just a little more power

valhalla360 wrote:

parker.rowe wrote:
The main benefit is not that it puts you at a different rpm closer to the torque peak...it is that you increase the torque multiplication in every gear.

So assuming you aren't regularly in 1st gear and struggling, explain what benefit that provides over simply dropping down one gear.

Is it somehow unmanly to downshift?

The benefit really is keeping the engine up in the peak torque range with higher RPM because HP = Torque * RPM and HP determines how fast you can climb a hill.

Sometimes to split the gears just seems better. Yes if changing the final drive was basically the same as a downshift it would be mostly pointless.

Six speeds sounds great but often it is a choice of 3rd or 4th going up a hill and the user may want gear 3.5