11/13/2023 0 Comments Manual vs automatic fuel efficiency![]() My Dad ran his air conditining while my brother suffered with the heat. On a 350 mile trip where they were traveling together in separate cars, my brother got 19.2 miles per gallon on his strippo Buick LeSabre and my Dad got 19.7 on his LeSabre. Both my dad and brother meticulously maintained their cars. My brother also had a 1963 Buick LeSabre that had no options–no power steering or brakes, 3 speed manual transmission(rare for a Buick even 47 years ago), etc. My dad owned a 1963 Buick LeSabre with almost every option. There are many factors that contribute to gasoline mileage on two cars of the same make and model, but one equipped with an automatic and one with a manual. GM pulled out all the stops to maximize the fuel economy for this car including low rolling resistance tires, revised engine control programming, higher final gear ratio, gentle cruise control acceleration, electric power steering and what else I don’t know. Equal fuel mileage numbers can sway consumers weighing their choice might as well buy the automatic.Ĭonsider, for example, Chevrolet’s Cobalt XFE model, good for 37 mpg highway. If an auto mfr has a little wiggle room in their corporate fuel mileage requirement number, they can take advantage of that by selling cars with more profitable automatic transmissions rather than cheaper manual transmissions. There is no problem with the EPA if a mfr sends fuel mileage numbers less than actual. They furnish the numbers to the EPA for inclusion on the web site but are subject to spot checking by the EPA. In spite of the numbers on that show that many automatics get mileage as good as manual transmissions, I don’t believe it. They sell fewer and fewer manuals each year and in many ways the only reason they keep them at all is so their “Starting from…” price is lower- if they actually improved the manuals people might not option up to the automatics! If carmakers really wanted to invest some cash in them, they could pretty easily put 6-speed manuals in economy cars and have something that would beat the autos, but the sad fact is that they’re really not that interested. Along these same lines, automatics have picked up gears- 5 speed autos are pretty common these days (versus 3 and 4 speeds being the rule in the past), whereas the manuals are still the same 5-speeds that have been pretty standard since the 80’s. Since the engine’s turning faster at a given speed, the mileage is worse. The other thing is that car makers assume that people want manual transmissions these days because they’re sportier, and so they’re geared a lot lower than the automatics. ![]() One, automatics have gotten a lot more efficient- with lock up converters and electronic controls the power lost from the old “slushboxes” is down to almost nothing. ![]()
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