Quote:
Originally Posted by Bimmer-Bob
If you want to know what the difference is like on the highway, next time you're cruising in 6th gear, just drop down to 5th, and that's about where you'd be. The stock gear ratios are about 15% between 5th and 6th, almost exactly the same as going from 3.23 to 3.73.
For me, I hardly ever used 6th gear before. I don't mind keeping the RPMs a little higher most of the time, because I like having the extra torque on tap and I like the extra little bit of engine braking on lift-off. Driving style makes a big difference in how much of a gearing change you'll tolerate, and it's subjective enough that one person's sweet spot could be completely unacceptable to somebody else.
But I will say there were a lot of nay-sayers when I was first considering the swap to 3.73. A lot of people with absolutely no personal experience with gearing swaps let me know that it would make the car "unusable on the highway" and "you'll lose top end speed." My feeling is that it's just one of those things that gets repeated and repeated on car forums and people think it makes them sound smart to say it. I mean, to some extent it's true - you can go too far, for sure - but I don't think this is too far at all. I was almost underwhelmed by the change, just because I had heard so much doom and gloom.
Yeah, I'm sure it's still a pretty great mod even if keeping the open diff. And LSDs are kind of stupid expensive.
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The closest BMW comparison was people putting in 3.91s into e36s which made first gear useless and rev high at freeway speeds. With a 6th gear and not quite as aggressive of a ratio should make a 3.73 perfect all-rounder in our chassis.
I might go with an auto open diff for the time being since is stupid cheap and quick to swap in.