Kate

I've noticed this a few times since I've had the car(almost 3 months now) and now another person who drove my car noticed it too. It only happens occassionally, but ther is an abrupt power loss in 2nd or 3rd gear very high up in the revs (>5K), but well before the red line. Is the rev limiter before 7K, or do I have some other malfunctioning component?

AvramD

First, while my car had <2k mi on it, power got really dismal at around 5800 rpms - so little it wasn't worth being there. Somwhere between 1500 mi and 2500 mi, this problem went away, and I now get what feels like about 90% of torque all the way up to 6500 rpms

Now that my engine's fully broken in, there is still a noticable power drop at about 6500 rpms - feels like you lose around 20% of power btw 6500 & 6800.

Finally, I believe the tachometer is sometimes "slow", i.e. the needle doesn't get to the position on the dial quite as fast as the engine gets there. This makes it look like the engine is basically cutting out completely at 6700 rpms, but my guess is that it's really at 7k rpms.

Keep in mind, since it's a drive by wire throttle, you don't get the "bouncing" effect of normal rev limiters. It doesn't actually cut out the gas, it just lowers it enough that you're not accelerating any more (and therefore revs aren't rising). It's a much smoother effect, and therefore can be misleading.

Kate

So you're saying this is normal and I shouldn't be concerned..just shift quicker/sooner..?

Hoss

fyi..mechanical tach "stays" with the R's, lectronic wont..gives erroneous reads(nt)

AvramD

for the part about breaking in the engine. If you're past 600 mi, make sure you visit 6500+ rpms semi-regularly under full load (i.e. don't just rev it there free or coasting - only do it when accelerating) for a good 1000 miles or so. This will "break in" the upper end of the rev range.

Other than that, yes, just get used to shifting at around 6.5k, before the power dies.