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calendar   Tuesday - May 04, 2010

automotive dreamin

I want a car with a proper Jersey overdrive.

Most cars sold in America just really aren’t geared properly for high speed highway driving.

My little Satrun is churning 3500 rpm at 80mph, right about the spot where the 4 valve head really comes online. Which means I can cut and thrust through traffic with panache if necessary. But most of the time it isn’t necessary, and the car tends to eat gas when spun up that much. It’s got a 5 speed, but that overdrive really is optimized for driving at 53mph. If it been built with a 6th gear I’d want it big. Trim at least 1000 rpm off of that, maybe even 1250. It really doesn’t take much more than 15 horsepower to push an aerodynamic vehicle down the road at that speed ... so why put >100hp into the mix when I only need 15 out?

My wife’s Sentra Spec-V has a 6 speed, and waaay more power in the engine than mine has. But instead of making the tranny a 3+3, which would be both awesome and Joisey-perfect - 3 regular gears and then 3 overdrive gears, they dropped in the gearset directly from the Altima, which is a much heavier car. And the 6 speed is so “close ratio” that it’s really a 5 speed with 1 extra gear stuffed in there; the cuts between the gears are very slim. I often gently drive her car around town by shifting 1-2-5, and then drop it into 6th at 40mph. See what I mean? 6th at 40mph? That’s all wrong. Even though her engine is 25% larger than mine, her car only spins 300-500 rpm less in top gear than mine. Which means that at Jersey highway speed, which means cruising at 80 and passing at 95, her car is a BLAST to drive. It’s alive. Punchy. Aggressive. Super, but not necessary. Give me a grandpa gear so I can go that speed and just putt-putt along a bit over idle. And get 35-40mpg. A great second overdrive would not work at 40mph. The engine would stall, or at least cough. No, it should come on at 60mph, minimum. 1250rpm.

You can get decent gas mileage and still drive fast. Those little EUmobiles get 75mpg on diesel, and highway speeds over there are around 81mph (130kph), I’ve heard. It can be done. It’s all in the gearing.

I bet they don’t tailgate at 90 in France like Joisey drivers do. You’d think they’re all having a NASCAR drifting fantasy, but most of them wouldn’t know from NASCAR if a Yarborough bit ‘em in the ass.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 05/04/2010 at 07:35 PM   
Filed Under: • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles •  
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Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
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