City driving econ: Faster accel in lower gears vs. Slower accel in higher gears?

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by bandit86

Simulate acceleration, if you got a easy scan, try going up a hill in higher gear and then try the same Hill at the same speed in lower gear. That should tell you if you recall has better fuel economy one way or another which could be better optimized.

I had some similar experiences while driving a Diesel-powered Brazilian Nissan XTerra, and taking too long to downshift when needed

[Logic]

Going back to the basic question and simplifying things (hopefully):
Faster accel in lower gears vs. slower accel in higher gears?

The rpm at which your specific engine is most efficient (BSFC) is the one at which you will get the most mpg.
It'd take a lot of searching to find a graph of BSFC vs rpm for your specific engine, but a general rule of thumb is that the engine is at it's most efficient at its max torque rpm and that graph should be easy to find.

Then, assuming you drop a thousand rpm per gear; change 500 rpm above that # so the rpm drops to 500 rpm below it, keeping you at max torque rpms as much as possible.