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That's the thing, I know it fluctuates rather wildly in the winter regardless of how I approach it, however I know that from my own experiences as well the theory doesn't always match expectations in the real world. Typically around down I try to shift before 2000 rpm, and from first into second either around 10 mph or maybe allow the revs to rise a bit to 2000 as well, when the engine is cold, which ever one feels smoother that day, then third by 15-20 mph, 4th by 25, (sometimes can drag 5th down to 25 or 30 from higher speeds but this I'm not so sure is a good idea) and into fifth around 30-35 mph around town, but on the freeway on ramps I'd hopefully start from fourth, but occasionally have to start from either a stop or having down shifted to third, then allow the 1.6L dohc engine to wind out to 3000 rpm on the way to 70mph as near as possible before the end of the ramp to get up to the speed of the moving traffic, sometimes if traffic is light I could shift through all the gears by 2000 rpm and still hit the end of the ramp at 50-60 depending upon the design of the on ramp. I think that even after 25,000 miles in this car, and many more besides in some of the others (although no where near 50 or even the 130 years of my namesake, a fictional character who's over 180 years old)
However if one could carry sufficient speed into the on ramp and accelerate at the appropriate pace to not bog down traffic either on the ramp or on the road would be beneficial to everyone, but it would also allow me to have to shift down less if they would just take the on ramp a little faster, but anyhow I can't control the others so oh well.
Despite the spread in the data which I'm not convinced is the car as much as it was the inaccuracy of the refilling process at least somewhat, the car has always done poorer in the winter, and maybe I'm not as vigilant on the tire pressures when its so cold, but before I took care of the brakes and a few other faults the wheels felt really bad when I had aired the tires up a bit higher than usual (I think the door placard calls for 32psig each, but I usually kept them at 35 instead. Maybe I could try 40psi, but because moist air is already unstable its difficult to predict how well they will hold the extra pressure.
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