Last car available with a 4 speed box?

[Missy Charm]

14 hours ago, sierraman said:

Despite this you still occasionally see on an advert ‘5 speed gearbox’ on something like a Megane.

I don't wonder if that's because younger drivers now consider five speeds to be a bit strange, having had more experience with six speed moderns.  Six gears is one too many in my opinion: one always ends up being redundant.  

[sierraman]

2 hours ago, Missy Charm said:

I don't wonder if that's because younger drivers now consider five speeds to be a bit strange, having had more experience with six speed moderns.  Six gears is one too many in my opinion: one always ends up being redundant.  

On a reasonably powerful diesel it’s just ideal, sixth gets you a nice cruising gear so it’ll sit at 80 barely ticking over.

[motorpunk]

18 minutes ago, sierraman said:

On a reasonably powerful diesel it’s just ideal, sixth gets you a nice cruising gear so it’ll sit at 80 barely ticking over.

Yes, but then what's the point of 5th? I rarely use 5th in my 6 speed, 3 litre diesel. 

I am strange, mind. 

[tooSavvy]

#driftalert#

Dog-Leg 1st.

1upR

2up3

4up5

...... Must be 'fun' to the uninitiated 😱

[AndaBoss]

I'm thinking the bn1 / bn2 robin, which ended production in 2002. 

I'm sure there are later cars sold in developing markets, such as India or China which still had a 4 speed after this date. Maybe also a Japanese kei car may have possibly but I'm doubtful 

[wuvvum]

5 hours ago, AndaBoss said:

Maybe also a Japanese kei car may have possibly but I'm doubtful 

My Kei-powered Innocenti has a 5-speed 'box and that's off of 1993.  Keis tended to be relatively mechanically sophisticated so as to get the maximum amount of performance out of a 660cc engine. 

[Bradders59]

Any manual car driven by my wife. She steadfastly refuses to use any more then 4 gears. Her Mini and her Viva only had 4 and theres no need for any more. 🤣

[AnnoyingPentium]

8 hours ago, Missy Charm said:

I don't wonder if that's because younger drivers now consider five speeds to be a bit strange, having had more experience with six speed moderns.  Six gears is one too many in my opinion: one always ends up being redundant.  

I learned to drive in a car with six, but because I was used to the Fabia I left it in fifth until my instructor would say "you know there's another gear, aye?" 

My Mum has went from the Auris which had six gears to the Duster which has five but has reverse in the place of six. She's had a few confused moments on the motorway etc trying to search for a gear that isn't there. 😂

[twosmoke300]

6 hours ago, sierraman said:

On a reasonably powerful diesel it’s just ideal, sixth gets you a nice cruising gear so it’ll sit at 80 barely ticking over.

Just clogging that dpf and egr up nicely 😂

[sierraman]

16 minutes ago, twosmoke300 said:

Just clogging that dpf and egr up nicely 😂

Assuming you drive at 90mph in 4th? 🤣

Should still regenerate unless it’s mega blocked, I don’t know about others but the parameters for the DPF on mine cause a regen when it’s at the right temperature and it’s been driven for a set time that fits in with the ideal circumstance to regenerate. Obviously driving it under load will get it hotter quicker. A quick blast every now and again should prevent any EGR/DPF trouble.

[Skut]

My nans 85 Pug 205 was a 950 ish on a 4 spd box. No heated rear window or passenger side mirror either.  I don’t  know if that mingebag spec survived until the end of 205 production.

[AxWomble]

On 4/26/2022 at 4:10 PM, GeordieInExile said:

Even Wikipedia doesn't mention it - must have been hella rare, maybe on the earliest ones only?

We had a basey-base black bumper 1.2 Corsa C as our family car for about ten years and that had 5 gears. Ex-Network Q car, bought at 18 months old. I won’t swear to anything but I’d be very surprised if they brought out a new model in 1999 and gave it one gear less than the competition. 

[alcyonecorporation]

On 4/27/2022 at 5:59 PM, wuvvum said:

My Kei-powered Innocenti has a 5-speed 'box and that's off of 1993.  Keis tended to be relatively mechanically sophisticated so as to get the maximum amount of performance out of a 660cc engine. 

Yea, and your Innocenti is mostly G10 Charade underneath

[junkyarddog]

The mk2 Golf/Jetta with the 1.3 engine was available with a 4speed up until end of production in 1992.

I'm guessing the similar engined polo was the same until that was replaced in 1994.

[LightBulbFun]

On 27/04/2022 at 12:17, AndaBoss said:

I'm sure there are later cars sold in developing markets, such as India or China which still had a 4 speed after this date. Maybe also a Japanese kei car may have possibly but I'm doubtful 

I was thinking of the Hindustan Ambassador when this thread was posted

but I think even that gained a 5 speed box towards the end, dont know if it replaced the 4 speed box in its entirety or was just an option/thing on higher end models however

[CaptainBoom]

1 hour ago, junkyarddog said:

The mk2 Golf/Jetta with the 1.3 engine was available with a 4speed up until end of production in 1992.

I'm guessing the similar engined polo was the same until that was replaced in 1994.

Correct, the Typ 86C Polo (aka Mark II F) had a 4 speed transmission until the Polo model was replaced with the 6N in '94, it was definitely the case with the 1043cc engine.

My Mk1 Phase 2 Clio RL had a 4 speed box as well, that was a 1995 model.   I think all of the Mark 1 1191cc engined Clios until 1998 had 4 speeds.

[catsinthewelder]

The P reg, 1.2 Clio I passed my test in was 5 speed and wasn't a fancy spec.

I feel sorry for generations of South American motorists if the same 4 speed box survived until the end of VW type 2 production as it was the worst aspect of driving one.

[wuvvum]

13 hours ago, alcyonecorporation said:

Yea, and your Innocenti is mostly G10 Charade underneath

There's not that much Daihatsu in there other than the engine and 'box.  The floorpan and braking system are all standard Mini (apart from bespoke rear flexis to clear the shocks), and the suspension as far as I can tell is Innocenti's own in-house lash-up.  The electrics are definitely Italian.

[Richard_FM]

On 4/29/2022 at 2:10 AM, CaptainBoom said:

Correct, the Typ 86C Polo (aka Mark II F) had a 4 speed transmission until the Polo model was replaced with the 6N in '94, it was definitely the case with the 1043cc engine.

 

The Golf Mk2 was also available with that engine, which the Bangernomics site calls a bad joke.

[hennabm]

My 1989 240DL estate has 4 on the floor AND a manual choke.

[rml2345]

Volvo persisted with 4sp and 4+OD until 1994 when the M90 was introduced. The 954cc Citroën AX was 4sp so that presumably lasted to the end of production in 1998.