[Manual] 5 Speed vs 6 Speed

[ironchef]

Who likes which and why? Sometimes i wish my 5 speed was 6 so when im on the highway at 80-85 mph i can go up another gear instead of staying around 3500 rpm, save some gas or what not. But then again If i had 6 i'd be going through the gears more often I think and that might be annoying. Whats your preference?

[rolling_trip]

i think that most cars with 6-speeds, do not have that high of a top gear that you might think. at least with subaru's, 5th gear @ 80mph in a wrx is very close, maybe within 200-300rpms of an sti, 6 gear @80mph. Basicly 3-5 gears in a 6speed are pushed closer together. another comparision is that in my sti running 85mph, in 6th, i am at around 3500rpm. while in my 92 accord running 85, in 5th, i am around 3400rpm.

[yudalicious]

^^^ditto, having a 6th gear doesn't mean you get an "extra" gear so to speak.

[HyPer50]

I prefer 5 speeds just because thats all I've ever driven... I know one of my buddies put the viper t-56 into his fox body, and he said he rarely ever got to use 6th gear cause it was geared so tall that you'd have to be goin' 85+ to be around 1200rpm in 6th.

[Smokin_Joes_2kSi]

+1 for 6spds in foxbodies...
that's what they're good at doing...keeping the RPMS low on your 3.73 or 4.10 gear so you can Cruise on the HWY and keep engine temps down and MPG up

I'd love to have a 6 spd...I drove an R32 VW tonight and it has a 6spd..I felt like I was in 4th gear cruising @ 40mph just b/c of normal driving & keepin the revs down...

Joe

[OvErMiNd]

I like my 6 speed, I shift out of 5th at 140 and I've gone a buck 60 before and let off of it and I have the stock 4.10.

It's decent for cruising too, but they're right about the gears being close together, it's not much different from cruising in fifth. (Atleast at 80)

[I mean I was beaten by a 240 while I was close to topping out before, they're 5 spd though...right? I mean it was modded out the ass, but he probably had a 5 spd.]

[chituntang]

I guess the good thing about 6spd is that when you push on the gas pedal, you get a better response (of course not 6th gear) due to the closer ratio. If you find two cars' final gear ratio is the same but one has a 5th and the other has a 6th, the 6th should go a little faster in acc, but then the top speed will still be the same.

I knew a lot of people drive 5spd do not shift to 5th unless hwy. I think it is either they do not want to speeding (Driving my 240sx thinking I would save some gas for shifting 5th gear asap is a wrong idea because I usually ends up at around 55 to 60 on Pleasant Hill) and/or they want better response from the car.

Some of my friend driving 6spd will never, ever shift to 6th unless they are on hwy because once you shift to 6th, you can not acc. You push you right foot all the way down the floor and the car may need like a min to acc 5mph.

However, some people says 5spd goes fast on turns because the rpm does not go down as fast as the 6spd.

Anyways, I love my 5th 240sx but I would still go for a 6spd if I have enough money.

[TheSnail]

I like my 6 speed, I shift out of 5th at 140 and I've gone a buck 60 before and let off of it and I have the stock 4.10.

It's decent for cruising too, but they're right about the gears being close together, it's not much different from cruising in fifth. (Atleast at 80)

[I mean I was beaten by a 240 while I was close to topping out before, they're 5 spd though...right? I mean it was modded out the ass, but he probably had a 5 spd.]

Was this about a week ago? You got on to 75south from barret. It was a Silver s2000, there was a red convertible 240 and a blue hatch 240, and you ended up racing the blue one? If so, the blue one was 6spd, the red one was 5 spd.