Ok can someone explain in there infinite wisdom why mitsubishi did this.

IN the proceeds to search for another differential crown wheel for my magna beleiving that we had destroyed it (And didn't thankfully just some collapsed bearings, don't know how that could have happened, its not like we thrash it :nuts: ), I did some checking on gear ratio's between the 380 and the magna thinking, hmm bigger engine, taller ratio here we go get some longer legs for the magna.

And what do I find - there shorter? :redface:

Havn't got the full specs here but roughly the first four gears on the manuel model are the same as the magna series.

But 5th gear on teh magna is a 0.752 and on the 380 is a 0.820 :rant:

But what is even worse, is the 380 runs a crown wheel differential ratio of 4.11 and the magna a 3.85

Why did they do this to a larger motor, with more power and more torque?

Anyway the moral is if you have a 380 model, and you want more fuel economy, better legs then go and at least change the crown wheel to a magna one, and if you want a little more again change the 5th gear cluster gear to the taller one as well.

Not hard to do take around 7 hours, three bearings and some handy work. I think I can see this happenign as a popular alternative - never know you may even be able to bolt and no reason why not hte magna box onto the 380 and if so, then there you go instant gain.

So back to the question - why did they do this - I reckon its so that most people only go the auto's and they can phase out the manuel cars maybe?

prob smoother gear change between ratio

or the 380 has more torque higher in rev range

I highly doubt this will become common. In fact i doubt anyone will ever do it.

The manuals were geared like that to be more sporty to drive. Maybe in the future we will see a 6sp manual with a longer 6th.

Probly wanted it to pull hard in top so you dont get that dead feeling that some cars have in overdrive :)

With the extra capacity of the engine and slightly higher compression, there should be no reason why it couldn't pull harder than our 3.5 engines as it is. I mean our 3.5 engines pull very hard in the manuels, the rallairts especially. THe fuel economy savings I am sure woudl have been higher.

THe fuel economy savings I am sure woudl have been higher.

Maybe. Fuel economy isn't linear with rpm. Sometimes a higher rpm can give a better fuel efficiency then a lower one.

That is also true there is a correlation with higher rpms, higher open throttle openings and better fuel economy.

The manual was aimed at the performenace drivers end of the market, therefore they decided that shorter gearing would be more suitable. Also look at the weight of the 380...its in the BA Falcon (obese) league now...

shouldn't the rpm that peak torque is generated at be the most efficent/economical to sit at?

Does that mean you could swap out the Magna crown wheel for a 380 version and get faster acceleration in the Magna? (at the expense of top speed)