I need some help here. I just purchased a 2006 xB with 48,000 miles on it. It runs excellent and shifts smoothly. The issue is that at 60 MPH in fifth gear the engine is at 3000RPM's. As I continue up to 70 the RPM's climb to 3400.
I asked the dealer about this and they stated that the RPM's should naturally fall when the proper engine speed is reached. I have owned many cars/trucks with a five speed and that gear would just send the RPM's down as far as 500 to 700 RPM's lower once I shifted into fifth gear.
I am wondering if I have a performance chip, or if I just have a high geared transmission. All help is appreciated.

 

nope, scions just have shorter gearing compared to their toyota counterparts. the only thing that could effect your rpms versus speed is if your wheels and tires are different then the OEM wheel and tire package.

 

Thanks for the help. It has the upgraded aluminum Scion wheels and Goodyear tires, so no mystery there. I will just continue to enjoy it. Thanks again.

 

the scion alloys are the same weight as the steelies

 

yeah all manual trans XB 1st gens rev at around 4000 RPM at 80 MPH or 3000 RPM for 60 MPH. Just the stupid short gearing city driving it was meant for.

 

So far as my research has revealed, the fifth gear can be swapped from a previous-generation Corolla, as the transmissions are similar. When my clutch eventually goes, I'm going to look into the swap (though I haven't heard of anyone doing such a thing). I figure that if I turned a few hundred RPM at highway speed, I could crack 40mpg during the summer.

 

yea a six speed would be nice. i have 26k on mine and im still not comfortable with the hight rpm of the freeway 4k

 

If you hear anything more or find more out, let us know. I've been interested in this for while now. But I'm not gonna be able to do it for a while, so I just put it on the backburner. Just an idea, I haven't looked up any specs or anything, but does the Yaris have different gearing? It get's better mpg, so you'd think it would. If it does, you'd think the tranny wouldn't be to hard to mount up to it, given that our engines are the same. Just something I've been pondering. But, definitely keep us updated with any new info. I'm very interested.

 

3000 rpm at 60 for a mt is what itb is. Kind of a bummer for highway mpg. My daughters Echo at is 2400 at 60 and my new Yaris is 2700 at 60. My wife isn't too obsessed with her scion rpms, but too bad they are so high.

 

I started posting this back in 2005 - it's on ScionLife 13 times so far...

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...pm++mph#881022

(Just for laughs, my RPM at 60 MPH with my slightly oversize tires in my automatic xB Classic is 2520...)

 

LOL and back in 04 when we had the I wish section for scion I was complaining we needed a 6spd

 

No point in talking about this. The idiots on this forum will cry up a storm about how the xB was intended to have short gearing even though no car should be at 4,200rpm at 80mph these days.

I pretty much drive 80mph on the highway no matter what, and 4200rpm is ridiculous. It gets poor gas mileage at that constant RPM and sounds like crap. Either a taller 5th gear, or a 6th gear would have done the trick.

The haters will hate, and say im wrong, but the truth is, Toyota probably didnt want to castrate the sales of their hybrids. If the xB had a tall 5th gear or 6th gear it would probably get 36+ mpg on the highway.

 

pfffft few ppl that live on flat land gets around 40+ mpg in their xB's

but not me i'm enjoying getting 33/34mpg city

i just got used to the high rpm's cause it gets closer to the peak power at those high rpms just think of it that way...

 

Pushing an xB to 80 mph is like pushing a barn door that fast. It's an exercise in futility, mileage-wise. I did some mileage testing this week in 30 mph winds from 52-65 mph. Pushing into the 30 mph headwind, I got 39.7 mpg. Using the 30 mph wind as a tailwind, my mileage went up a full 10 mpg, to 49.7 mpg The figures are artificially high, since my ScanGauge wasn't calibrated, but they show the obvious fact that the xB is a barn door. Pushing one to 80 mph is guaranteed to kill your mileage. Even going from 60 to 65 mph is a 3 mpg hit on fuel economy.

I'm a hypermiler, so my first fill-up was 46.8 mpg.