I've always wondered about the English-made manual transmission in my 240. It's got taller gears than any other 4 or 5spd car that I've driven. This can come in handy, e.g. when accelerating onto the expressway or when passing slow-moving traffic (like the time I was driving on a switchback in the Sierra's behind a tractor-trailer that was plugging along at about 25mph; I downshifted into 2nd, WOT, and held it until 6000 RPM-that was fun!)

But driving in stop-n-go traffic is another story, and a royal pain in the arse. I swear I could pull my house off of its foundation with the M46's 1st gear. There's this weird spot between 10-20mph that "feels" too high for 1st but is definitely too slow for 2nd gear. The result is that I either keep her in 1st gear, and surrounding traffic thinks that I'm crazy because the b230f is a little noisy at higher revv's, or I am constantly shifting back and forth. Does anyone know why the gears are setup like this? Not complaining, just curious. I guess Scandinavians don't have to contend with much stop-and-go driving, and spend most of their time on motorways at a constant speed.