I've decided: 5th gear is superfluous in the R56 Cooper S
 

I've been noticing that I never, ever use fifth gear. I think it's useless. What's it good for? Fourth can take me way beyond legal speeds. And once I get over about 40mph, I just shift into sixth. I never use fifth. My standard freeway entry takes me from second gear to fourth, then I just shift over to sixth. Slowing down to go through the toll plaza? Drop to fourth. Accelerate, then back to sixth. No fifth.

Just-a-Cooper folks, this probably doesn't make sense to you, but the torquey turbo motor pulls well across the range. I think this many gears are unnecessary. (Bring on the arguments!)

Maybe I'll use fifth at the road race course.

--Dan
Mach V

When the speed limit is 45mph like around where I live, I use 5th gear all the time, it's perfect for that speed and it allows my engine enough torque to speed up without downshifting where 6th would bog down the engine. Like our Mini's we're all different...

Looking at the specs, 5th is a mild overdrive, while 6th is a more extreme overdrive. That makes 6th the best for fuel economy, but 5th would result in a higher ultimate top speed, since the lower gear ratio would let the engine speed be higher at the top end, resulting in more horsepower output when the aerodynamic drag is greatest.

I rarely use 6th in my justacooper on these hilly freeways here in the Bay Area!

I'm with you on this one... i only use 5th gear every blue moon mainly out of sympathy.

I will skip 5th if I am cruising and conserving fuel. These days it just makes sense to scoot around casual like.
Most times I am 1,2,3,4,5,6 on autopilot. Meh.

I'm so-so on 5th. If I'm going to be above 45 mph, I skip it while shifting up. I'll use it if I'm cruising in the 40 to 50 mph range.

Same applies to the justacooper. I don't often find myself in fifth.

All the more reason for a higher 6th gear.

No i tend to skip it most of the time. From highway cruising to need to pull away/pass and just downshift directly to fourth (followed by 3rd if needed and speed allows). But I would never consider it useless because it can be really helpful for a few reasons:
1. With flat out acceleration every gear is going to help by keeping the rpms up for each gear.
2. 50 in 5th actually gives better mpg than 50 in 6th, mainly because if your speed needs to vary +/- 5 mph here and there, it takes less energy (gas/throttle position) to vary this little deviation rather than trying in 6th.

I have found a sweet spot (at least for the non S). 43-37 mph in 4th even with the AC on can get around 45-47 mpg :nod:

+1:thumbsup:

I use it most for down-shifting, which I do 90% of the time I'm decelerating. Down shifting to 5th, especialy as I'm doing lane changes in slight congestion / on & off ramps. Scares the hell out of hubby, but...who gets better gas milage, even out of HIS car? Yep, that'd be ME. He has a JC bar to hold on to, what's his problem? :lol:

Yeah I use 5th for down shifting especially when going into a bend on the highway. The rest of the time I skip 5th gear.

I skip second and fourth .

Wow, you folks use higher gears a lot. I'm in 3rd at 45mph, 4th at about 50-55, 5th 60-70, 6th over 70. I do skip 5th often though. In town 3rd, highway 6th is my MO.

Have you ever watched the instant mpg readout and compared 5th to 6th in various circumstances?

In California we have a lot of steep freeway grades. I use 5th quite a bit.

i can down shift pretty hard to 5th on the highway when need be :wink:

i dont think im good enough to downshift to 4th yet... but i do find myself downshifting to 5th often. It feels so good when you need that extra power at higher speeds... but then again, ive only driven a civic hybrid and mercedes ml430...

I can see your point. I've just owned my non-S cooper for a few hours (I picked it up earlier today) but I did notice what you're talking about on the way home.

With the non-S Cooper, it seemed that I would have to be going extremely fast to ever use 6th gear. At 60 mph, 6th gear would result in such low RPMs, that I'd probably want to stay in 5th unless I was going downhill. But I guess in a MCS, you would go to 6th at the low RPMs, and not use 5th.

I did notice that 4th gear at 60 did not produce nearly as high RPMs as I'm used to in other cars. I've owned 6-speed BMWs in the past, and usually you would cruise in 6th and downshift to 5th to pass, but in the Cooper it seems that I would probably downshift to 4th, thus only using either 5th or 6th, depending on how fast I'm cruising at.

Try a Ducati
 

Guys stop complaining, I drove a Ducati 999R and it did 82mph in 1st and 115 in 2nd. I couldn't figure out what the other 4 gears were for.:roll:

6th = Mach 1? :wink:

I use all my gears. But maybe mini should offer a cheaper tranny for those of you who want a lesser amount of gears. :razz:

+1

I use 5th for most of the back roads driving I do. 4th is too low, and 6th to high.

A lot of the city streets are 35 or 45mph speed limits, which is what I use 5th gear for. I stay out of 6th until I hit 60, but when I hit 35 I go to 5th and I get awesome fuel economy in my S, even in the city. I think taking it on the highway lowers it because I can't help but put my foot down.

holy crap... i like ducatis