[svxistentialist]

Originally Posted by Famouspork

I've been thinking about it since before owning the car! But I heard that most people who do that get very high revs on the highway, like 5000rpm at 60mph.
I think the final drive ratio can be changed. If it can attain reasonable revs on the highway, I would be curious as to what tranny fits,etc.

Does you first paragraph refer to a 5-speed change? It does not make sense otherwise.

The problem you mention in your opening post is caused by the standard auto, pure and simple, and always presuming your engine is in OK tune and no fuelling, vacuum leak, or sparks problems. There are a number of things you can do to improve this situation. These will depend on your appetite for mechanical mods and the depth of your wallet.

They are:

• convert your gearbox to the switchable full-time "power" mode, which is easy to do and cheap.
• get a TCU board from Michael, which achieves a similar effect, but does an awful lot more in terms of configuring how you want it to drive. I had a look at his site, I'm amazed how cheap it is for what you get. Nice one Michael.
• change the auto gearbox for one with lower final drive. They can be got with 4.111 and 4.444 and other ratios, all faster, way faster than stock. You need a rear diff to match the ratio, and this is no way a cheap conversion. People who have done it seem very happy with the driving.
• Change to a 5 speed or a 6 speed. You need a lot of parts for this and a matching rear diff, depending. Not at all cheap. The parts are not cheap, the conversion is do-able, but not exactly DIY. Those that convert swear by the results, and you no longer have to worry about your auto trans having a costly breakdown.

Last point, the 4EAT has a looooong 4th gear. Even with the lowest available 4.444 final drive, highway driving is still relaxing enough, but you do pay the penalty at the pumps for extra consumption. The car is revving the engine higher at all points of your daily drive, something's gotta give.

Broadly, these are your options, it depends what you are prepared to spend.

Joe