Rover VVC. Does it need a 6 speed box?

[Pat H]

Looking at a 1.8 VVC.

It will be used as a road car with the occasional sprint or hillclimb.

Does it need a 6 speeder?

[rubystone]

They say these are torquey - I haven't driven one to know whether this makes up for the hole between 4th and 5th which manifests itself on some race circuits.

[bikemonster]

I have an MG TF160 and can confirm that it is a very torquey engine. Sufficiently so that my dad, who has a very tuned (and equally broken) non-VVC K Elise is surprised at the amount of grunt that is available from around 2K RPM in my car.

Having done a few track days I can attest to the hole between 4th and 5th, but as 5th is an overdrive gear I avoid the problem by staying in 4th. This on a circuit (Killarney in Cape Town) which has shortish straights, so running out of leg (with a TF, anyhoo) is not really a problem.

[Pat H]

bikemonster said:

Having done a few track days I can attest to the hole between 4th and 5th, but as 5th is an overdrive gear I avoid the problem by staying in 4th.

You are presumably running the Rover grarbox.

The Caterham uses the old Ford Type 9 box, so the ratios are no doubt different.

I have previously used the five speeder in a 1600VX engined Caterham Classic, but it was so long ago that I can't recall whether the ratios suited the car.

[bertie]

The stnadarg Rover engine / gearbox package as used in TF and Elise does in fact have a close ratio box on the VVC.

To be honest, on the Elise its the box that makes more differance than the engine and makes the 111s (VVC) so much nicer to drive than the standard.

[Murph7355]

Ignoring ratios for the moment. the shift quality of the 6spd is much better. It'd be nice to have if only for that.

[Pat H]

Murph7355 said:

Ignoring ratios for the moment. the shift quality of the 6spd is much better. It'd be nice to have if only for that.

I have to say that I was impressed with the feel of the six speeder whilst just sitting in the car.

I just have unhappy memories of repeatedly snatching the wrong gear in a six speed Toyota Celica that I recently borrowed.

[catmatt]

I don't have any problems with a 5 speed box. it really depends on how you are going to use the car - I mainly use mine for fast road and touring, so 5 gears works best for me.

[Murph7355]

Pat H said:

...I just have unhappy memories of repeatedly snatching the wrong gear in a six speed Toyota Celica that I recently borrowed.

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