Is Micra suitable for high speed highway driving, long distance

[FrostyyCarter]

Hi Frosty: I live in beautiful downtown Comox.

Well hello then, neighbour! Is your micra the grey one with all the black accents and the big white sticker on the back?

[Rupert Rabbit]

No Frosty. I'm an old guy driving a white totally stock SV.

[MetroMPG]

What Nissan did was to close up the gear ratios and the new 6th gear was pretty much the same as the old 5th gear.

Yes, I've seen this in several different cars that have gone to 6 speeds.

These days, the automakers seem reluctant to require anybody to shift OUT of top gear once they've gotten there. The result is noise, worse fuel economy and arguably higher engine wear. Not worth it in my opinion.

I am perfectly capable of upshifting AND downshifting! Give me a tall cruising gear any day. I'll drop it down a cog when I want power.

[Micra In The Mountains]

Thanks!

I added the link to your post with travelogue and pics.

Thanks for doing that, Metro! Much appreciated

[spacewolf]

Yes, I've seen this in several different cars that have gone to 6 speeds.

These days, the automakers seem reluctant to require anybody to shift OUT of top gear once they've gotten there. The result is noise, worse fuel economy and arguably higher engine wear. Not worth it in my opinion.

I am perfectly capable of upshifting AND downshifting! Give me a tall cruising gear any day. I'll drop it down a cog when I want power.

I agree. I was going to add a 6th gear to my other car with it's upcoming clutch job specifically for highway cruising but now the Micra is my DD and I don't really care about mpg in my other car and am just gonna swap it to another transmission with higher FD and an LSD.

If someone finds some part numbers to make adding a 6th highway gear happen in our Micra that'd be sweeeet. I would definitely install it with a clutch upgrade in the future. I like the gearing of our cars for around town but 5th during the little highway driving I do is painful.

From what I know of other platforms/transmissions we'd most likely just need a 6th gear mainshaft, countershaft, synchro and needle bearing. However, I haven't found any HR series engine so far with a 6 speed and I don't believe any parts are compatible with the MR series (correct me if I'm wrong).

[dancel17]

Nice insights.

[Wayward_0ne]

I was wondering about gear shift. Mine sounds painful after 3rd gear, really grinding to gear up after that, its still under warranty should I get it checked out? What would cause that?

[IMPUL]

I was wondering about gear shift. Mine sounds painful after 3rd gear, really grinding to gear up after that, its still under warranty should I get it checked out? What would cause that?

Nissan would probably suggest “improper clutching”

Could be a few things; air bubble in clutch line, synchro issue, clutch issue, something binding under clutch pedal, or improper clutch pedal adjustment.

Grinding is happening because the clutch plate is staying engaged for some reason.

Need more info. Any recent service, other symptoms? More details about what else is happening or going on when it happens. Is it all the time, some time, only certain times ... etc. Plz.

[MetroMPG]

Definitely not normal! It'll get worse over time if it's not corrected.

[Wayward_0ne]

Nissan would probably suggest “improper clutching”

Could be a few things; air bubble in clutch line, synchro issue, clutch issue, something binding under clutch pedal, or improper clutch pedal adjustment.

Grinding is happening because the clutch plate is staying engaged for some reason.

Need more info. Any recent service, other symptoms? More details about what else is happening or going on when it happens. Is it all the time, some time, only certain times ... etc. Plz.

I have the automatic so I feel like this is worse. I bought it used and found a plethora of issues with it that we weren't told by the dealer. Missing front fascia clips being one of them. Only work that's been done is oil changes. Doesn't sound good to me. They also didn't believe me about the shaky drivers side mirror that others here have had replaced under warranty.