Does anyone else think the 6-speed is not necessary?
 

Gears 4, 5, and 6 seem way too closely spaced. I hardly use 4th and never use 5th. I'd much rather that Porsche had put in a torsen diff than the redundant gear.

Has anyone tried a lower final drive ratio? I can imagine that would make the car a liitle quicker and make the 6-speed ratio spread a little more useable.

I thought it was just my lack of experience, but, yes, an awful lot of gears past 4th in my opinion too.

Hi,

Gear ratios are designed to keep the engine in the sweet spot. That said, unless you're absolutely flogging the Boxster on a Daily basis, 6 speeds of closely ratioed gears has a lot more to do with matching the Competition in the Marketplace than it does in actually bettering the car...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

I'm in agreement here; 5th gear is the superfluous gear amongst the six in my mind and the S would be just fine with five on the floor.

3rd gear in either tranny takes you into the 90s, at least in the 987.

It's definitely more of a marketing thing than a necessity; my GTI 2.0T has a 6-spd and really doesn't need it - the car has an a--load of torque so the gear you're in isn't all that important. The extra shifting can become annoying. I think the base Box could probably use it more than the 'S', but that's where the marketing comes in - you'll find it as a feature on higher-end, premium cars, not necessarily where it's needed.

The synchros are tough in these transmissions. Just skip the superfluous gears when in town. I very rarely use 5th gear.

When I first met NickCats he asked me about the 6 speed and I commented on how the extra gear seemed pretty worthless to me. I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed. 5 gears is plenty for me...

I agree, while a sixth gear seems worthless, I do find myself using 4th and 5th when on an open highway. 5th only when I'm in "cruise control mode" on a long stretch of highway, like say the interstate on a road trip. My brother has a 6th gear in his Toyota Celica GTS and says he NEVER uses it either. It's definately a marketing thing. People tend to think if it has that "extra" gear then it must be sooo much faster and have even more power. :cheers:

Wow, total agreement. Is that a 986forum first?

Necessary? Well to reduce the engine wear and promote longevity I think you'll find the lower RPMs you run the longer the engine will last.
Whenver I upchange to 6th gear on the highway the revs come down. May or not be the best for the fuel consumption but its easier on the engine life me thinks.
When I commuting in city traffic I keep the at 3rd and 4th to strike a good balance.

I also try to short shift in the winter as much as possible before the oil temp is in the safe zone.

That's the same thing all the other posts have noted if you read them.

Ditto! What those last to guys just said. :D

Thats interesting cause when im driving with normal easy acceleration, I feel that the gear ratios are too short and when upshifting the the car is lightly jolted backward cause the rpms are either droping too fast of im not shifting fast enough. There are times where its smooth but mostly not.

My previous car was a 6 speed manual. I had wanted the 5 speed, but took what they had on the lot. I liked it, but yes, the gears were pretty closely spaced. First gear went by VERY quick, and people that supercharged that type of car lamented that first gear became all but useless, as all it would do is spin the tires.

6th gear was also probably not the greatest ratio, as when travelling at freeway speeds (75mph or so), the engine was at or higher than 4000rpm!

Anyway, I like the gearing of my 5 speed Boxster. It works out well. For my commute, I almost never get to 5th gear since the highest speed limit between here and there is 45mph. And I've already found that she does great on the highway! (trip to Dallas and back rated 30.2mpg!)

This has been debated for a long time. The ratios on the 6 speed Boxster are the same as the 996, but the 996 has more hp.

At least that is what was being said when the Boxster S came out.

well I don't care about marketing, if I had the option of a 5 or 6 speed gear box I would take the 6 speed for the highway/touring which is where most of my miles accrued. When the momentum has me at 75-80, I try to keep the revs as low as possible.

For track or AutoX as someone noted, the revs stay in the powerband with only 3rd, beyond 2nd for Autox well then its not really an Autox anymore.

Probably not a necessary thing, I agree.

However, to the original poster, I'd have to say that I don't see how having a sixth gear is any way related to having a torsen diff. It's not like you can only have one or the other--the six speed transmission has a differential as well, just not a torque-biasing or otherwise slip-limiting one.

Am I missing something?

Not in total agreement.. Even in the 5-speed the ratios are designed for track speeds. 2nd in my base 986 is good for 72 MPH at redline. On the track, your acceleration will be compromised at higher speeds if the gears are spaced further apart.

I've also thought that changing the final drive would be a great bang-for-the-buck performance upgrade, but I don't recall ever seeing one for the Box.

I think his point was that the LSD would have been a more valuable standard feature for the car than an extra gear, in his opinion.

The usefulness of the Boxster's six gears and 5th gear in particular really depends on how/where you drive the car. I agree that in the US, where you really ought not to exceed 90mph or so on a public highway, 5th is fairly useless. I shift 4-6.

But the car was not developed exclusively for the US. When trying to accelerate to Autobahn speeds - e.g. past 115mph - 5th gear makes a lot of sense to me. The same can be said for track driving. Even at TWS, which is a fairly slow track, you will run out of 4th gear before the end of the straight.

