5 speed gearboxes

[Gas1883]

I thought they were a thing of the past , 6 speed being the norm , but just been given a 73 plate Volkswagen polo with a 5 speed box ( I’m really liking the gearbox )
Is this the norm for newer / smaller cars , or is it a Volkswagen thing , 1 st one I’ve ever driven .

[Patch1875]

I had a polo courtesy car with a 5 speed was absolutely fine even on the motorway.

[clockworks]

Current Picanto is 5 speed

[AlwynMike]

Six coggers came to the mainstream with diesels, which had a more limited rev range than petrol.
As petrols come back into fashion, five coggers are cheaper and can still be tuned for economy.
I had a six speed Fiat diesel that was dire...Fifth would just sustain 50mph, forget sixth until you hit 70. Now have a 5 speed VW diesel and it's fine....Happy at 70mph economical cruise, doesn't need gearing up. But at 100bhp, it's no fireball!

[RammyMP]

My lad’s 75 hp Corsa has a 5 speed box, it doesn’t need a 6th gear, not enough power!

[Sheepshanks]

Gas1883 said:

I thought they were a thing of the past , 6 speed being the norm , but just been given a 73 plate Volkswagen polo with a 5 speed box ( I’m really liking the gearbox )
Is this the norm for newer / smaller cars , or is it a Volkswagen thing , 1 st one I’ve ever driven .

Think that must be the lowest power 1 litre? We have same engine, but 115PS version, in two cars in the family and both have 6 gears. They’re so high geared 6th is really only good for steady motorway cruising (on the flat!).

[Billy_Rosewood]

AlwynMike said:

Six coggers came to the mainstream with diesels, which had a more limited rev range than petrol.

The weird thing about this was I found they were often geared quite short and close, when they should have been geared tall.

All that low down torque, yet they geared them in a way that made them rev out quickly.

[gotoPzero]

Wasnt the 306 GTI the first main stream 6 speed car outside of super cars?

[trevalvole]

Modern turbocharged petrols produce peak torque from much lower revs than most n/a four valve-per-cylinder petrols, especially the likes of the Mk2 Golf GTI 16V, and so have a wider power band and should be able to get away with fewer gears.

[Panamax]

In many cases the ratio of "first gear" to "top gear" is much the same, whether the manual box has 5, 6 or 7 gears. They're often just spaced closer together, leading experienced drivers to skip gears both on the way up the box and on the way down.

[Gas1883]

It’s a courtesy car , no idea on size of engine / power , though it does feel fairly lethargic, seems big for a polo , thiugh I guess all cars have grown in size , it seems well equipped, but then has key start , no sensors , 5 speed box , so not sure on model , possibly base model

[Raymond Reddington]

Our 2019 Suzuki Swift is a 5spd, I sometimes wish it had a 6th gear to settle it down a bit on the motorway but its not a motorway car I suppose.

[Sheepshanks]

Gas1883 said:

It’s a courtesy car , no idea on size of engine / power , though it does feel fairly lethargic, seems big for a polo , thiugh I guess all cars have grown in size , it seems well equipped, but then has key start , no sensors , 5 speed box , so not sure on model , possibly base model

Sounds like it's the 80PS version - that one doesn't have a turbo, I think all the other power versions do. The 110PS's we have feel quite sprightly, although obviously there's a limit to what you can expect from a 1 litre 3cyl engine.

[StefanYHU]

I always preferred any bmw 5 speed over the their 6 speeds

For example the 3.0 e36 m3 was a much more pleasurable drive than the 3.2 with the notchy stty built from chocolate 6 speed box.

[LunarOne]

Only two of my four cars have a 6th gear and I honestly have no idea why they need them in the UK. Perhaps they make sense in Germany where you can keep accelerating to your heart's content, but here in the UK I accelerate to 70 in 3rd or 4th and then jump straight to sixth for cruising. So they may as well have left out the 5th ratio altogether and just had five gears in total.

[Pica-Pica]

Sheepshanks said:

Gas1883 said:

It’s a courtesy car , no idea on size of engine / power , though it does feel fairly lethargic, seems big for a polo , thiugh I guess all cars have grown in size , it seems well equipped, but then has key start , no sensors , 5 speed box , so not sure on model , possibly base model

Sounds like it's the 80PS version - that one doesn't have a turbo, I think all the other power versions do. The 110PS's we have feel quite sprightly, although obviously there's a limit to what you can expect from a 1 litre 3cyl engine.

I believe the110 ps VW/Škoda/SEAT/Audi engines have 6 speeds if manual, and the 90ps have 5 speeds. I know the 5 speed on our Fabia with the 1.2 TSi engine is a very slick gear change. As was my E36 2.5 with a 5 speed box.

[snoopy25]

MIL's B-Max and C-Max before that were both 5 speed manuals

[Pica-Pica]

Sheepshanks said:

Gas1883 said:

It’s a courtesy car , no idea on size of engine / power , though it does feel fairly lethargic, seems big for a polo , thiugh I guess all cars have grown in size , it seems well equipped, but then has key start , no sensors , 5 speed box , so not sure on model , possibly base model

Sounds like it's the 80PS version - that one doesn't have a turbo, I think all the other power versions do. The 110PS's we have feel quite sprightly, although obviously there's a limit to what you can expect from a 1 litre 3cyl engine.

I believe the110 ps VW/Škoda/SEAT/Audi engines have 6 speeds if manual, and the 90ps have 5 speeds. I know the 5 speed on our Fabia with the 1.2 TSi engine is a very slick gear change. As was my E36 2.5 with a 5 speed box.

[AmitG]

I believe that the manual version of the Toyota Aygo X is a 5-speed unit.

[donaircooleone]

gotoPzero said:

Wasnt the 306 GTI the first main stream 6 speed car outside of super cars?

Not sure if the calibra counts? Mind you the 306 could've done with a longer 6th imo.