Got any low-end torque?

[///Manuel]

04 4.8is with CAI
When I'm around town and want to do some spirited driving at lower speeds (25-40mph), in third gear, I really do not have that much kick. The gears just seem tall (and they are). Second gear will pull hard around those speeds but in third the car is slow to get going. Is that an expected behavior? I thought the torquey V8 would pull harder down low...

6th gear at highway speeds is around 2k rpm's which is fairly low to me. Was that done for gas mileage purposes? So then you need to come down two gears to get a quick kick to do some passing around 60mph. 6th will not pull, 5th not that much and 4th is appropriate. Anyone has any experience with different gear ratios? That would put the engine power band right where it should be for daily US roadway driving.

With six gears I thought we'd have shorter lower gears.

EDIT: The other thing I noticed is the transmission spooling effect, when you press the throttle there's a slight spooling time which happens before power is transferred to the wheels. Is that something I just live with as well?