I was looking at the specs for the MDX (probably buying this for the wife at this point) and saw something interesting at the gear ratio allocation. Specificaly concerning the many complaints about our long 4th and 5th gears (although 3rd could take some shortening too). Here is the numbers:

CL/CLS

1st 2.563
2nd 1.551
3rd 1.021
4th 0.653
5th 0.470
Reverse 1.846
Final 4.428

MDX
1st 2.563
2nd 1.552
3rd 1.021
4th 0.727
5th 0.520
Reverse 1.846
Final 4.428

Since final drive is the same we can draw conclusions from the gear ratios themselves. Excluding 2nd which surprisingly is shorter by ONE POINT in the CL, the 4th and 5th gears are shorter with the MDX. The reason Acura did this is probably because of the heavier load that engine has to carry in the SUV's case but I wonder how much better our car would do on highway speeds with the above gearing.

Finally, I wonder if a swap would be possible although the fact that the MDX sends power to the rear wheels as well, due to the VTM, might make the above impossible.

Isn't this interesting though?

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Gabriel
CL Type S

[This message has been edited by gavriil (edited 01-14-2001).]

 

we'd probably get better acceleration in 4th, but worse gas mileage by like a point or so...but of course acura thinks mpg is more important than accelration in fourth.