Yea that's what I heard too, but I don't really know what "Strong" means. Can anyone define? Is the 6 speed transmission more prone to breaking or something?
-John

 

The difference, performance-wise, is negligable. The big bonus of that sixth gear is highway cruising. If you're going fast enough to worry about how strong your tranny is, chances are, you'll break it anyway, sooner than later. :P

 

The more power one makes, the less important that extra gear will be, simply because a point is reached whereby the time it takes to shift eclipses the advantage having the extra gear. The 6th gear will be useful for reasons of economy if it is a lower numerical ratio than the 5th on the previous models.

 

Wow, kick me in the cojones, it does! Even so, the 5 speed should be close, but the electronics would need to be swapped. I think the money would be better spent on a good tranny rebuild and a good front differential. Ever see a tough high horsepower Evo with any of the electronic stuff?

 

What I've heard is that the 5-speed is much more rugged. I have no idea what the sixer is like. I would believe a 6-speed is better, but with AWD its easy to hurt many parts of the transmission, which is why many people like the 5-speed.

As an afterthought, the 5-speed is supposed to be a close-ratio transmission.

That is all very true, but usually only if you're drag racing will that become a problem. Notice how most race cars have a 6 (or 7 in F1, unless you are a backwards team like Minardi) speed sequential gearshift. On the other hand, Top Fuels have what, two gears? way-too-fast and light-speed .

 

im guessing this thread was made to help decide between an evo GSR and MR?

 

6speed of course!! what kinda question is that???

 

This is only because those cars have a very, very narrow powerband. You don't have this problem. If F1 cars could get away with having less gears, you better believe they'd do it in a minute.

 

On paper, the ratios are not that different. The top speed for each gear are:

5-Speed: 1st - 40, 2nd - 60, 3rd - 83, 4th - 113, 5th - 162

6-Speed: 1st - 40, 2nd - 59, 3rd - 80, 4th - 105, 5th - 133, 6th - 166

So on the street, I don't think you'd notice a huge difference since gears 1-3 are pretty much the same. As for better cruising rpms, not really.

5-Speed turns 2600 rpms at 60 mph and 80 mph is ~3400-3500 rpms.

6-Speed turns ~2500-2600 rpms at 60 mph and 80 mph is ~3300-3400 rpms.

I used the gear ratio calculator on f-body.org. The only real benefit of the 6-speed would be on the track where it would keep you in the power band after 4th gear.

I personally am far more interested in the durability aspect.

 

5 speed = past
6 speed = now
7 sp smg= future

whether you guys like or not, 5 speed will be gone sooner or later...

and then you will see this post:
6 spd vs 7 spd smg....
I bet only trans available for evo 9 will be 6spd...