it is not a race car and will never drive like one, if you couldn't use your cruise control before(cruise would kick on and off) and now you can yes they changed the gears. as far as power... its not there because the 3.8 doesnt have any. the gears just make it more hiway friendly. just my experience with 4.88's

 

I have an automatic with 4.88’s and 35” tires. I do drive it a lot on the highway so the 4.88 is perfect. It is just a little higher RPM than stock. It will feel like you are getting more power because you are running in the power band sooner. But gearing to the moon and revving the piss out of it is not good for the drive train or the engine.

 

Re-gearing brings you back to a 'stock-like' drive ratio, it doesn't add power. But in the grand scheme of things, you actually lost 'power' with the gear change.


Auto, 3.73, 34" tire height
= 1781 rpm @ 70mph
And I will assume that you ran with OD Off, right? So you were at:
= 2581 rpm @ 70 with OD Off

And now you are at:
Auto, 4.88, 34" tire
= 2330 rpm @ 70mph

So you lost 250 rpm on the freeway...

5.38's would have given you the same rpm as 3.73's with od off.




And contrary to popular belief (or Red Dogs, anyway) 5.38's are not anywhere even close to 'revving the piss out of it"...

 

Get the superchips, makes all the difference in the world, easy to calibrate just plug in below dash near your left knee and follow the instructions on the handheld module. 4.88 is a good gear ratio, keeps the pinion larger and stronger, works great on and off road.