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While the manufacturers may use the "sporty" excuse for poor overall ratios on manuals. I find the practice disgusting myself. When I could choose the gearing in my 76 280Z, my first setup was a .75 overdrive and a 3.54 rear end. That works out to a 2.66 final drive. With 834 revs per mile, 2218 RPM at 60 MPH. In the Z it was good for about 28 MPG highway at 65 MPH.
Still too high for highway cruising. I found on the Z gearing that gave me 30-60-90-120-150 was just about perfect. One shift (1-2) got me to 60 MPH at 6k RPM shift points.
My VX was right at 2500 RPM at 75 MPH, if memory serves me. Make the car more aero and lower the revs at 75 MPH. Look at Basjoos' car for a good example of how to get great mileage while still maintaining high average speeds.
It's just too easy to make the last two gears much lower ratios (lower revs per mile) while keeping the first 3 at ratios that allow good perfromance. Their is no lower hanging fruit that manufacturers could employ to improve mileage than cutting less gear teeth in a couple of gears in the transmission. The fact that they do this with autos also shows the stupidity.
regards
Mech
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