Surprising discovery: 5-speed vs 6-speed automatic

Ratio spread is the true indicator, first gear ratio divided by top gear.
6 speeds are awesome for towing, but they sometimes create crappy situations. My F150 has nice, short 1st & 2nd gears, but on a steep climb, 3rd is too tall, so it screams in 2nd (at 60 mph lol), but a 4 speed would tend to have a taller 2nd, hurting performance 95% of the time, but climbing would be more relaxed.
Dodge's 8 speed is really an edge in that regard.