Slow accel on highway

[infinityisfive]

Hi all, I've had the car a few months now and am working thru the maintenance and getting to know its quirks. Passing speed on the highway 60-80 mph doesn't seem that great. In 4th gear/2k rpm it won't do much, which isn't surprising. I have to kick down to 3rd which brings the revs up to 3k ish and there is a bit more power there but it's pretty dang slow to rev. I looked up the HP graph for the LD8 and it doesn't make over 200hp until around 4k so I assume my experience is normal? Is it necessary to shift all the way down to second when going 65 mph to get into the power band? I'm wary of beating on the car.

If I'm at a dead stop and floor it the car has plenty of power and does it's 0-60 in about 8 secs so I know it's not the engine/intake/exhaust etc etc. I've recently replaced the intake boot and cleaned the maf, which fixed a throttle response issue I was having. No CEL though.

Also, I have to jam the accel pedal so far down to do the kick down I can't feather the pedal to apply more or less power. If I use the shifter and select 3 I feel better about it but I'm wondering if there's a way to adjust the kickdown point on the accel pedal.

The car has had a very mellow life so I am trying to work in a WOT pull every once in a while to loosen up carbon build up etc

Thanks for any insight

[infinityisfive]

I've learned the car's shift points seem to be different in 3 than in D. The car short shifts in D but seems to hang in gear longer in 3. As far as highway passing etc, shifting down to 2 might be the solution but 3 is good enough for the way I'd like to drive the car

[nos4blood70]

The N* is known for higher RPM power, so what you are describing doesn't surprise me. Additionally, the factory transmission tuning requires quite a bit of throttle input sometimes to get it to kick down and go. I think what you are experiencing is normal, especially if it feels powerful in other gears.

[infinityisfive]

^ I've noticed too the car tends to hang in gear longer in 3 as well. I imagine the trans was programmed for emissions efficiency in D. When I drive it in 3 it's more what I'm used to.