Maximum power vs. maximum life

Friday, May 9, 2003

Dear Tom and Ray: I hope you can help settle an issue between me and my psychoanalyst husband. It's about how to drive my 1993 Saturn SL2. My hubby went out and bought a BMW motorcycle this past spring. Since then, he's announced that we've been driving the Saturn wrong for the past 10 years. He thinks we should wait until the engine reaches at least 4,000 rpm to shift into the next higher gear. ("The red zone isn't until 6,500 rpm!") He supports this assertion with talk of driving with the power curve, so that he can have optimal acceleration, or something like that. When I point out that the panel shows the orange arrow suggesting that he shift up at about 2,000 rpm, he calls it an "idiot light." I want this engine to last at least another five years. I'm afraid, though, that he might kill the engine or transmission. Or, from the way the engine sounds when he drives, that he might take off and fly into space -- and since we live near Washington, D.C., he might be shot down as a potential terrorist. Help!

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