ive owned my pr5(standard tranny) for about 9 months now and the only thing that kills me is the damn fifth gear. i take trips quite often about 400 miles each way to visit family, i like to cruise at about 85-90. the difference in gas mileage going that speed and driving at 75mph is dramatic. it sits at about 4200 rpms, if it werent for my 2000watt stereo booming the engine noise would **** me off too.
my question-
does anyone know where id be able to find a fifth gear that would help my problem? im sure im not the only one who hates their fifth.

 

I'm not too fond of it either. I would have rather Mazda geared it a little higher. Unfortunately there is not a whole lot you can do about it that does not require massive transmission work of one kind or another. FWD makes changing final drive ratios (which would affect the rest of the gears also, thus slowing the vehicles acceleration down) especially difficult. Your just stuck with it unless you know someone capable of tearing your tranny down and making you a new fifth gear setup.

 

A taller fifth probably won't help your gas mileage like you think it would - nor would a taller final drive ratio.

A taller gear would labor the engine a hell of a lot more - with just 130 horses, the car would start to slow down on any uphill grade (though I know those are not in abundance in Florida ). The engine just doesn't have the juice for a taller gear, and your gas mileage would probably suffer worse as a result.

The tranny is designed to get the most out of the power available. My 93 Miata with the 1.6L (which made barely 100 horsepower at the wheels) would cruise at 70 MPH at 4000 rpm in fifth. That's real high, but it's the only way the engine could keep up.

And you cruise at 85-90? Jeez dude - maybe slow down a little? .

~HH

 

I just hate that loud buzzing noise of the engine. I cruise in my girls Axiom at 100 and you feel like you are going 50. my car is so loud at 75 it sound like I am out of gear.

 

Have any of you ever owned a 4-cylinder car before??????

I really can't believe some of the issues and replies that come up on this board sometimes. For the most part, this board is a great source of information and entertainment - but it's posts like this that get me frustrated.

I have some advice for you - go buy ANY sub-150 horsepower 4 cylinder car and see if the gearing is much "better". A tiny little motor like this makes crappy power when revving low - it just the way it works. You can't just expect a little four banger to hum along like a Corvette in sixth, turning 1700 RPM. At those low revs, the car doesn't make enough power to keep itself going. There was an anniversary edition Miata with a 6-speed, and every single review I ever read of it said it was totally useless - too tall, not enough engine for the gear.

I have a feeling that if the gearing were taller, you'd all complain about how it has no passing power on the highway. With 130 horses, you can't have both in a driveable car - it's just not possible.

If you hate the noise, put in 500 lbs of Dynamat. If you hate the high revs, get a car with a bigger motor - or ride a bicycle.

I rarely "flame" on this board (or any other) - but this is a ridiculous complaint about the car - one that should have been addressed at the test drive, and one that anyone with any common sense will know cannot be avoided in an ECONOMY car.

 

I have thought from day one of owning my car that Mazda should have put a 6-speed in our cars.

 

Yea I think so too. I drive at about 85-90 too and I get about 300 miles to the tank. At 1st I thought it was normal, then I rode in an eclipse and the thing revs sorta low.

 

Hoo boy...another horse-beating contest about the 5th-gear "problem"....

I LIKE the short 5th gear. IMHO it is one of my favorite things about this car. I LIKE the fact that it will actually *GO* when I floor it in 5th at highway speed.

You guys should go drive a car with only ~130 hp and a tall 5th gear sometime. Punch it in 5th and the car goes...bleah. Some smartass is going to chime in "well why don't you shift to 4th", and my response is I don't WANT to shift every time I want to pass a semi or go up a hill. I GUARANTEE that if Pros had tall 5th gears, a bunch of people would be griping about how the car has no power at highway speed and saying "I have to shift too much."

And about the 6-speed, come on. The car only costs ~16k sticker. You get what you pay for. Can we please just let this topic die?

