MWG

When someone makes more power from the renesis buy turbo or supercharging it do you any one would want a lower gear ratio so you could be in gear longer. Like being able to get to 60 mph in 1st gear and not having to shift so much.

wakeech

you COULD do that, but why?? a lot of people ENJOY shifting, and this car is suppost to facilitate that excersize very pleasently (a la the Miata)... but yes, quite possible.

MWG

I like shifting the only reason I asked was because it is away to make the car faster. Less shifting means more time accelerating. You would still be able to shift. Gearing will only give you so much acceleration and higher priced sport cars have taller gears to help it accelerate. And you still get to shift you just get to go alot faster. You should be able to go 180 mph in the rx8 and still do everything else it does so great. Why can't we have it all? we allready have the best engine and car in the world.

babylou

Putting in a taller gear does not make a car accelerate faster. It makes it accelerate slower because of the reduced mechanical advantage. This slower acceleration outweighs the time spent shifting gears. The exception is like a 5 speed Miata that shifts from second to third at 58 mph. When tested to an arbitrary 60 mph the 5 speed Miata would benefit if the gearing was 5% higher and required a shift at 61 mph. This exception only happens since the spread from the shift point to the arbitrary measurement point is small. However, the 6 speed Miata requires a 2-3 shift at about 50 mph yet is about 0.4 sec faster to 60 mph.

If you think about it if your theory was true then there would be no need for transmissions. Sheesh, we all would have direct drive cars.

Look at the BMW 330 with and without sport package. The sport package has a measly 10 hp increase but a lower gear and 0-60 drops from 6.4 sec to 5.9 sec. The reason high powered cars have a taller gear is to increase top speed because their engines can provide the needed power to move the air.

MWG

If the Car had more power would that not keep the acceleration rate the same between the two cars because there is more power to over come the lower gear ratio. therefore for a car with less power you need a closer gear ratios togther. and more Rpms

Spinner

Seeing how I'll be spending more time at slower than 90 MPH, I think I'd rather get a numerically higher gear ratio (lower). There is a certain balance that can be calculated. Gas mileage, engine life, acceleration, noise and other things need to be factored in. It does have a 6 speed......