I test drove a new 5 speed tC today and I absolutely loved every aspect of this car except for one thing.......it's geared way too low for me. I noticed it turns roughly 500 RPMs higher than my 5 speed Corolla at any given speed in the same gear. Since about 95% of my driving is highway, I would consider buying a tC if I can get a different ring and pinion gear set that would bring engine RPMs down to between about 2750 and 3000 RPM at 75 MPH. The stock gearing would be fine if I spent most of my driving in town or playing road racer, but I put 3000 miles a month on my car and I need to get as close to 40 MPG as possible. I know I could probably get this mileage with a different vehicle, but it wouldn't look as nice as a tC and it probably wouldn't be as sporty. I'm trying to get away from the boring cars (like my Corolla) and the tC is definitely not boring. I've seen people posting low to mid 30s for highway mileage with stock gearing, so I'm fairly confindent a higher gear ratio would allow this car to achieve 40 MPG (or close to it anyway). Also, the 2.4 liter engine provides enough power and torque that not much of the stock accleration sould be lost with the higher gearing. Do any of you know of different gear sets for these cars?

 

Anyone?

 

None available. just what comes with it. you drive on the highway alot? the tc is not for you.

 

There's gotta be some aftermarket company or companies that make them, isn't there?

 

nope

 

Well that's frickin' ridiculous! Who only makes one set of pinion gears for a car?

 

dude, we drive a fricken economy car, not a RWD sports / muscle car were they have changeable gearing.

Do a 6 speed swap if you want. I know theres already a few that are trying to find a 6 speed compatible.

 

car companies?

 

Here's a thought. Is the 5 speed tranny in the tC the same one used in the 5 speed 2.4 liter Camry? If so, these two cars certainly aren't geared the same (my guess is the Camry would be geared more like what I'm looking for in the tC), so how about using the pinion gear from a Camry tranny in the tC tranny?

 

Good luck with the custom work. :D

 

You guys have been such a wealth of knowledge. Thanks for all the insightful input. Not! You guys don't even know if the Camry and tC trannies are the same.

 

No one here is offering much help because no one here ( except for you ) wants to put gearing in a tC to make it less " fun ". The 5 speed camry is boring to drive. not the point of driving a tC.

By the time you pay to have the transmission work done, you could have just bought your boring camry with the boring gearing. tC's are geared more towards the x-y generation. Not for a 48 year old grandpa telling the " scionlifers " of how much help we are.

 

the final drive is different on the camry longer I guess. Might wanna try that or just switch out the tranny all together, the case is the same.

 

I too am old school where it was "easy" enough to swap out gearing to change the purpose of a car. But I wouldn't think of going thru all that trouble on a new car to get better mileage; there are plenty of options out there if one wants a nice coupe but better mileage so i'd just look at other rides. In fact though there at some point may/will be a 6 sp option ( i think ZPI is working on one? ), that extra cost of a new tranny will be far more then the 6-700 bucks per year you'd save in gas ( from 40-32 as an example).

 

How expensive could it be to have one gear changed in the tranny?

 

Maybe you didn't read my original post, but if you had you'd see that I'm looking for something more exciting than a Camry or a Corolla. Simply changing the gearing in a tC certainly wouldn't make it boring. While the tC has the same engine as the Camry (and I'm assuming the same tranny as well), it is lighter than the Camry, so even with the same gearing as the Camry, it's still going to accelerate faster than the Camry. I guess I didn't realize I was going to be discriminated against because of my age when I registered in this site.

 

i don't think age is an issue on this site, i've been on for 1.5 years, and haven't run into issues due to my "experience" ( a nicer word for old age ). In fact at times that experience has been appreciated. Not to say that everyone agrees on here as that is not the case ( nor will it be when opinions are voiced ), and at times things can get 'heated'.
The one thing I will say that i've learned as we mod the wife's ride ( including getting a lot of info from this site ) --things are totally different then the "old days". The technology is far more advanced, the ease in which we could have done something in many cases is long gone, and the costs for these parts ( and labor time if needed ) is also much higher. And to be honest: much of the help/answers I've gotten over the course of time on here has been from the younger guys who have been more then willing to give tips as needed. When for us an intake meant a new manifold, a cam swap was common, and changing the ring/pinion was done in a short amount of time with a couple beers as payment. Now these toys use computers for tuning, touching the exhaust can affect the emissions in many states, and working in these engine bays can be a daunting task.
So don't give up on this site, but don't feel that every answer will be one that you like or agree with.

 

You'd have to approach an aftermarket gear company and request they custom make one for you. As everyone's been saying, no one makes a single gear pinion for the tC as it's not quite a big muscle car (or a real sports car for that matter.) Once you get someone to custom make a single gear for you, you're going to have to take off the transmission and crack open the bell housing to remove gears and replace the one you want. Fine if you can do it, but if you're not planning on doing labor yourself, that's a whole hell of a lot of money you're putting into 35 mpg.

The Camry's transmission is identical to the tC's transmission. The only difference is the final drive ratio. Get the final drive from the Camry, and stick it in your car, and stop complaining. With luck, and with your own labor, you'll see yield in a relatively short time. At the very least, you'd be less in the hole than if you were to swap the entire transmission.

You say you drive highway mostly? If you cruise at 80 you should be hitting about 30 mpg. Now surely that's not so bad is it.

 

No ones discriminating

I said the tC is geared towards the x-y generation. Abviously you are not in this generation, so it wasnt geared to appeal to " OLDER " people that care more about " SAVING MONEY ON GAS "

 

unsurprising to say more expensive than it would be worth doing to be saving gas money over the next few years.