snarcher

true it would love a 6th gear.

but it seems everyone is all upset that the rpms are high on the highway.

well, in order to get the heavy thing to 60 in 7.5 seconds they geared it that way, if it was geared like an oldsmobile it would be in the 8-9 second range..

just a lil thought!

Zebman

To add onto your comment, adding a 6th gear of a proper ratio to make the shift from 5th smooth, you would have to be going 90+ for it to be efficient for our engine (I.E. the mileage not going to absolute hell)

engifineer

Yep, discussed a lot in the past. Gear ratios are perfect, if someone wants better mileage they should have purchased a different car

CuRiOuSfIsH

well said! The tC is definately not made for good gas milleage.

io333

It would have cost them $2.00 production costs to add a 6th gear. It's purely marketing. Add too much to a $17k scion and there's no reason to buy a $45K lexus.

a_german_named_hans

sh*t. I'd pay 2 bucks for a 6th gear.

engifineer

100% bs. It would have taken design changes, different parts, testing, etc. That comment shows you have never worked in a research, design, build role at ALL. You cant plan lunch for 10 grand on a large scale project, much less add another gear. I am a project manager, so I see this stuff all the time. Someone on the business side wants us to add some small "cheap" peice of software and cant understand why this $100 thing takes $10,000 to do. They dont see things from a global or system perspective and live in tunnel vision.

If you added 6th the way it is now, you would have to play around with all of the ratios to make it work the way it should. So you not only re-design, but replace the linkages, gears etc

SquallLHeart

very well said.

it's fine.

you don't like it? why'd you buy the car then?

draxcaliber

no doubt it would be more expensive than two dollars, but it would greately improve the tc mpg at higher speeds. what i don't get is that if the celica had 6 spd, and it wasn't anywhere near lexus territory in price, and the tc is the replacement for the celica, so it shoulda had a 6th gear, but pretty much everything in the scion lineup was made from a bin of toyota parts. and since there wasn't a 6 spd gear box to go with the camry engine, we got the 5 spd that already went with it. i don't think the scions are junk, i just don't think there was too much extra innovation that went into the cars. it would of cost alot of money to develop special new parts that might not pay off if the scion marque failed. maybe the next generation tc will have a 6 spd gearbox.

snarcher

id rather have the zip then save 2 dollars a fill up.

Zebman

People don't get it. If a 6th gear was added and the final gearing was rational, it would be as fast as a Civic. But hey, you'd get your mileage.

SmokingTires

Not only that but you would have to be consistently shifting. 6spd tranny is going to be close ratio, where as I dont think of ours as being such a close ratio. I prefer longer gears in the tC with that torq you dont want to keep shifter, or in some cases spin the tires.

engifineer

I would consider including a panoramic sunroof, mp3 player, steering wheel controls, decent handling, nice wheels, and all power everything.. at no extra cost, in a 17k car innovative, dont know about everyone else. Not to mention better performance than most competing 4 banger pricewise when the tC first came out other than the stripped down, un-reliable ugly souped up neon.

Again, everyone knew the mileage when they bought the car, so no one has right to complain. They geared it to accelerate well in its class, thus hurting mileage a little. The celicas had less torque, so they used short gears and used 6 of them. The tC fell more in between. The tC "replacing" the celica simply means that they discontinued the celica and came out with the tC. It in no way makes them comparable cars.

Yes, a 6 spd would be nice if the whole thing was re-geared and it was on a track. On a straight line run or normal driving, it would just make you shift more often. An 07 camry 2.4L with a 5 speed that is geared more economically gets what.. 3 mpg more than a tC? That comes out to 100-200 dollars per year in savings. So it isnt killing anyone.

Mikeydizzle

the gearing stinks for highway driving. at 75 mph its pushing 4000 rpm. personally im not worried about my gas mileage, but my 2 hour highway drive home from college is miserable . all other driving is great though. love the car either way.

Neothin

meh, even turning such high rpm's, i still get crazy mileage on the highway. last tank i did was strictly highway between school, home, and back. 379 miles, filled up with 12.3 gallons or ~31mpg going between 70 and 75 the entire way.

snarcher

if you have an auto, its around 3k @ 80

Zebman

And 4k at 90mph on manual.

You people need to drive my brother's Honda Element. You'd see what having "economy" gearing does to a car if you haven't already.

redwar1441

i have a thought. The car is marketed towards modification. Toyota proably forsees heavy mdification and ricer style driving. They also know the speed limiter is easily eliminated in the aftermarket, but they can still limit the top speed with gearing, something a little harder to change. I wonder if the car is aerodynamicaly unstable at 140? the limit as far as gearing even if you raise the rev limit.

wether thats true or not doesnt matter, i personally think toyota did a great job choosing the gearing for our cars.

just a thought.

dziuniek

just went to canada last weekend and here's my 2 cents on mpg in a 5spd

cruise control 80mph, all the way, yes i'm lazy sometimes

up the hill 18-22mpg flat surface = 29-34mpg

and you know how high those rpms go up at 80 in a 5spd... that mileage is still retardedly good... ooh wait exceeding the expectations



p.s: all according to scangauge2

engifineer

With any gearing, the car, in stock form would probably have a hard time going much faster than 140 to start with. The main driver of top speed (outside of gearing and limiting obviously) is HP. Increase hp, increase possible top speed. I am not sure how much further over 140 the car could push itself.