The Chief

Is your speed in gear important when overtaking?

The reason i ask is other cars i have owned have had higher speeds in gears than my Subaru (although no where near as quick at acceleration)

I dont think i've ever pushed my car beyond 80 in third.

It seems that some manufacturers are obsessed with making more gears i.e. BMW M5/M6 7 speed.

If your to busy cog swapping you aint accelerating.

I've heard the new 997 Turbo does 110mph in third - this would make a lovely overtaking gear (on the autobahn)

So then what speeds does your car do in gears? and is less important on something with loads of midrange like a Scoob than maybe a Honda V-Tec

opinions please.

Rich D

iTrader: (12)

So does my S14a...

It's got fairly long gearing, more relaxed driving as you're not up & down the box all the time and it's got a reasonable amount of torque as well which helps, so it will pull strongly through the gears.

Unlike the CTR I had a couple of years ago which was all rev rev rev and up & down the box, a total contrast. More thrilling when you're "on it" but prefer the long gearing in the 200SX to live with on a day to day basis.

Speeds in gear:

1st - 42mph
2nd - 74mph
3rd - 107mph
4th - 140mph
5th - 167mph (theoretical)

These are calculated from the gear ratios and they actually show as being a little higher on the speedo

The Chief

I'm impressed

Rich D

iTrader: (12)

So was I first time I opened her up

Just keeps going & going in gear, 4th is superb!

swtmerce

I think my 98 STI has very similar gearing to this. It should be much shorter but I have a UK ratios box and the 7800rpm redline of course. 3rd is a go anywhere, do anything kind of gear

Rich D

iTrader: (12)

bet that's fun!

mine only revs to 7000rpm, so it would be silly in gear with your 7800rpm redline... works out as something daft like 120mph in 3rd and 156mph in 4th!!!

The Chief

I cant get that i dont think i've ever really gone past 80-85 in third

Rich D

iTrader: (12)

which Impreza have you got?

is that flat out or are you not winding it right up?

skinters

All depends on the engine and driving style. I recently dropped the final drive on my car - In each gear it feels a lot more perky than before - much more than the couple of hundred rpm difference would suggest. What it does do is make 5th a decent 'fast gear' too. - where before it was more of an overdrive.
I have a 6k red line and I'm now about 68mph in 2nd, 106mph in 3rd, can't recall 4th but 5th is still 172mph (aint gonna happen (was 180mph before!).

I agree with swtmerce - a good 3rd is great for X country blasts. With a torquey engine you can just leave it in gear.

For high revving low torque engines the gearing is generally much lower and closer - and that's where more gears really become useful.

P20SPD

iTrader: (1)

Changing up at 8250, based on calculations.

I have gone over the line on the limiter in 3rd after a knacked drag run, and it recored 118mph

1st 48.72
2nd 82.85
3rd 117.37
4th 163.08
5th 215.18

3rd is phenominal on the road

The Chief

Uk with a TD04 - it will rev to more its just that most of its umphh has run out after 5500-6000 rpm so their seems little point in revving it past that

Ray T

chief,
Decat downpipe will take the umphh up somewhat, did on my uk classic.

ray t

The Chief

I'm running a full decat including up pipe down pipe etc. Andy F remap, Resonator box removed and pipe fitted, STI panel filter

maybe its me just dont rev it

Paddi70

Holy crap, thats some machine you have their. Amazing

Rich D

iTrader: (12)

need to let it breathe more easily then... although looking at your mods it's got those sort of mods already...

mine pulls right round to the 7000rpm redline and peak power is only just before, so it's worth winding it up, I've had other cars in the past though that seem to run out of steam higher up

swtmerce

When I had my 02 and 03 WRXs I also found they ran out of steam by 6000rpm. However, both those cars were unmodified i.e. fully catted. My 98 STI pulls hard up to around 7200rpm but then starts to feel a bit breathless. I change around that point or usually a bit earlier. Coincidentally, my peak power is achieved at 7000rpm and the peak torque starts to drop off from about 6300rpm

swtmerce

I don't think I explained myself clearly enough. What I mean is my terminal gear speeds i.e. at redline, are about the same as yours although 5th is quite a bit longer. It's theoretical redline speed would equate to around 190 mph

Rich D

iTrader: (12)

Christ that's just daft

matchmaker

My Octavia vRS will go from 25 mph to 105 mph in 3rd. Makes it a great overtaking gear

jonny81

not sure about 3rd but my sti v2 only gets 50 in 2nd!

