How many gears does a car need

obi_waynne

Administrator
Staff member
Moderator
Points
1,157
Location
Deal, Kent UK
Car
A3 1.4 TFSI 150 COD
How many gears do you really need in a car? Does it depend on the engine or is it down to the drivers preference?

How many gears does your car have and how much time do you spend in the wrong gear?

Mine only has 5 gears and I'm always wanting to change up to a sixth.
 
I've got 6 and I want 7!




Seriously, 6 seems right. Just feels nicer in 6th than 5th at 70mph. Certainly quieter.
 
I've got 5 but really wish I had 6. It's only a 1.6 engine but in 5th on the motorway it sounds like it's being thrashed to death just sat cruising at 80-90 ish.
 
it depends on the gearing more than anything. like TN says some sit really high up when cruising on the motorway. was it not the clio 182 that sits around 4k revs in 6th at 70. ( certain it is a small french hatch)

like the 6 gears but have to remember when driving the wifes its only got 5. doesnt make a nice sound
 
they techically need one but 6 is nice you can plan your driving for sport and economy then 1st through to 4th all can be power and 5th and 6th can be motorway economy lol
 
After having a 6-speed for the first time I have to say it's brilliant. Much much better for motorway cruising at 80-90 as TN says.
 
How many pairs of shoes does a woman need? The more the merrier. I'm sure I've read about cars with 7 gears.
 
I've got a 4 speed auto box in mine and it's not as bad as i thought it'd be on the motorway. Could do with a 5th though definately, maybe even a 6th. Hell let's go the whole hog and chuck in a 7th lol. Would be nice to cruise at 90 under 2k revs.
 
think it depends on the car (i have only 5 in the scooby and could do with a 6th) but also the person driving. Some people get confused enough with 5!
 
it depends on the gearing more than anything. like TN says some sit really high up when cruising on the motorway. was it not the clio 182 that sits around 4k revs in 6th at 70. ( certain it is a small french hatch)

like the 6 gears but have to remember when driving the wifes its only got 5. doesnt make a nice sound

The 182 Clio I do believe has 5 gears. ;)
 
How many gears do you really need in a car? Does it depend on the engine or is it down to the drivers preference?

How many gears does your car have and how much time do you spend in the wrong gear?

Mine only has 5 gears and I'm always wanting to change up to a sixth.
sometimes when im in 5th i think im in third
this is a power thing,
but go back 20 years when cars had only 4 foward gears

more gears are in new cars today to serve 1 purpose, = fuel econemy

but the answer to your q is a car only needs 2 gears, 1 foward, 1 back
 
sometimes when im in 5th i think im in third
this is a power thing,
but go back 20 years when cars had only 4 foward gears

more gears are in new cars today to serve 1 purpose, = fuel econemy

but the answer to your q is a car only needs 2 gears, 1 foward, 1 back

It would take weeks to get anywhere with just 1 forwards gear. You may as well drive in reverse.
 
Just let my Father in Law drive my 6sp Golf GT TDI as he's looking to change his Focus 1.6tdi which has a 5sp box. He was amazed at how much quieter my engine was at cruise even though it's much more powerful than his. Converted him to 2lt tdi power now. Lot less stressed engine and easier to drive with the extra torque.
Personally I tend to skip 4th and 5th and change straight to 6th gear when finished accelerating.

The Porsche is a 5sp box obviously, 6sp didn't come out on front engined Porsches until mid 90's 968 models. With 3rd gear going upto 112mph though I again skip 4th gear and go straight to 5th when finished accelerating. God knows why I'm conscious of noise levels and fuel economy, I must be getting old :bigsmile:
 
Six gears, definatly six, i once cruised on the motorway for sixteen hours to inverness, at 70mph, in fifth gear, the car does a touch over three thousand revs, doesnt sound too bad, but remember this is a small car not designed to rev, (not a VTEC, basically),

at hour fifteen, my ears would have given my lifes savings for a sixth gear, the fuel economy might have been better too.
 
6th gear may have but the revs a bit low and caused the engine to strain a bit when passing causing the economy not to be so great.

3k probably is around normal for a petrol car at motorway speed
 
Guess you find out
1) Power avaliable at ... rpm engine fly wheel at the cruising speed range that you want at sixth gear.
2) Now take the weight of car, drag, aux power take off units ( ac etc ), % likely up-grade travel with load, rotational moment for wheels at higest rpm, friction coeff. Add up the power reqd, as more power means more speed, if no power avaliable for top speed do not up grade to sixth
( do you mean fix an additional lower overdrive gear ratio, b'cause their will be no more space for any additional gear in the GB ).
 
well i might be saying 6 now as i went to a air show sunday in my step brothers fiesta st well going down the m25 and it was reving so high i thought was sitting about 3-4k

ok i have had big engined cars for a long time now and all auto so they dont rev so high to get speeds but that did seem high
 

Similar threads


Please watch this on my YouTube channel & Subscribe.


Back
Top