Toyota hasn't historically been known for its all-out sports cars, but this traditionally conservative manufacturer has turned out its fair share of sporty cars. The Paseo might not have been much on paper, but its looks hinted at something more spirited than the average Tercel. And it was light enough to successfully combine a small, efficient engine and overdrive transmissions to yield good fuel economy and decent performance.
Given the Paseo's power profile and aerodynamics, you're probably not going to get the highest top speed in overdrive. The Paseo's 5E-FE engine produced a mere 93 horsepower at 6,300 rpm and 100 foot-pounds of torque at 3,200 rpm. With an engine that produces so little outright horsepower at such high rpm, you'll probably get the highest aero-limited top speed by keeping the engine as close to 6,300 rpm as possible at triple-digit speeds. That means staying in third gear using an automatic, or fourth gear using a manual.
In this application, overdrive is really better suited for fuel economy than anything else. As with all engines, you're going to get the best fuel economy running at foot-to-the-floor, wide-open throttle at or about 500 rpm below peak torque. The closer you can get to that, the better. In practical terms, in this application, that means shifting into overdrive as soon as doing so will put the engine no lower than about 1,500 rpm. Once you're in overdrive at that rpm, you can floor the throttle to get the car up to your desired cruise speed.
