Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 15:12:14 +0000 (UTC) From: amesnopsamrak.demon.co.uk (Andrew Stephenson) Subject: Re: Gas economy
In article <3F25DD51.6000900nopsamo.com> ma_twainnopsamo.com "ma_twain" writes: > I should have said mine is 5 speed manual transmission. In the > older cars it makes all the difference in the world. In the > newer cars there is not much difference in gas mileage between > automatics and manuals. To put numbers to this: around 1974 I was told by someone, who drove (biggish) cars professionally but AFAIK was not a mechanic, that an automatic could cost in the region of +12% consumption. For ages that deterred me from even considering an automatic. In the end, I became adept at using a manual shift, so no gain/loss. I may have saved maintenance fees on the fancier auto innards. I'd say that automatics confer less obvious advantages in cases like rentals: strange car, strange city,... It's nice to just use the feet and keep hands free for steering and signals. -- Andrew Stephenson