Axle gear ratios.

Why do you suppose they use 4.3 gears in the manual as opposed to 3.9 in the auto?

Do they think us poor saps driving need help with the lower gear to get rolling?

 

Because the ratios in the trans are different

I’ll take the MT gearing every day of the week.

 

That's the only thing about the 3rd gen that I wish I had...

 

It's a conspiracy. Toyota knows everyone wants to re-gear, so they made it an incentive to buy the stick shift that comes with a better ratio.

 

Incoming angry inferior gear owners!

 

Ahhh.......so they're aiming for the same final drive ratio on both the manual and auto?
Am I thinking about this right?

 

Good theory but no. The final drives are vastly different. That’s why the MT is fun to drive and the auto is a dysfunctional mess

 

They aren't though. MT's run substantially higher RPM at speed. I want to say closer to 2300 rpm at 70mph 6th gear. Auto is right around 2000 rpm at 70mph 6th gear.

 

It isn't uncommon for the gear ratio of a manual equipped vehicle to have a lower ratio than it's auto equipped counterpart. The torque converter in the automatic acts as a 2:1 gear multiplier when unlocked and maximum stall. This helps with off the line acceleration.

 

Excellent!

Glad I've got the STICK on the way. Several ppl have looked at me weird when they found out I "ordered" a manual. Don't care. I'm really looking forward to it.

 

I plan on changing the stock 265/60/17 tires to 265/65/17. That should bring the rpms down a bit.

 

I have heard lots of complaints about low power and poor shifting from the automatic crowd. I love the power I can get out of this engine and enjoy the manual transmission. I have zero complaints or regrets.

 

The gearing in the 4.3 MT is actually lower than the AT with 4.88’s (due to 5th and 6th double overdrive). If they would have made the AT an 8-speed with 5.29’s stock it might have been just the thing to have the low torque and high top gears for the freeway

 

makes no sense.

 

Because the torque converter is a torque multiplier. So you don't "need" as low of the ratio in the auto trans to match the ratio in the manual. The ratios are literally this way on pretty much every manual vs auto.

 

With a larger tire, you’ll have a greater circumference, so more distance traveled with each revolution. For example at 70mph, there was about a 150-200 rpm difference between my 34s and 35s. Lower rpms with 35s.

 

Sure it does. Speedo will be slightly off though.