I know it has been covered before.. but I had to see for myself.
I was cruzin on 9 highway in Parkville, Mo when an LS400 pulls out in front of me, not so abrupt that I had to brake or anything.. but it still annoyed me none the less.. so we come to a stop light. Im thinking to myself "pull up along side and see whats up.." then I think this guy is older (like 40+) and that he most likely wouldnt want to race. SO I think no big deal, my exit was gonna come up shortly anyway, and hey Im in a sweet ride as well.. be cool enjoy the drive. So I just pull up behind him.. with all thoughts of a race diminishing. light turns green and he takes off.. hard. Ok, cool.. a race after all.. kinda. So I floor it and gain on him.. getting closer and closer.. (had to been around like 90-100+mph or so, wasnt watching the speedo). Then it happened, 4th GEAR! NO longer gaining, actually fell back some. But then things seemed to even out, Im no longer losing ground, and the LS isnt gaining. we ran for a bit longer, til he let off do to some traffic.
What a bummer. I know that we have a 6cyl, and that was an 8.. but what was Acura thinking when they put that damn tall gear in there! Its pointless.. such a SWEET V6, wasted when 4th is hit. Its nice to imagine what could of been. As for an over-drive, isnt that what 5th gear is for.. right?

 

blame the evil evil fuel economy people. With 250 lb extra weight and another 60HP, you guys actually get BETTER highway mileage than Accord V6's do (29 for you, 28 for us) so the tall gearing pays off sorta.

I guess 1-3 are the power gears and they're spaced pretty closely to give you guys good 0-60 and 1/4 mile times.

The 4-spd in the Accord V6 is spaced pretty wide (as most 4-spds are) but our 3rd gear will take us up to 116mph (120 mph indicated for reference) I'm curious what would happen between a TL-S and Accord V6 if they were even at 100mph and you guys had to go to 4th but we still had some left in 3rd. I wonder if we could still hang with you guys stock or modded....

It's probably irrelevant, though. By 100mph you'd be so far gone that the race would already be over!

 

Thats why there is sportshift...decide when you want to change your own gears

 

-ya, I know what your saying.. but third can only get you so far, SS or auto.. you have to shift into fourth sooner or later.. Are you saying while in SS, run past and through the red line, up shifting at the last possible moment? I dont like that burnt metal smell!

 

I think that 4th and 5th gears are too close together. The 4th gear needs to be closer to 3rd in ratio for the gear spacing to feel "natural".

Since I don't race and have never gone above 100 mph, I don't really care! I do rather enjoy the fuel economy.

 

Next time... make sure you use that SS in 4th to run through the top of the torque band as fast as possible. I believe it starts to fall of at about 5500 rpm. Then hit 5th... That should give you what you're looking for.


I've heard it before that you don't get that much power in 5th so... 4th should be your sling shot with 5th to keep your momentum going...

 

If people want better gas mileage, they should and would go with the non type-S. I think the S shuld be what it stands for.