Quote:
Originally Posted by Tcoat
Makes me wonder how we ever managed with the old three on the tree!
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I'm old enough to have learned to drive a standard with a 3 speed. I felt like a real racer type when I got my first car with an oh-my-god-how-great-is-this gen-u-ine 4 speed! A 4 on the floor! (Even though it was a piddling Ford Pinto).
That 4 speed is what got imprinted on my mind as to what a manual transmission is. To this day, if I'm distracted or daydreaming, I'll occasionally find myself cruising down the highway in 4th gear. I have to remember to shift into 5th, and going all the way into 6th gear takes a conscious effort I'm sometimes barely capable of.
There's theory, and then there's real world points of diminishing returns. Unless an engine's powerband is so microscopically narrow that it only produces useful power in a few hundred rpm, or unless someone has specific track needs, I think that truth be told, 5
properly spaced gears would probably suffice for most engines.
Proper spacing is important. My Mustang GT has a 6 speed, but first is uselessly too low, and 3-5 are so close together as to be almost redundant.
But I still think a 6 speed is cool, and would miss it if the number of "speeds" was reduced.