'm ready when the car finally arrives. There are a couple of areas I frequently pass through that require me to go up a steep hill. The posted speed limit is 30mph.

What I want to know is, up a very steep grade at about 30mph, should I downshift to 2nd gear or will I have enough torque in 3rd to make it up fine. what if I require to slow down to say 20mpg because of vehicles up ahead of me?

Note that the car will have 3.31s but everyone is welcome to pitch in.

 

2nd gear....

 

if you drive like most, you are most likely doing 40, so 3rd would be fine at 40 too

 

way I drive, I have same setup as you....over 65 6th gear.....50 to 60 5th.......driving 70or faster in 6th and want a agressive pass a car drop to 5th punch it...

 

Here's a little cheat sheet you can refer to out of the manual I find useful:

Upshifts for the 2.73 when accelerating (recommended for best fuel economy)
Shift from:
1 - 2 15 mph (24 km/h)
2 - 3 25 mph (40 km/h)
3 - 4 40 mph (64 km/h)
4 - 5 45 mph (72 km/h)
5 - 6 50 mph (80 km/h)

Upshifts for the 3.31 when accelerating (recommended for best fuel economy)
Shift from:
1 - 2 13 mph (21 km/h)
2 - 3 26 mph (42 km/h)
3 - 4 37 mph (59 km/h)
4 - 5 43 mph (69 km/h)
5 - 6 59 mph (95 km/h)

 

Ok so from the responses I gathered plus this chart I guess I should be fine in 3rd for most cases and downshift to 2nd when speeds drop. I guess I'll just have to try it out. There's one hill that's particularly demanding as it's a 30mph zone but the hill is steeper than 45 degrees(100%), looking at a grade chart it looks like 150%(56.31 degrees).

Although Hogasswild, I'm looking at that chart and I feel there's no way the car could climb another hill which is at 75%(36.87 degrees) in 5th(it's a 70km/h zone). But I guess it means I could maybe take it in 4th?

 

Uh... you may want to revisit your math on that. The steepest of steep residential streets would never even come close to that. The very steepest side streets in San Fransisco (damn steep if you've ever driven or walked on them) is 30%. What would still be considered a pretty steep slope is half of that (15%).

You may think it feels steep, but even residential streets have to follow alignment and grading guidelines for safety.

 

Hmm maybe, but it's still a really steep hill with various residences on it.

Here's the hill in question:
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&sourc...179.54,,0,3.85

Here's the 70 km/h hill. Note that a 4 cyl tiburon with a stick I drove for fun was unable to maintain speed going up this one in 4th gear with the pedal to the floor.
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&sourc...,0.055747&z=15

 

someone needs to take my route on highway 64 through west VA up to Kentucky......they have semi truck runnaway ramps and that map with pick is not that steep just looking at picture.