Changing the Gear Ratios

[ErikBEggs]

Love my 2011 LTZ A/T. My ONLY complaint is the gear ratios.. they are piss poor. The adaptive learning transmission has smoothed the car out quite a bit, but it still has some gear performance problems:
1st Gear: This gear has always been too quick. The adaptive shifting has smoothed it out quite a bit because it used to try to shift into 2nd while making a left turn -_-. The car spends most of its time in 2nd and 3rd gear which is great from a dead stop.

My main problem is highway usage and the 4th, 5th, and 6th gears. My 4th gear is nonexistant now for some reason. I can't merge onto the highway well because 5th is too weak and 3rd is small to where it sputters out and stalls unless I slow down under 30 and shift it down manually into 3rd (from there it takes off like a missle as it should). The 6th gear is wayyyyyy to small. Cruising at 70 MPH requires some 2700 RPMs which is way too high for highway efficiency. Even at 55 MPH its around 2200 RPM, and optimal cruising is somewhere between 1700-2000 RPM. Not only that, I have no passing power when pushing 70 MPH. It tries to shift down to 5th, but since thats too high it stalls and sputters out...

So yeah, I'm really not looking for a true performance tune type upgrade, but just better gear ratios. I hear you can do them manually but I'd like to know how to change this... help!

[jakkaroo]

dont feel bad a b16 tranny in a honda 65 your at 4500 rpm right before vtec

[bartonmd]

Love my 2011 LTZ A/T. My ONLY complaint is the gear ratios.. they are piss poor. The adaptive learning transmission has smoothed the car out quite a bit, but it still has some gear performance problems:
1st Gear: This gear has always been too quick. The adaptive shifting has smoothed it out quite a bit because it used to try to shift into 2nd while making a left turn -_-. The car spends most of its time in 2nd and 3rd gear which is great from a dead stop.

My main problem is highway usage and the 4th, 5th, and 6th gears. My 4th gear is nonexistant now for some reason. I can't merge onto the highway well because 5th is too weak and 3rd is small to where it sputters out and stalls unless I slow down under 30 and shift it down manually into 3rd (from there it takes off like a missle as it should). The 6th gear is wayyyyyy to small. Cruising at 70 MPH requires some 2700 RPMs which is way too high for highway efficiency. Even at 55 MPH its around 2200 RPM, and optimal cruising is somewhere between 1700-2000 RPM. Not only that, I have no passing power when pushing 70 MPH. It tries to shift down to 5th, but since thats too high it stalls and sputters out...

So yeah, I'm really not looking for a true performance tune type upgrade, but just better gear ratios. I hear you can do them manually but I'd like to know how to change this... help!

So... Let me get this straight... You know more about how the car is supposed to work than the people who designed it... but... you don't already know how to completely re-design a transmission from the ground up to get new ratios in it?

2700rpm is also pretty low for an automatic transmission with a 1.4L, by the way...

Mike

[Dayhoff35]

tune would be best, but dont think there will be different gears released for the cruzes, just not enough demand.

[ErikBEggs]

No I certainly don't know more about everything than the engineers. I'm just saying from a driver standpoint. Its not as smooth as other cars I've driven from a shifting standpoint which is why I am asking how to change it. I also know that the makers design things a certain way to meet the guidelines and to reach a certain fuel economy rating. I also know that the rating is always on the low end of what is really achievable for any given car. A lot more goes on behind the scenes that we are led to believe but that's really not the point. I want my car to run better and that is that.

The car has no passing power on the highway at 70 mph if I need a bust of accel to pass a truck. That is a legitimate concern for me as a driver so why wouldn't I want a way to improve this??

[tehcor]

get a tune then? much more of a power curve.

[Dayhoff35]

The passing at 70mph is not a gearing issue as much as a power issue. The car was not made to have speed hammering it at 70mph. If you want your car to downshift and have more power then now, get a tune, riding in a tuned cruze that i did last night there was a significant change in higher speed acceleration compared to stock. Or you could just put it in sport mode anddownshift yourself until you pass.

[Quazar]

Im just confused why the OP didn't know what the gear ratios and the final drive ratio effect would be before he bought the car.

[ErikBEggs]

I had done my research on the car, but not that extensively as to know the ins and outs of the transmission. Was very pressed for time to make a purchase before I left state for my last year of college. The car drove well, and it does drive well, its just a minor nitpick I've noticed after a few long roadtrips. I wasn't suggesting that the thing needs to zip past everything, but when I try to take it past 70 to make a pass it stalls because the transmission tries to downshift to 5th but can't.

[Dayhoff35]

I understand, like i said though a tune would fix all your problems, but if you dont wanna go that route maybe just a little more time may be needed to make passes and so on. Its a good car for what it is though!