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

Its ok as long as the car car stay in or near the powerband.

The FTO GPX i had befor ethe Subaru was great for over taking even in tiptronic mode.

8250 rpm and 80mph in 2nd

114mph in 3rd

never got to 4th as it was still a limited import but the change between 2nd and 3rd kept the valves wide open so it just surged ahead.

Like the subaru, big difference above 3500 rpm though.

5t.

mattvortex

I have some accurate figures recorded by a certain weekly publication- so no reading from an inaccuarate speedo or a biased desire togo and brag to there mates down the pub!
Here are some Figures for a Mitsubbishi Lancer V and Subaru Impreza WRX STI IV;
mitsubishi; 5th gear 147mph/6800 rpm Subaru; 5th gear 150mph/6890rpm
4th 119/7500rpm 4th 133/8000
3rd 87/7500rpm 3rd 99/8000
2nd 63/7500rpm 2nd 69/8000
1st 44/7500rpm 1st 41/8000

hades

Speed in gears is well and good, but as long as they aren't too widely spaced and you have the power/torque, it doesn't matter much aslong as you're prepared to use the gears you have.

For instance, my old (chipped) 2.5 V6 Calibra would do over 70 in second and just over 110 in third - both indicated. The scoob (tuned 02WRX) is good for maybe 95 indicated in 3rd (it holds ~280bhp to 6800rpm. However, due to the extra 100+bhp and good torque spread, it's faster in 4th from 80-110 than the Calibra was in 3rd, so you just use the next gear up. New age STi's with the 6 speed box aren't good for much more than 100mph in 4th, but tweaked ones get there very quickly - so you just use 4th instead of 3rd.

In general, close short gears tend to give slightly better ultimate acceleration, but require more gear changing and therefore more "driving".

The Chief

Well having made sure i filled with V-Power and nicely warmed up i can confirm that it will do more than 80mph in third, seems a bit pointless though as it its so torquey and quick you really dont need to thrash the whatsits off it - i normally change at 5500rpm

skinters

Ahh but the question is:

if you take it past peak power to say 6500rpm, is there still more power being delivered than would be if had changed up form 3rd to 4th at 5500rpm instead? - especially as 4th is a longer gear so less torque to the wheels for the same engine output.

I'll rephrase : sometimes it's worth holding onto a gear past peak power as you are still getting more power down than you'd get changing up.

well - you know what I mean....

slim_boy_fat

Its one of the reasons the Scoobies are so quick, they are generally a bit lower geared.

This is great if you are doing lots of cross country blasts, not so good on the m-way etc where the engine is buzzing at 4k rpm at 70mph

Talk about high gearing, i get 106mph in first with 5 still to go!!!

matchmaker

I used to have a 2-litre Vitesse which would do 40 in first with standard engine and transmission at the 6000 rpm red line.

After I blew up the diff () and replaced it with a 3.27 unit from a GT6, and rebuilt the engine with a lightened and balanced bottom end, it would do over 50 in first

Britishdaddy

mine is capable of doing 140mph in third, 87mph in second and 42mph in first but mine is a auto and thats doing it manually

Rich D

iTrader: (12)

Drove a friends modded Focus RS last night, much closer gearing than my 200SX and it "felt" very quick due to the speed at which the revs rose and the frequency of changing gear.

Now don't get me wrong it's a quick car anyway, but it seems even quicker than it is due to the lower gearing and the more punchy boost delivery, my 200SX is the faster car, but feels less manic than the Focus.

With longer gearing it wouldn't be as entertaining as it was IMO