Post #3585239

2026-06-16 19:01 UTC

It turns out that while the #Kia Soul has ridiculous manual gear ratios, Kia redeem themselves in the Rio. The 2018 Rio5 LX manual has a decently high 6th gear, allowing cruising at around 2500 RPM at 100 km/h. The engine is 1.6 l, naturally aspirated, rated as producing 130 hp. Hatchback, small engine, no turbo, tall overdrive gear: approved.

Replies (1)

@Kazinator@mstdn.ca 2026-07-04 17:25

I test drove a 2016 #Nissan #Micra, 5 sp. manual the other day. Car in excellent, clean condition, fairly low mileage. Yeah, that gearing leaves something to be desired. Took it to the freeway for a bit. The engine has plenty of pep to easily get to 100 km/h, but then you're revving 3000 RPM, reaching to shift to a 6th that isn't there. Also, I found the 2nd gear sychro to be slow, causing shifting resistance, resulting in somewhat awkward starts. Some of that lack of smoothness was me not having driven manual for 15 years, but it was irritating not to have it go into 2nd like butter. The car was also too basic. I could live with manually cranked windows and manually moved mirrors. These are actually a good thing. No remote locks or A/C though. I can get a machine that has these things and revs 2600 at 100.

Open ##3585647