[BTW hihosilva, although I agree with the main point of your post, you should go drive a 6-speed Miata sometime. The 6th gear is only *slightly* taller than 5th gear in the 5-speed- like only ~200 rpm at 70 mph. The 6-speed has VERY close ratios 1st through 4th, the way a 6-speed should be. You must be thinking of the Celica GT-S, which DOES have a ridiculously tall 6th for a car with only ~130 lb-ft of torque ]

 

I have owned several 4-cylinder cars with a manual transmission in the past. But generally the fifth gear is meant for cruising, not accelerating or passing, which is why the fourth gear is there. I have never owned a 4-cylinder vehicle with a five speed transmission that has ever ran at such a high RPM on the highway and this is the most powerful four cylinder I have ever owned. If they wanted a shorter fifth gear then they should have put a sixth gear in to compensate for the loss of fuel economy.

 

5th is ok for me. The car runs out of gear at about 135-140 mph which keeps me from killing myself.

 

for hiho yes i have owned 6 4cylinder cars so far and this car has had the worst 5th gear that ive owned. maybe you have owned some crap to feel that all fourbangers sound TOO loud at high speeds. my last vehicle was a 97 nissan pickup with over $20grand in mods, it was beautiful until about 95mph and even at 125mph and up i dont think it was ever that loud or bothersome to me. if you dont like seeing questions that you may feel are completely f*cking stupid to you, then get the hell off the damn board thats what it is here for. we all have questions we come here hoping to get honest answers, sorry we werent all born with the knowledge of the world stuck in our head.

anyway thanks to everyone else.
- i have decided to go with the 9 lb flywheel and both cams from mms, hopefully the flywheel should reduce the powerloss to the wheels and help me out a bit, and also give me a start into really hookin this badboy up.

 

LOL i think you people are forgetting that the pr5 is an ECONOBOX WAGON, yes, WAGON, SLOWER than the sedan.

if you people wanted a 4banger with power get a WRX or an EVO,
________
WIKI

 

My P5 is my 4th 5 speed with a tach (first car doesn't count). I had a 95 Impreza (110hp) with a 5 speed. It revs the same in 5th as the Protege5, but it was gutless when it was time to pass in 5th. I can easily pass in 5th in my P5.

My last car was an MX-6 (2.5 V-6, 5 speed). It revved 3500 on the highway which wasn't too far from its torque peak. Passing was never a problem in that car. Yes it's smoother than the 2.0L, but I don't have problems with the engine sound at 70 or 80 mph and I appreciate that I can stomp it without downshifting to pass.

I also had a 91 RX-7 which had a pretty tall 5th gear. Yeah it revved low but 5th was just for highway cruising, not for speeding up. (non turbo).

I think that most Mazdas are geared pretty short in top gear. Even in my wife's Millenia (2.5L V-6 ATX) it spins 3000rpms @ 70, pretty high for a larger car with a V-6, but you can't hear the engine so it doesn't really matter. What does matter is that the cars will move when you need them to.

Tyson

 

Dude - take your 5 posts and get lost. I'm gonna tell you that while I don't have "the knowledge of the world", I've been here a little while. And I have enough sense to know that THERE IS NO WAY TO DROP THE RPMS AND STILL HAVE POWER IN TOP GEAR.

Besides - your original question was about revs and mileage - not about noise, so I don't know why that has become your focus all of a sudden. Yeah - I've owned some real crappy 4 bangers in my time. And noisy or not, THEY ALL REVVED HIGH IN TOP GEAR. Is the P5 noisy at speed? Maybe. Is it geared to low? Hardly.

Like I said before - if the P5 had a sixth gear or a taller final ratio, you'd probably bitch that it has no power for passing or required a shift.

And - if it sucks so bad - why did you buy the car?

I'm not going to get into a flamewar with you - it's not my thing. My problem was with your insistence that the car could somehow benefit from a taller gear. Not without a good boost in horsepower and a revised torque curve that put that power lower in the RPM range.

Anyone with a pickup that has "$20 grand worth of mods" and can go 125 MPH should know that.

Oh yeah.....and welcome to the board. You'll find I am generally a friendly guy and useful member around here. Maybe it's unfortunate that my infrequent frustration was let out on a newbie such as yourself. Let's try to be reasonble and play nice from now on.

~HH

 

I wouldn't think many cars would get good gas milage at 85-90mph. My last tank of gas I averages 29.9mpg and that was with a 100 mile trip at speeds from 90-115. And another 100 mile trip at around 75mph. And the rest was city driving. It was the most milage I have gotten out of a tank since I got my car 1700 miles ago. I figured for sure my gas milage was gonna be horrible because of the 100mph+ driving for that long.