Gary

The sixth gear makes it possible for Porsche to claim higher mpg on the highway. If you put it in 6th gear at 55 and lug around you'll get the claimed mpg.

Yes, that's what I meant.

The ratio of 6th is fine, it's the existence of 5th that I'm questioning.

I want 1-5 to be closely geared, and 6th to be some MAJOR economy gear that is hardly good for anything.


That's how it is in the corvette.


I think the 5 speed is geared to keep 5th gear a "usable" gear, when in reality it's not.


For example...100mph in 5th gear will put me around 4k rpm. That's too much. I don't wanna be past 3500-3700 @ 100mph.

if you dropped 5th gear the "dropp off" from 4th to 6th would be weird and I think would alter the shifting experience.
It would also result in more gear changes which is fun(but not with this gear box!)
but would reduce the life of the gear box. Anything that reduces the life lifespan of anything Porsche is not something I'm lining up to pay for.
EDIT.

I don't even like going into 5th gear. It feels like such an unnatural motion, lol.

Is this just me?

I have a sixth gear??? Funny, I rarely get out of 3rd on my way home from work. I use sixth about 1 a month maybe...

I definatley like first and second. My buddys 911 C4s has a shorter first, or so it seems. Maybe the rev limiter kicks in earlier on a 911. Any thoughts?

What year is the Carrera?

I like my 6-speed. I use all of the gears.

My 1 cent's:

* I agree that 4-5-6 are too closely spaced. I often skip 5th.

* I think 1-2 are too far apart, especially in stop-and-go traffic.

* I use 6th a LOT. If I had a 7th taller top gear, I would use it, too.

* The top gear in a 5-speed vs a 6-speed is about the same.

* Note that the "lugging" is all relative. A 2.5L with 200HP has to keep the revs up a LOT more than a 3.4L with 295HP.

I haven't had a problem with the ratios of 4-5-6. I don't think you're saying you go right from 4th to 6th. If you are your highway driving conditions are very different than mine. 5th seems very well suited for the routing traffic on the highways where I drive. Plenty of torque and room for swings from 65 - 100 without shifting. The only usefulness I get out of 6th is racing along at ridiculously high speeds or taking a break and just cruising along just like all the other drivers. I get plenty of use out of 5th on the highway. Driving off highway to and from work on windy roads I rarely get into 4th.

In the end as someone else said I think it all comes down to your traffic and road conditions.

The top gear on the 5-speed and the 6-speed are EXACTLY the same gear ratio. Check your owner's manuals, that's where I found this.

I like having 6 gears, but honestly, I rarely use 5th. 1-3 for city driving, 4th on the on-ramp, and pop up to 6th when I'm on the freeway. I sometimes will downshift to 5th so I can accelerate quickly to pass someone. That's when the gear gets used the most.

the idea of a fuel economy gear in a Porsche is offensive :)

LOL I have the same perspective. It's not my area but as far as I know Porsches are subject to the CAFE standards in the US and pay a penalty for each tenth of a mile they miss the average by for their fleet. That's how I think it works anyway. I know an "overdrive" gear in some cars like the TransAms in the '90s was specifically put in to increase the mileage even though it was totally useless. I think Porsche also can claim a higher top speed with the 6th gear?

As I've said I really prefer the 5th gear in the Boxster S. I'm only in 6th when I've lost all common sense until I slow down again.

Interestingly if you look at the "hybrid" cars like the Prius that were specifically designed to get a claimed higher mpg by taking advantage of the deficiencies in the EPA test protocols their mpg will dropping by as much as a third under the new test. The entire area of mpg averages for their fleets has a significant enough impact on the bottom line of the car companies that they'll do some pretty useless things from a real world perspective to their cars.

All of that being said I love my 6 speed and can think of no other gear than 6th that I'd rather be in when the road is open, straight, empty and I'm going way too fast.

Negative, Ghost Rider. The top speed of the S is higher than the base because the engine size. 5th gear in a base and 6th gear in an S are the exact same gear ratios. Like I said in my previous post, check your owner's manual. ;)

Usually my commute goes around 90 mph, I cannot imagine dowshifting in highway without 5th gear. That's a lot of fun.
As bmussatti said, I use 5th a lot.

You can do 90 in 4th. I'd have to check, but you can probably almost do 90 in 3rd.

If you're passing slower cars on the highway at 60-70, you shift into the powerband, which would be 3rd. You could go into 4th if you're going faster. Again, making 5th redundant.

If the 6-speed would give me what equates to a gear between 2 and 3 on the 5-speed then I would say it's useful. On my favorite road I find myself bumping between 2 and 3 all the time, which while fun, is tricky when I run out of revs in 2nd exiting a corner and don't want shift just yet and upset the chassis. Once I get a little better at driving the box it won't be such a big deal I'm sure, but for the moment maybe a 6 would be easier.

Sure you can downshift from 6th to 4th at higher speed. (other gears for that matter) The question is how effectively it can be done consistent basis and the degree of stress your car has to suffer. Maybe it's not required on paper(still I wouldn't say it redundant), but it's the reality, day to day driving experience, which tells the truth. Like everything else, to each own, but I definately use my 5th a lot in highway driving.

Blue,
The Carrera is a 2002.