Friday night topic - Optimal number of gears for a PH car?

[Gandahar]

We now currently have cars which have one gear, from Koenigsegg, all the way up to 11 speed, Honda.

What are your thoughts on the number of gears which is ideal?

[GroundEffect]

Completely depends on the type of transmission.

For a manual 6 or 7 at a push
For a DCT 8
For an epicyclic 10 is good

[kambites]

For me I think a six speeed manual is ideal for a sports car; with 1-4 stacked fairly close (third maxing out at no more than 85mph); 5th set up for top speed and 6th as a cruising overdrive. I can live without either of the top two gears though.

For a GTish car with an automatic 'box, I don't have enough experience to draw particularly informed conclusions but anything from about six to eight seems to work OK; I've never used a nine or ten speed 'box.

[DaveCWK]

Manual - 5 speed
Auto - more the better; 7 is nice.

IMO

[Mike335i]

Petrol should be max 7 gears.
Diesel should be max 6 and very long gearing.

Drove an 8 speed auto that was forever up and down the gears, same with the 7 speed DSG but not as bad. Can imagine what a 10 speed box would be like! Must be insanely irritating unless the car was exceptionally refined and isolating from the box and it could block shift down.

Anything 'involving' to drive really needs a sweet 6 speed manual box though. Short throw with a solid, mechanical feel.

[hidetheelephants]

On the basis of the only benchmark worth considering, the number of consecutive upshifts Steve McQueen does while pursuing a black Dodge Charger through San Francisco, manual gearboxes should have 5 forward gears.

[OldGermanHeaps]

My favourite car right now has 1 gear and that is part of its appeal to me.

[bobbo89]

Manual 6 is the best I've driven so i'd opt for that.

I've also never driven a dog-leg 5, SMG/DCT, sequential or or any other performance box so I cant really compare...

Edited by bobbo89 on Friday 9th December 20:02

[V8RX7]

Manual - why would you need more than 5 if you have a reasonable amount of power ?

Auto - who cares - if you're driving one, you've given up on fun anyway.

[Mr E]

Utterly dependant on application.

In a lightweight drivers car with a manual box, 5 or 6 are sufficient.
In a monster muscle car 4 will probably do.

In a modern auto, if the shift is seemless - who cares how many.

[bobbo89]

V8RX7 said:

Manual - why would you need more than 5 if you have a reasonable amount of power ?

Auto - who cares - if you're driving one, you've given up on fun anyway.

Its not just about power, torque and power delivery matter so much more with gearing.

[V8RX7]

bobbo89 said:

V8RX7 said:

Manual - why would you need more than 5 if you have a reasonable amount of power ?

Auto - who cares - if you're driving one, you've given up on fun anyway.

Its not just about power, torque and power delivery matter so much more with gearing.

REALLY ???

and I think you forgot about weight.

[Mr2Mike]

V8RX7 said:

Manual - why would you need more than 5 if you have a reasonable amount of power ?

I'd have thought you'd have understood that different engines develop power in different ways. A relatively low revving, torquey engine can get away with fewer gears than an engine with more peaky power delivery where more and closer gears are needed to extract the best performance.

[V8RX7]

Mr2Mike said:

V8RX7 said:

Manual - why would you need more than 5 if you have a reasonable amount of power ?

I'd have thought you'd have understood that different engines develop power in different ways. A relatively low revving, torquey engine can get away with fewer gears than an engine with more peaky power delivery where more and closer gears are needed to extract the best performance.

I do - I've owned cars, bikes and bike engined cars and 5 is more than enough

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

And at least one to go backwards is always handy

[Mastodon2]

V8RX7 said:

I do - I've owned cars, bikes and bike engined cars and 5 is more than enough

Why do 1000cc supersports bikes have 6 gears then, I wonder? You think they'd just stick with 5, if that were "enough"?

[V8RX7]

Mastodon2 said:

V8RX7 said:

I do - I've owned cars, bikes and bike engined cars and 5 is more than enough

Why do 1000cc supersports bikes have 6 gears then, I wonder? You think they'd just stick with 5, if that were "enough"?

I didn't say Mr Honda thought it was enough, I said I thought it was enough.





BTW when did you last see anyone use all 6 gears to the max on a superbike on the road ?



The answer of course is NEVER

[Mastodon2]

V8RX7 said:

I didn't say Mr Honda thought it was enough, I said I thought it was enough.





BTW when did you last see anyone use all 6 gears to the max on a superbike on the road ?



The answer of course is NEVER

Never? If you say so mate.

[V8RX7]

Mastodon2 said:

V8RX7 said:

I didn't say Mr Honda thought it was enough, I said I thought it was enough.





BTW when did you last see anyone use all 6 gears to the max on a superbike on the road ?



The answer of course is NEVER

Never? If you say so mate.

Yeah your right

The number of riders who can nail a superbike off the line on the road and then carry on to 180mph +

There are hundreds of them around here




The average rider would still be the weak link with 4 gears !

[Poisson96]

DELETED: Comment made by a member who's account has been deleted.

Err about a month and a smidge ago, 78mph top speed FTW :P