6th Gear

PeterNem said:
Lots of people is saying 6th is meant as a cruising gear, but in my experience every car I have driven with a 6th (or 7th!) gear isn't really any taller in top gear than a car with a 5 speed box. The difference is more in the spacing of the ratios rather than them adding a mega tall ratio at the top.

Case in point... 7th gear in my M5 gives about the same rpm at a given speed as 6th gear in my old m5 and neither are particularly tall. If anything both could have done with an additional/taller top gear to help with cruising at motorway speeds.
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This is pretty much what I have found. My MX-5 has the 6th speed box an it actually revs slightly higher in 6th at 70mph than my 5 speed Astra did in 5th. It seems to be on the diesel cars where its a crusing gear, where as on the revvier petrols its simply there because all your other gears are closer together.
 
In many cases its a marketing gear not a cruising gear.

My 335 sits at pretty much the same rpm in 6th as my 530i in 5th. The ratios on the 6 speed box are just closer, which I am not sure is helpful given the power delivery of the engine.

Therefore I conclude it has 6 gears to look good in The brochure.
 
[TW]Fox;19874723 said:
The ratios on the 6 speed box are just closer, which I am not sure is helpful given the power delivery of the engine.
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I think in a manual 6 is about the ideal balance between frequency of gear changes and optimum performance.

I love the 8-speed automatic boxes - the ratios can be spaced to put them permanently on the boil, and 0.1s shifts mean that more is gained than lost by shifting:

 
R420LA6X2/4MNA said:
Did somebody say diesels go "dagadagadaga"?:confused:
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Hehe well they are quite daggy at lower speeds. Mine isn't quite as refined as the newer one in the F10 but has very similar characteristics. At high speed or when you're gunning it the sound is quite foreign - not really like a petrol or a diesel. When mooching around town at low speed it's still very much a dagdag.
dave_beast said:
6th gear to me means 70mph at 2100rpm and 50mpg from a 1.6 16v turbo lump pushing 211bhp.
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70 MPH @ 1650 RPM ***
 
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As the other's have said, it's not really an 'extra' gear as such. My Mum's Fiat 500 has 6 gears... they're all just a bit closer together than my 5 speed Saxo.


Heck lots of the racing/sprint/hillclimb Westfield guys have 4 speed gearboxes as they're lighter than a 5 speed box, they fit custom ratios as for racing you don't a long 'cruisng' gear because there'll be a corner PDQ.
 
[TW]Fox;19875086 said:
50mpg, lol keep thinking that. The instantaneous readout has a lot to answer for :p
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Well this was over 8 miles, and I was in full Werthers, pipe and slippers mode :cool:

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tom_nieto said:
6 gears are great, closer ratios for 1-5 then overdrive in 6th for motorway.
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They're not all like that though.
On the old Honda Civic they were all close ratio. Not good for cruising at all :p

I wish I had a 6th gear sometimes, but only because 3,000rpm is 120km/h, and that's as fast as I can go in the mornings with a cold engine :(
 
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