Scion tC... Driving 70mph - RPM is on high on High 3000 and Just touched 4000

I just bought my Scion tC - Automatic.
Today I drove it on the Freeway, and I noticed the RPMs are pretty high...

While I was driving only 70Mph ,the RPM was around 3800 and close to 4000...

Is this normal?

Are you guys seeing the same RPMs???

I also droved my Mother-in-Law's Camry LE 04, and while at 70mph, the camry's RPM is only around 3000....

Hmmm. is it a 4 speed auto or 5 speed auto???? since it sounds a bit too high. My 05 Corolla XRS has a 6 speed manual with the 8500 rpm revving Celica GT-S engine so the gearing is very short in the XRS, yet it revs around 3500 rpm at 70 mph in 6th.

It's 4-speed Automatic

theres only a 4spd auto right?

I believe so..

Unless the gear ratios are different ( a different final drive ratio???) on the Scion TC, my previous 04 Corolla S 4 speed auto revved at about 2800 - 3000 rpm at 70 mph and did not hit 4000 rpm till I would increase the speed up to 90 - 95 mph. You might want to double check with Toyota about it and have them check your gear box.

i'm pretty sure the tC has a 5spd auto, but there is no overdrive or something like that.

I confirmed it is a 4 speed auto.

i c, u're right. thre's no gear ratios on the scion website, so i dunno

OK I got it that it is by design. There is nothing wrong with the transmission. The TC auto tops out at 125 mph and has only 4 gears in it. The final drive ratio is small on your car most likely so that it can accelerate to the top speed of 127 mph the final gear must be geared short. Especially when I see my XRS 6 speed manual tops out at 135 mph with 6 gears, which is a mere 12 mph more with 2 more gears.

Based on the ratio of 70mph to 3000 rpm, it would take 7250rpm to get the car to 125mph if that is truely the top speed. That seems a little high to me. It sounds to me like your torque convertor isn't locking up. If when you are going 70 mph and you give it a good amount of gas if the revs shoot up then your torque convertor isn't locking up. That will not only shorten the life of your trans, but hurt your gas mileage.

You must have it in 3rd gear or there's something wrong w/ your transmission. Ensure that the car is in 4th gear, since it's easy to move the shifter to the left and pop it into 3rd gear. At 3500rpm my mom's tC is at 90mph w/ the automatic. 4k is 100mph, etc.

Both the automatic and the manual are carryover's from the Gen 5 Camry but the manual has a shorter differential ratio which makes the gears shorter in comparison to the Camry.

The E351 5spd manual for the tC has a 4.235 differential ratio vs. the Camry's 3.944.
1st 3.538
2nd 2.045
3rd 1.333
4th 0.972
5th 0.731

The U241E 4spd auto has a 2.740 ratio.
1st 3.943
2nd 2.197
3rd 1.413
4th 1.020

Ditto to what everyone else said.
With the torque convertor locked up, 2672rpm for 70mph in 4th. 3701rpm in 3rd.
Turn overdrive back on.:rolleyes:

:) yea...

I didn't realize the 3 and the D is on the same level...

I found out after reading the driver's manual...:whatwhat:

Thanks GUyS!

:confused: Wassup guys...i just bought a tc today and noticed that when i'm on 5th gear, about 70 mph my rpm almost hits 3000. Is that normal? Wait i forgot to add in a very important detail...it's a manual. I had a civic and when i hit about 82mph that's when the rpm hits 3000.
Does the manual Tc have overdrive? If it does where the hell is it located?..Can't seem to find it. And i'm very concerned if that's normal or not. Any help would help guys. Thank!!

yes blaze23.. that's normal for the manual to be that high.. it's gearer lower than the auto to get more acceleration, but at higher speeds you're seeing the rpm difference. I too had a civic (1996) and at 80 it was about 3000 rpms.. when i test drove a couple of manual tC's the rpms were up at about 3700-4000 rpms at 80-82mph.. there has been talk that they should've added a 6th gear to the manual to lower the rpm's at highway speed.. so nope there's nothing wrong with your tC.. just the way it is.. hope that helps..

The E351 manual is geared very similarly to the E153 transmission from the MR2 Turbo. So yes, you'll see higher revs, but it's intended for a sporty drive: quick off the line, better 0-60 times, etc. The cruising range will be around 3500rpm at 80mph.

E351 - tC
1st 3.538
2nd 2.045
3rd 1.333
4th 0.972
5th 0.731
Diff: 4.235

E153 - MR2T
1st 3.230
2nd 1.913
3rd 1.258
4th 0.918
5th 0.731
Diff: 4.285

:eek: thanks guys!!!! but bummer to the wallet...what a gas guzzler...sigh. Anyways, wouldn't that hurt the engine in the long run if we keep hitting 4,000 to 5,000 rpm regularly just to cruise?
I guess adding the 6th gear wouldn't have been a bad idea. You guys think SCion will take them all back in just to add another gear? haha...

take it back asking for 6th gear and they'll hand you an XRS :)

riiiiiight

cuz ya know, tehy're so similar :rolleyes:

I just got an auto '05 tC as well, and I was just about to call my dealer before I saw this thread. I was doing about 4000 RPM at 70 MPH (and refilling the tank every 5 days). When I first got the car about a month ago, I read through the manual, but I skimmed over areas like "how to change gears with an automatic" as those are usually trivial sections. Unlike all Toyota's that I've had, it didn't have an overdrive button on the gear stick. It's not exactly obvious that you're not in overdrive either (most Toyota's have a light that comes on), but with the tC when you select the "3-D" gear, it's not clear that you move the stick to the left for 3rd gear and to the right for Drive/Overdrive. The dealer never told me about this "feature," so I've wasted at least $50 in gas... not cool. Anywho, great car otherwise -- I couldn't be more pleased with it. It's just a shame that some dealers just don't know how to operate what they're selling. ;-)

-Spyguy

everyone on here is complaining about 70mph with 3000 rpm high already... thats so low that the motor has good torque and low redline it needs to stay low. my civic at 70mph is at almost 3500 rpm... my corolla should be at almost 4000 rpms... at 80mph my corolla is at 4500 rpms... very high but pulls good.

Anyways, wouldn't that hurt the engine in the long run if we keep hitting 4,000 to 5,000 rpm regularly just to cruise?

Adding a 6th gear would just make you shift more. The gearing is short for acceleration purposes to maximize the efficiency of the engine. You could always swap in a Camry E351 3.944 ratio by changing out the output shaft and differential ring gear (or swapping a Camry E351 in), and it'll cruise at ~3000rpm at 80mph. But your 0-60mph time wouldn't be in the mid 7's, but more like in the low 8's.

My MR2 has cruised at around 4k at 80mph and has over 200k on it. Is it bad? Maybe a little bit worse than 3k, but Toyota makes great engines. Don't worry about it.

Well there you have it, the tC needs a v6. ;-)