Some people have been posting that 4th and 5th gears are overdrives and that we need to keep it in 3rd for pulling away from bimmers. Is this true?

Here are the gearing info I pull off the web. I can't quite make sense out of these numbers... How are they calculated? Can someone please explain?
Our TL (type S same as TL???)
Ratios (:1)
1st - 2.563
2nd - 1.551
3rd - 1.021
4th - 0.653
5th - 0.470
Reverse - 1.846
Final Drive - 4.428

BMW 325
Manual gear ratios
1 - 4.23, 2 - 2.52, 3 - 1.66, 4- 1.22, 5 - 1.00, R - 4.04
Final drive ratio (:1)
3.15

Automatic gear ratios
1 - 3.67, 2- 2.00, 3- 1.41, 4- 1.00, 5 - 0.74, R - 4.10, Final (:1) 3.46

BMW 330
Standard gear ratios (:1)
1- 4.21, 2- 2.49, 3 - 1.66, 4- 1.24, 5 - 1.00, R - 3.85
Final drive ratio :1
2.93

Automatic gear ratios (:1)
1 - 3.67, 2 - 2.00, 3 - 1.41, 4 - 1.00, 5 - .74, R - 4.10
Final drive ratio :1
3.38

 

http://www.acura-tl.com/ubb/Forum14/HTML/001272.html

Check out this link, a bunch of us discussed the ramifications of different gearing in automatic vs. manual cars.

Overdrive = gear ratio < 1.0 .. where 1.0 is direct drive, engine and wheels spin at same speed .. overdrive, engine spins slower than wheels. Note the BMW's only have 1 overdrive gear, whereas the TL-S has two.

 

Acura is looking for good real world mpg as well as performance with a heavier car than the pipsqueak 3-series (heck, I am 6-2 and 215! Me needum space!).

If the TL's came with a closer ratio 5-speed and traded off say 1 mpg, they would absolutely howl.

 

The 2nd gen CL owners have been griping about this from day one. The car is a bit of a dog in 4th gear, but you don't get there til 110mph!!!!! Is that really that bad??? With headers and intake, my gas mileage is absolutely amazing when I keep my foot out of it on the highway. I actually got over 34mpg in my CL-S once. Last trip I made I got 31.8mpg and I was still averaging over 75mph!!

Every once in awhile some more aggressive gearing would be nice but it's gonna be more than a 1mpg trade-off. Look at the IS300.... with it's gearing, it can't even hit 60mph in 2nd gear (we hit.... what... 72mph) and it's only rated at 23mpg on the highway. That's pretty pathetic, IMHO.

 

Well unfortunetly it is true, no pick up after 110mph. My good bud has a brand new CL type S and we raced (my GS 4) I mean he lost but after about 90 mph it was not even close. I then drove it to try and engine gives up at like u said 110 mph, but who really needs to go that fast anyway!??!

Gears are not sporty at all like u said kept it in 3rd when it dropped to 4th it was a BIG MISTAKE let alone 5th.

But Cl is a cruiser (a Japanese Ford T-bird) not a sports car.

 

If WOT from a start. The problem is when you're in 5th gear at normal freeway speeds and you need to pass someone. Gas it and the tranny drops a gear to get power. But, you're not actually getting power, because you're no where near your peak power band. Instead you slowly accelerate while you wait for your rpms to climb into vtec. Why? The gears are too long and have too much of an rpm difference between gears.

5th gear is so tall that down shifting to 4th is like staying in 5th in any other car.

 

How do you tolerate the pathetic positioning of the seats in your TL? Don't you hate looking to your left and staring smack in the middle of the B pillar because you've got the seat reclined so far because the TL seat cannot go back far enough to accomodate someone your size???????

How ridiculous is that?



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2001 TL Silver w/ Black Leather
CL-S Wheels w/Pilots
Alpine CD Changer
Burlwood Shift Knob
25% Tint, 35% In Front

 

My TL-S only has 200 miles on it, so I'm being nice to it. Therefore, I've never actually tried this, but:

Why not kick it over to sportshift, and drop it down to third manually?



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2002 Acura TL Type-S Dark Emerald Pearl
1986 Pontiac Fiero SE V6
1994 Ford Explorer 4x4

 

I've heard this before many times, but my question is this... how much faster do you need to go when you're already doing 70-80mph?? If you want to pass someone, and 4th gear isn't quick enough, then why not just give it a little more gas and drop it down to 3rd?? The only time I get irritated with the gearing is when you're going about 60mph in 5th. You're luggin' along at under 2000 rpm. Talk about no power!!!! But at 70-80mph, passing in 4th is fine for most cases.

 

That's what I've always done, on my TLS and on my '00 TL. When I see a passing situation coming up, I pop it in SS and downshift, matching the accelerator to the new RPMs. When it comes time to pass, the car is incredibly responsive and pulls like hell. I'm sure some of the people I pass are blown away to see a car this size zip around them that quickly.

 

I agree by using third gear on the highway the tls takes off like a bottle rocket, 70 to 100 in seconds.