6th Gear - Why?

LaViper

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:drive:Use mine all the time when traveling, 70 + mph. But I don't think the car likes it, like it's being punished. Drop it down a gear or two & she smiles & comes alive.:burnout::2tu:
 

jcaspar1

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6th Gear in a Viper is a free gift from Chrysler to remind you why you purchased a Viper in the first place.

When you shift into 6th gear at any legal speeds your Viper turns into a Neon. No torque, hp or performance.(you do, however get better fuel economy)

Don't you mean a Toyota!:nono:

I have had a Neon SRT-4 blow by me on a turn at Thunderhill. (OK, it had a roll cage and a much better driver)
 

lilgookiemonsta

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I put it in 6th when I'm on city streets with 40 mph speed limit. Theres so much torque at idle, I don't even have to touch the gas pedal to stay at 40!! XD
 

slysnake

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Yeah, I use 6th all the time on the interstate for the gas milage. But I often wonder if it's a good idea. Is it ok for the car to be running like that at basicly idle level revs?
 

lilgookiemonsta

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I've noticed that 6th gear @ 40mph actually puts the motor on a load that puts the revvs lower than idle but she still moves without stalling. Now that you mention it, is it a bad thing for the motor?
 

ViperGTS

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There are countries where there is no speed limit on the freeway...6th gear is not useless at 100-150 mph! :D :drive: :D thinking outside the box helps (sometimes) :rolaugh:
 

PaViper

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My car is in 6th gear most of the time, that's what gear I park it in:D
 

seabass

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That's why I changed to 3.55's on my 09 coupe. Now 6th is usable from 65mph+, goes up hills easily and gets 20mpg +- depending on how much alcohol is in the gas. Running stock rubber.
 

FastestBusaAround

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That's about what I was doing too but anything below 75-80 seems a little slow for 6th. I'm coming from a Corvette C6 and would use 6th gear every time I got on the highway.
I have a C6Z and Gen IV Viper. I always use 6th in both vehicles while on the highway at speeds over 70. If you think 6th is too tall - have you ever seen when it force shifts from 1st to 4th?? You can safely put both cars in 6th at 50-60 mph with no issue.
 

Jon

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IIRC, both 5th and 6th are overdrive gears, 6th just gives you a bit better fuel economy when conditions permit. I don't like to lug the motor so I stay out of 6th until about 70mph. That seems to result in about the same RPM as 5th at 55-60mph.
 

SilveRT8

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That's why I changed to 3.55's on my 09 coupe. Now 6th is usable from 65mph+, goes up hills easily and gets 20mpg +- depending on how much alcohol is in the gas. Running stock rubber.

I'm planning on changing gears too as I find the 3.07 a bit too tall, especially when lugging the engine in sixth gear.
I'm undecided between 3.33 or 3.55. I know 3.55 would be better for using sixth gear and probably more fun around town, but are'nt you spinning the tires too easily in first and second gear when nailing it?
I also plan to get around 600 rwhp with a few more bolt-ons.
 
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HyperViper

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I don't think being in 6th gear automatically increases gas mileage. Even with the huge amount of torque we have in our engines, there is still a sweet spot for optimum mileage performance.
 

Viper X

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There is another option to swapping rear gear ratios. I just swapped 5th and 6th gears in the trans of my 09 ACR. Went to .80 5th and .63 6th. Car really likes these gears with the 3.07 OE rear gear ratio.

FYI, the 2010 Vipers will have .80 5th but retain the .50 6th. 6th is for fuel economy as stated above.

Dan
 

VIPER BAZ UK

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There is another option to swapping rear gear ratios. I just swapped 5th and 6th gears in the trans of my 09 ACR. Went to .80 5th and .63 6th. Car really likes these gears with the 3.07 OE rear gear ratio.


Dan

Same as mine... Works great.......:drive:
 

Phun70

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Just out of curiosity, what gear ratios is everyone running?? Did you change from stock, and if so, what have you noticed??? Positives, Negatives?? Performance improvement. How did you go about re-calibrating your speedometers???
 

Viper X

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Speedo works from the ABS sensors in the wheels, Gen III and IV - no recalibration necessary.
 

Twister

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I love driving my 03 in 6th at 65 mph..do it all the time..my only clncern is lets just say somthings happens and you need to quickly acelerate around a vehicle ect for safety concerns..so here you are in your v10 beaste and somthing happens and your aceleratin like a 4 cylinder...dont get me wronng I love 6th gear but man will I feel dumb if im in that gear and somthing happens so suddenly that I cant down shift in time to acelerate out of harms w!y...for this reason I try to use 4th or 5th more often nowadays
 

ROGUE

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You guys just need more power :D With a bit over 700hp to the ground it will pull 6th from 60 to 200 and just hum along at 4k rpm.

It's the concord gear! :headbang:
 

Fatboy 18

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Just drive faster so it comes into play :D

On my drive back through Europe after the 24hrs Le mans race, at times I was the only car on the highway, I found 6th gear worked great and was needed :D
 
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mattsmusic

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I'm the one that started this thread and this is my 6th day with the Viper as my DD. I've started using 6th when I'm doing more than 70, but man... it sounds like hell with Corsa's and is fairly powerless turning 1200-1300 RPM. I'm hoping the upside to this is better MPG's although that doesn't really seem to be working. I think the manual says 6th is for anything above 48 MPH, which seemed crazy to me until I tried shifting into 2nd and using the skip shift to 4th. Holy cow, does anyone actually use that???
 

eucharistos

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there are several ways around the skip shift, some cost nothing, some a little :money:, some a lot of :money:
 

PhoenixGTS

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There is another option to swapping rear gear ratios. I just swapped 5th and 6th gears in the trans of my 09 ACR. Went to .80 5th and .63 6th. Car really likes these gears with the 3.07 OE rear gear ratio.

FYI, the 2010 Vipers will have .80 5th but retain the .50 6th. 6th is for fuel economy as stated above.
I have both .80 5th and .63 6th PLUS 3.55 out back. With 18" tires this is the perfect gearing. Redline in 6th is 200 mph which means the theoretical top speed in the mid to high 180 mph range is right at the power peak on a dyno chart in 6th gear. And 6th is now very nice on the freeway, but I still bever get into 5th driving around town.
 

Dom426h

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I like how no-one responded to the guy asking about 40mph in 6th.:)

Joke?
Serious?
Troll?

:dunno: :rolaugh:
 
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