3000 rpms @ 65 mph - bad for the engine?

[Estlander]

Hi everyone! I'd like to hear your thoughts on the following:
I have a 1995 Protege Z5 5 speed. I know that it's perfectly normal for these cars to have 3000 rpms at around 65 mph, but what if you had to do hours(say 7 hours straight) of highway driving at speeds of 70 mph? I mean, the speed limit on interstates is 70 mph, which on this car equals a little over 3000 rpms. Is it bad for the engine in any way and put that much stress on the engine, or did the people who designed that engine and gearbox also take that into account?
So, what do you guys, who have cars with the same gear ratios do, when you have to do some high speed highway driving - do you try to keep the rpms lower by driving slower, or you don't care and go as fast as the speed limit allows?
Thanks!

[Lex]

I'm sure the people that designed the engine took into consideration the expected lifetime and cost of the 4 banger along with the fact that it will travel at speeds over 60mph. So don't worry, hwy travel is much easier on the car than city driving. You'd usually shift at or above that anyways to get torque out of the little guy.

[ArdaPro]

That high RPM thing also worries mt to. Although my car has high mileage it pulls strong but the Tacho is at around 3800 RPM when i keep it at 80MPH anyways going to see if it changes after getting new tires and alignment (bad alignment might be taking out some power )

[Lex]

If you kept the tire size the same, you will be travelling the same speed at the same RPM.

[Squeekster1]

Theres 132k on my z5 and it still seems to run just fine. I typically cruise around 75 and most of the last 25k i put on. If you wanted to, up the tire size some and get lower RPMs and better gas mileage depending on how you drive.

[therieldeal]

i wouldnt worry about it. these arent big v8's that have issues with high RPM's...... my beater sees 7200rpm daily, and has for the last 25k miles. the motor still runs great.

sure, its not a z5, but its similar.

[gybe]

With my Z5 I go over 150 km/h on the highway all the time. Often I go pass 200 too and I have also been 'completely around the speedo' for 2 hours on the highways and it stayed agile when I drove off on the regional roads. I think Mazda engines to BJ chassis were kinda meant to be reliable. If you look at the Z5 engine you can see it's a 'bulky' design. We have a SOHC car at home, also 1.5L displacement but if you imagine double head and wider block it just isn't Mazda fat. From what I have heard here in my country everybody in Europe praises Mazda for their reliability and careless life you spend with your car. I know ADAC, the German automotive community has yearly tests about the car reliability in which the most important factor is how many vehicles were brought into workshops because of any sort of failure that left the vehicle undriveable. This is then put into percentages depending on how many vehicles of each brand are driven around the country and how many of them broke in one year. Mazda is in top 15 for somewhat last 20 years, maybe more. Also Austrian and German people really respect Mazdas altough it is more or less a grandpa car (like mine was and it came from Austria). The grandpa bought it brand new for 8-10 year then sold it to someone or gave it to his grandson.

Up with Z5! Small power, big heart.

[progt91]

wouldnt worry,might is at 4000rpm and up on the freeway all the time, 443,000km so no issues at all