3,000 rpm's at 75mph? Really?

[mcp6530]

I am amazed at how high this car revs when driving at 75mph...just over 3,000 rpm's! Why didn't they add a 6th gear to this thing? Is something wrong with my M or do you guys hit 3,000 rpm's at just over 70 miles per hour also?

thanks!

[Zamba]

It's the same for everyone, excluding the 2009 M35.

[palincal]

Welcome to the high rev club That's how the gears are set on 06-08 Ms. But the engine is so smooth that it doesn't feel like 3K RPM. This is one thing I don't like about the M.

[ArbitrageMan]

I agree that it does need a 6th gear, but being that its in 5th, theres no downshifting when you have to speed up.

[hoaapple]

I first thought my gears were slipping but it turns out that is normal. I had a 6 speed Maxima and was running a cool 2500 rpm at 80mph so that was a bit of a change for me.

[mjlyn]

Thank goodnes the engine is so smooth. This V6 is smoother than my previous Acura TL and BMW 530i straight 6.

Kinda freaky sometimes.....if i ever dirve in manual mode i end up turning the radio off because with it on, if i don't keep looking at the tach i don't know where where the revs are. Or sometimies i almost forget to shift.....look down and im close to the redline because the damn thing is so smooth.

[BlackKnight]

I wish they had a Sport Mode like some other Triptonic transmission on other cars do. I had a BMW before and when in Sport mode you feel the gears holding more.

[NightWatch]

Thats why it only gets 20-22 MPG on the highway at those speeds....

[sr79labrat]

Yea! Me also...though taller tires help a little bit. Also...they do make gear vendors??? haha

Kyle

[maqueswell]

3100 RPM= 80mph here. and I get 29mpg on the highway. I drove from San Antonio to OKC on a tank of gas. She was on fumes when i rolled into the gas station. I was extremely impressed..75-80mph all the way...except through Ft. Worth, Tx!

[mjlyn]

3100 RPM= 80mph here. and I get 29mpg on the highway. I drove from San Antonio to OKC on a tank of gas. !

Thats pretty impressive. I did a 400 mile trip a couple weeks ago......99.9% highway at around 78mph and was really happy to see an avg of 27. Thats the best i have ever seen in my car.

[Backdoc7]

Thats pretty impressive. I did a 400 mile trip a couple weeks ago......99.9% highway at around 78mph and was really happy to see an avg of 27. Thats the best i have ever seen in my car.

You guys must be in M35's. At 3k rpm I'm at 80-81 mph in my M45. MPG is about 22-23 at highway speeds for me. A 6th gear would of been great. Don't c6 corvettes get like 27-28 cruising the highway?

[NightWatch]

I had a C5 vette, 6 manual. It got between 28 and 30 mpg on the highway at 70-75MPH.

[ken in az]

I wish I had the 3.69 rear diff ratio you M35X guys have. Give me a nice little boost in performance over my 3.32 gears I have in the M45

[NightWatch]

can't you swap out the gears for a set of 3.69's?

[ken in az]

can't you swap out the gears for a set of 3.69's?

Yeah, I would rather just swap out the entire differential though - costs about the same as a gear swap if you buy used and comes without the hassle of setting up clearances and all. I just wish that I could find a crashed m35x model to grab the diff from, I'd ask to swap with someone but you can't on the X cause you'd have to swap the front diff too.