The 5-speed is the way to go. They generally have a less-torquey first gear (less breakage), but fourth (direct) is unchanged, and 5th (overdrive) makes for easy highway cruising.

More on the term "higher gears": this is ambiguous, it can mean either way. Better to say "lower numerically" which is like "a 3.7 is lower numerically than a 3.9 gearset, but it gives you a higher gear".