Originally posted by: makken
Originally posted by: BigfootsMonk
ok, read my post again and it says the words "doesn't necessarily" right after "if you have to go thru 7 shifts from 0 - 100"
and besides, that statement was going towards those people who think more gears and gear ratios being closer together will make a car accelerate faster.
and if you top out in 5th, you won't top out in 7th. Therefore however much gas you save you will also go slower. Nor will it necessarily mean you will save more gas just by going at a lower RPM. Cars are NOT as straightforward as you think they are.
Just for kicks:
Also remember, if you have to go thru 7 shifts from 0 - 100, it doesn't necessarily mean it will be fasters than 5 shifts from 0 - 100 because everytime you shift, the engine is disengaged from the tranny
To me, that's saying:
A 7spd auto will shift 7 times going from zero to 100. Shifting 7 times may or may not be faster than a 5 spd auto that only shifts 5 times because of the lag between shifts. If i'm reading that wrong, please let me know.
I agree with you that shifting 7 times while accelerating to a predetermined speed may or may not be faster than shifting 5 times, it depends on the car and transmission, therefore I have no problem with that statement. I don't, however, agree with the first part: 'A 7spd auto will shift 7 times going from zero to 100.' that was what my post was about.
And I think we mean different max speeds. The max speed i was refering to is the governed max speed of the car--either by computer (cuts off fuel after a certain speed), or some other factor (tires for example). Virtually all cars, minus the exotics, have computered governed max speeds these days (I know the ford tarus is limited to 120mph--yah ask how I know

) while the majority of german cars (Mercedes, Audi, BMW) have a 'gentlement's agreement' stating that they will not exceed 155mph on their cars.
The max speed you're refering to (commonly called Vmax), is the absolute maximum--where engine output power = drag force. If that is what you're refering to, then you're right, a higher gear ratio will mean a lower Vmax.
BTW, thanks for not flaming me back after I called you a bad word lol. I was acting like 6 sry
no prob. happens to the best of us