1997 Mazda MX-5 Miata Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

1997 Mazda MX-5 Miata Long-Term Road Test

Ensuring we keep the five-speed manual transmission in one piece in Edmunds.com's long-term road test of the 1997 Mazda Miata.

Read the full story here

stovt001_

Isn't there a reverse lockout to also prevent you from scattering your transmission all over the highway?

slickersdrip

I would definitely imagine there's a reverse lockout. I have to admit that going for a few years in my RX-8 to my Neon SRT-4, there are a lot of moments when I want to pull the car into sixth.

yaymx5_

It has a tall fifth gear? Where is that gear hidden? When I shift my Miata into 5th gear, it seems pretty short.

s197gt

after years of 4 and 5-speed manuals I drove my friend's then new 2004 GTO 6-speed manual. It just didn't make sense to me! that 6th gear really threw me off.

i am sure a few more days with it and I would have gotten use to it but i've never felt the need for a sixth gear in my mustang.

now my old honda vtx 1300 definitely needed a sixth gear. one of the biggest complaints on the vtx forums.

that1njguy

You need to go back and drive a "3 on the tree"

huisj

The three cars I've had in my life all have had 5-speeds. A few years back I drove a 6-speed Cruze Eco at an SAE conference, and shifting into 6th was the weirdest feeling ever. I could get used to it, but it's just funny how much muscle memory takes over normal things we do everyday without us realizing it.

wdrauch

I'm still getting used to having a 6th gear on my Focus ST ...... I find myself cruising down the freeway at high speed in 5th gear and then remember, oh yeah there's one more gear!

duck87

early Japanese sports cars + highway speeds + 5 speed = 4000 rpm droning.

Also, worse you might do with reverse is hear a crunching... it's never going to engage (for better or worse)

fordson1

All the Japanese brands still sell a lot of 5-speed manuals. They are always slow to add more ratios to their designs, auto and manual, in contrast to U.S. and European mfgs.

darthbimmer

Having 6 gears is really useful. It lets designers keep the ratios close enough together to enable smooth acceleration while also providing a top gear that enables cruising at 75mph without having to flog the engine at 3500+ rpm. For example, I would have loved a 6th gear in my E36 M3. Topping out in 5th was okay because the engine was smooth at middle rpms, but a taller gear would've improved noise and fuel economy a bit on open highways at 75-80 mph. My wife's Jetta 2.0T a few years later had a 6 speed, and we used 6th all the time on open roads.

evodad

Except for a month of DD'ing my brothers LS1 camaro, I've driven a 5 speed for the last 11 years and yet sometimes if I'm accelerating onto the highway just right (briskly but not WOT and not winding the car out in each gear), I reach for the shifter to move to sixth in my car. Then I remember there isn't one and end up cruising in the 3.5K-4K range. Sometimes I wish I had the 6 speed.