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Old 08-26-2008, 02:28 PM   #20 (permalink)
Multiades
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Boston, MA
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Protege - '94 Mazda Protege LX
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Daox View Post
Taller top gears in automatics are really very common. That is one reason why some of the new automatics actually get better highway mileage than the manuals. The reasoning behind not putting in taller 5th gear sets I believe is only to accomidate the lazy consumers who don't wish to downshift to pass. Pretty sad when you think about it. That change alone could net every manual transmission car another 5% at least on the highway without ANY increase in price in the vehicle.
So true. It's cool from an aftermarket standpoint, but such a waste.

And some of that is to prevent lugging and need for downshifts at speeds above 55mph, because everything is designed for a theoretical driver that isn't the norm.
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