[Pinchy]

The only thing that I'm not happy with in my 2005 Spectra5 is the 5th gear ratio. It's over 3000RPM at 110km/h (about 67MPH).

Gear ratios M/T A/T
1st 3.615:1 2.842:1
2nd 2.053:1 1.529:1
3rd 1.393:1 1.000:1
4th 1.061:1 0.712:1
5th 0.837:1 --

I love 1st through 3rd, they are well spaced and provide easy driving in city traffic. Has anyone here ever tried changing the 5th gear ratio? I'd love to have 5th actually drop the RPMs for sound and a touch better fuel economy. I'm sure I'm not the only one here with that thought.

If you've modified your transmission's gear ratios in any way, post it here and let us know what you used and the end results. I'm really curious to see if it's worth persuing.

Devin

 

[vali]

They didn't do anything about this issue from the previous model to the new one. Only fuel consumption is improved. I think they should explain why they chose to overrev the engine when it's obvious that everybody complains about high RPM and subsequent noise. (data from www.autoindex.org)


Kia Spectra Limousine 4d 1.6 16v (the old spectra):
----------------------------------------
Max Power 75 kW (JIS) 5500 rpm
Max torque 144 Nm (rpm) 4500 rpm
Average consumption 8.0 l/100 km (Red.)


Kia Cerato Limousine 4d 1.6 16v (the new spectra5):
------------------------------------
Max Power 77 kW (JIS) 5800 rpm
Max torque 143 Nm (rpm) 4500 rpm
Average consumption 6.8 l/100 km (ECE)

 

[Pinchy]

The specs you list are for the 1.6L, which is not available in Canada/USA. We only have the 2.0L version here... The 2.0 isn't too loud at 3000RPM, but once you hit 3500RPM it sounds like a small airplane engine....

I was thinking that if we had enough people on here to make it worth it, I'd see if I could track down a replacement gear that could be installed to drop the RPMs in 5th. I guess the first place to look would be other markets where the Spectra/Cerato are sold and see if there are alternative gearings there - maybe someone else might know this already though!