Just wondering if any of you other V6 drivers share this sentiment. The LY7 is great from idle to just above 5000RPM... but after that it is just noise.

I notice it when I am on the freeway... I step on it to swing out and pass, if the (crazy) transmission decides to drop too many gears (into what I'm guessing is 3rd) I get a 5000-7000RPM run that does very little for my speed and it's not until the car gets to the next gear that the acceleration really starts.

More annoying than anything... if I am really making moves in traffic I use the paddles and keep between 4th and 5th. Generally for any kind of "performance" driving I'll shift right around 5000.

Rain Man I have to agree with you ! After 5000 rpm its just loud noise.

PS I cant get use to this drive by wire crap. I keep taking my foot off the gas to floor it and the car comes close to stalling out. I hate it.

Im just now getting use to the paddle shifters ---aaaahhhhh. :eek:

If there's a spot to do it on my way to work this morning, I'll goose mine a few times to see how it goes above 5000. So far I haven't had any issues. So long as I'm not stuck in 6th, when I step on the gas it goes like a stuck pig! But the trans is sluggish to downshift without either flooring it or putting it in M.

The reason for this is fairly logical. If you'll have a look at a LY7 dyno chart (this one from a Pontiac G8) you will see that Torque "curve" is pretty much flat, jumping slightly at ~4400 where the valve timing switches over... but it falls off sharply after 5000RPM.

http://www.trifectaperformance.com/DynoSheets/2008PontiacG8%5Cdyno.jpg

Also, horsepower is practically flat from 5500 to redline. So all in all there really isn't any reason to spin the engine beyond 5000RPM. Just shift to the next gear and get back into the good part of the torque curve.

Finally... it is also important to note that the Tri-fecta tune did essentially nothing for this engine.

Another think to note is the torque management is very intrusive. Just being able to tune that out, and let the car stay at WOT before shifting would make a nice improvement.

I really don't redline and go WOT that often (I have another car for that), but I would still like to improve things somewhat. For a 3700 pound sedan that I use for commuting I really can't complain about the power.