bold strategy..
You revive a 12 year old thread by insulting a moderator... while admittedly correcting a false statement.
but to be fair you didn't address the elephant in the room, the transmission operation being described as operating in a somewhat lazy mode.
being slow to downshift does tend to be a fuel saving tactic, and not good for performance.
these shifting algorithms are being reworked all the time and adaptive self adjustments make it even harder to compare apples to apples..
nevermind the final drive ratios being different, and the shift programming likely being different as well
And this all assumes the engines of both vehicles were in identical condition with identical conditions.
Heck, a cool day can make most engines perform better..
bottom line, its hard to pinpoint one single cause, but yes, if the final drive ratios are different, the numerically higher one will tend to have a lot more acceleration with everything else being equal