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Re: Are 6 speeds necessary ? Posted by Snowmobile [Email] (#686) [Profile/Gallery] (more from Snowmobile) on Thu, 23 Feb 2017 06:53:33 In Reply to: Are 6 speeds necessary ?, Cannonball, Wed, 22 Feb 2017 19:31:49 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
Like Justin said... fuel economy mainly... and then because everyone else is doing it... seriously - lotsa people would look at a 5 speed now when there are 7+ speeds and think, "not as good" "behind the times" or whatnot...
Asian cars in particular often used to have fairly peaky torque curves (at high rpms) and then needed short gears to accelerate quickly. Remember, most test drives are spent at relatively low speeds not far from the lot, so a transmission that is quick off the line helps to sell cars... at the same time, people want good fuel economy, so more gears are needed to get the cruising rpms down...
Saabs have flatter torque curves (turbo) so power is available over a wider band with less reliance on the transmission. Gears can be chosen for decent fuel economy even with fewer gears.
Automatics nowadays often want to get as high up in the gearing as possible to max out fuel economy. Even 8 or so years ago when we rented a Mazda5 automatic... that thing hurried to get into 5th gear around the city and would double down if you asked it to go faster... was actually quite annoying (peaky torque curve)... but fuel economy was generally quite good. More gears on a car like that might make it drive a bit smoother for the same or better fuel economy, again a selling point.
With modern regulations and consumer interests, fuel economy is pretty important!
->Posting last edited on Thu, 23 Feb 2017 06:55:26.
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