I have the impression the gearbox on the 5sp 5th Gen is pretty short...

I was cruising around 80mph on my last contour at less than 3,000RPM. Now my girl has a 04 Sentra 1.8 ATX and I cruise at 80mph around 2,500RPM.


Sometimes I do wish gearing was a little longer or that we had the 6sp gearbox...


I dunno... is it shorter than normal or what?

 

80mph in 5th gen 5spd = 3300 Rpms

80mph in 5th gen 6spd = 2550 Rpms

 

wow.. thanks for snobbing that!!!

You dont think I already knew the 5th gen cruises at high RPM??!!!

 

 

most 5spd gearboxes have short gears, every car ive ever driven that has a 5spd cruised around 3k at highway speeds, i used to drive a saturn and it was at 3k going 70-75, so be happy you can go 80 at 3k. i think thats just how 5spds are.

 

Be glad it's not a little 4 cyl. My 97 protege 1.5L 5 speed turned 3500 rpms at 70mph. On the plus side the car was almost slient at idle, way quieter then the max at idle..

 

It depends on the final drive ratio and tire height in addition to the transmission gearing.
My Camaro turns 2450 at 80 in 5th gear, and a ridiculous 1650 @ 80 in 6th.

Many small 4cyl cars/trucks use a low final gear ratio to make up for lacking in power off the line

 

your camaro must get good gas mileage

 

if its an ls1 he gets about 28 mpg at 75

 

Does better than the Maxima, but it's geared too high to really take advantage of the .5 6th gear. Shifting into 6th any lower than 70 is just about impossible because it's not in the engine's powerband at all. I have a built rear end with much better gears all set to put in, I just need to finish up rebuilding the brakes. With the current setup I'm not even at the top of 3rd when going the the traps in the 1/4

Actually it's a 1988 L98, old school TPI 350.

 

I dont believe that is accurate AT ALL. You can design a gearbox to be as short or as long as you want. Take the Contour with the MTX-75 and the Stratus for instance. They have way less torque than the Maxima but longer gearbox.

And MTX 5sp DO NOT have to be short. Actually it is the opposite: older 3sp ATX are usually short because they lack extra gears.



I just think Nissan wanted to have the Maxima cruising at 55mph within the peak torque range.... so it is the most economical (Peak torque is the most efficient point on the curve) BUT I cruise at 80mph... so i am at higher RPM and worse gas mileage...

 

The gearbox is designed toward the engine's powerband. Bad design in terms of performance? NO. Bad design in terms of gas efficiency? Maybe

You could always drop in a altima 5th gear into your maxima and call it a day. 5th or 6th gear is a overdrive gear anyways