Why so many gears?

[zeppelin101]

I had a 5spd Leon TDi for a bit. That car was crying out for a 6th gear, horribly noisy at 70mph in 5th at 2500 rpm.

I miss having a 6th ratio in my 180SX, but the Aygo is so absurdly long geared anyway that 5th is geared almost the same as the Nissan.

[V8forweekends]

M4cruiser said:

I wonder if your A3 has the same engine as the new Octavia 1.6D Greenline which we had for a day - that had no power either. Number of gears wasn't the problem with that car!

No - mine is the petrol version - that Octavia probably had more power and certainly more torque (without going to look it up)

[V8forweekends]

E65Ross said:

And usually (not always) 6 speed boxes have the same 1st 5 ratios of their 5 speed counterparts so it's only ever used for cruising.

You guys moaning about 6 speed boxes are ridiculous imo. I had an old 4 speed car which I changed to 5 speed and even then still yearned for 6.

That's my complaint - in mine they've spread the 6 speeds across the same ranges as the 5 speeders - so there's not much point in having 6. As I said, I liked the 6 speed manual I had in my diesel Mondy - there was a point to that, and the six-speed auto in my diesel Jag, come to that - bu this box in this car (1.6 petrol A3) is pointless from a driving point of view, as it's ill-matched to the car.

[Martin_Hx]

The 6 speed in the civic is perfectly matched to the engine, it's a little short gearing on the motorway but it's fine and perfectly usable, I've Never had to drop out of 6th on a motorway, unless I hit standing traffic ;-)

Forgot to add, the 3 speed auto in my dads old xjs v12 was perfect for cruising about but not great for trying to go fast quickly!

It all depends on what engine the box is mated to and what the car is supposed to be used for

Edited by Martin_Hx on Monday 3rd February 11:35

[dgcbev]

my six speed manual is great, changing gear is enjoyable anyway

and i could easily use 5th at 100 if i want more power...6th just for cruising

[schmalex]

I had a 6 speed manual in my Audi S4. 95mph was 4100rpm. It was an absolute joke for a 4.2 V8 and made motorway driving bloody tiresome.

[E24man]

schmalex said:

I had a 6 speed manual in my Audi S4. 95mph was 4100rpm. It was an absolute joke for a 4.2 V8 and made motorway driving bloody tiresome.

The 6 speed tiptronic in the same car has a completely different set of ratios and I think 95mph is about 1000rpm less; much quieter and more economical.

[Toaster Pilot]

Can't help but feel that my 1.8T A6 would benefit from a 6th gear for motorway cruising - the beefier variant of the 1.8T found in the same age TT has one...

[E65Ross]

schmalex said:

I had a 6 speed manual in my Audi S4. 95mph was 4100rpm. It was an absolute joke for a 4.2 V8 and made motorway driving bloody tiresome.

That is indeed quite high.
My 745i does about 2800rpm at 100mph in 6th. 5th will top out at approx 165-170 which is approximately the cars top speed.

[E24man]

Driving my 1982 635CSi is always amusing - a three speed auto with no electronic gizmo's save for a kickdown switch.

Edited by E24man on Monday 3rd February 12:01

[schmalex]

E24man said:

schmalex said:

I had a 6 speed manual in my Audi S4. 95mph was 4100rpm. It was an absolute joke for a 4.2 V8 and made motorway driving bloody tiresome.

The 6 speed tiptronic in the same car has a completely different set of ratios and I think 95mph is about 1000rpm less; much quieter and more economical.

Yes. We had a tiptronic B6 S4 previously and it was a much, much nicer car to drive. The manual just ruined it. There are many aftermarket additions to swap the 6th gear ratio out to that of the 3.0 diesel to reduce cruising revs.