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Originally Posted by litesong
The great increase in transmission gears started with small 65HP economy cars of the latter 70's & 80's, so they had a chance to keep up with "real" cars. Those with 5-speed manual trannies, I viewed with much envy.
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Even before WWII, American cars often had fewer gears than some of their European counterparts. Sure there were some exceptions such as the Ford Prefect which retained the 3-speed while the competition was already switching to 4-speeds.
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But that didn't keep me from skipping gears with my 4-speed manual. I love turning my manual transmission into half an auto tranny by skipping gears in a 5-speed. With little traffic & accommodating terrain, my 6-speed manual Elantra gets the 1-3-6 or 2-4-6 shuffle. Its BETTER than half an auto tranny.
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Skip-shifting, or no shifting at all depending on how accomodating the terrain would be, is another long-time American tradition. No wonder engines such as Chrysler's flathead-six had a long life in the market, since they already got their peak torque just a little above idle.