is this correct... ? didnt know 3000rpm was 70mph

 

Yeah, that's about right. Almost makes 5th gear pointless with such high rpm's.

My wife's Odyssey is at 1900rpm's at 70 and it's a 4 speed auto.

 

I guess you've never driven a German car then? Hyundai is also in the low to mid 2's at 70 with an auto, so I that also makes the Maxima pointless? It's the ratio that's important. German cars used to be 1:1 in 5th gear. Now that they have gone to the 6-spd they actually do have something like .83 in 6th, unlike the past. I don't even think Nissan tells you gear ratios on their website because their clients are to put it mildly not that sophisticated. To put an even lower ratio on the 5th gear would be like playing a fuel economy game with the EPA, but it would make no sense from an engineering standpoint. More gears (like 6-spd manual or 7-spd autos) means you spread the ratios out, not that you put lower and lower ratios for the high gears.

I'm oversimplifying but just like anything else there is a trade-off between acceleration and final drive, which translates to fuel economy and top speed. Put it this way, I don't want the Maxima to be any slower, it's not that fast to begin with! Nor do I need more than 28.5 mpg which is what my 7 yr. old SE did last weekend. So the 4th gen 5-spd is about right. I know it's hard to believe, but Nissan doesn't do everything wrong!

 

you also have to consider maximum engine speed

 

weird, my 70mph is below 3k RPM, i know at 80MPH i'm at 3200

 

my car is 70mph at 2700 rmp and 80mph at 2900rpm.

 

Easy guy... I wasn't trying to bash Nissan. I very much like my 5 speed. Just that when I do 70 in 4th and 70 in 5th, the rpm difference is near negligible.

 

No.. it's more like 72-73 MPH at 3000 RPM's...

 

Sounds about right.

Auto's have OD...that's why they can be at such low RPM.

 

SHYT when im going 70 mines about 3500... looks like another problem for my max =]

 

I dont know. But on my automatic on 1st gear i can go 50mph. 2nd around 80. Is it normall??

 

That's probably about right for an auto. Remember you only have 4 gears. OD is not a direct link like 5th in the manual is, so you can be at quite a low RPM.

Exit, I wouldn't worry about it. Really the only reason I can think of for it to be too high is if your clutch was slipping all the time...even that seems pretty far fetched, especially without you noticing on takeoffs etc. I could of course be wrong, but it seems that with a direct mechanical connection as found in manual trannies there isn't much that could make it be at the wrong RPM.

 

So I guess you need that 5th gear a little higher to accelerate and own those stupid ricers eh? If it were to cruise just a bit lower, atleast at 2k, you'd have even better gas mileage on the highway... no matter how I see it, higher gas mileage is ALWAYS better. Its not like your sacraficing performance.

 

^That's why the 2k-2k1 alti trans is looking so good to me right now. At 100mph I'd be at around 3700rpm instead of almost 4100. Still high I think.

 

last time I checked