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There are a few comments in here which are claiming manual is better for fuel economy. IMHO, the way to get better mileage is - Drive slow - Accelerate gentl

There are a few comments in here which are claiming manual is better for fuel economy. IMHO, the way to get better mileage is - Drive slow - Accelerate gently - Look ahead and coast to slower speed instead of breaking when you need to reduce speed - If on a motorway, trust your cruise control - Check you tire pressure EVERY TIME you refuel. I have an eight year old six speed auto shifter 2 litre petrol engine car. On motorways, with hard compound tires I have regularly managed 44mpg. With softer tires I have managed 40 mpg. And I think it's down to my driving style rather than the type of gearbox. If I had a more modern car with seven or eight speed box and modern ECU, I am sure I'd able to achieve even better mileage than stated above. Also, I'd be going mad if I had to manually chose and shift between eight ratios !!! It seems that outside of U.S., there is some kind of social stigma attached with automatic cars. One is either a MANual shifter xor a WOMANual shifter. Several of my friends are strong proponents of manual gearboxes. When I ask them why... I don't get to hear much stuff about gear ratios, clutch best practices, torque. It's a plain "I don't like automatic" without much real information. This preference is purely without logic or reason. One of my such friends I noticed drives a for miles without going above third gear in situations I would have easily been turning the engine a lot slower in fifth gear. I think drivers who have to deal with icy conditions may have a case for preferring manuals. We don't have much snow/ice where we are... just lots of rain and in that situation I am usually more paranoid about the state of my tires rather than feeling less masculine about letting my gearbox shift on it's own. I think modern automatic shifters are better for fuel economy (and general peace of mind) than manual ones.

fnj 10y ago
"Accelerate gently" Nope. Absolutely incorrect. Best fuel economy is to accelerate rather strongly to cruising speed, getting into top gear quickly. BMW studied this when they brought out the 528e, and found something like 70% throttle is most efficient for this purpose. Upshift at moderate rpm, to be sure, but dawdling in the lower gears taking forever to reach top gear is a waste of fuel. You don't waste fuel accelerating. Fuel is being converted into potential energy. You waste fuel every single time you touch the brakes. That is turning potential energy into heat. All your other points are spot on. Most of all, drive way ahead! As soon as you see that light change to red far ahead, let off the accelerator and start coasting. Tire pressure is important. People look at me cross-eyed when I tell them I run 40+ psi, but it makes a big difference, and my tires do not wear in the middle.
- stillworks 10y ago
  > Best fuel economy is to accelerate rather strongly to cruising speed, getting into top gear quickly I have noticed that if I am accelerating strongly then up shifts happen between 2500 and 3000 rpm, otherwise the up shifts happen very much at 2000 rpm. Once I am in one of the upper gears then I tend to avoid heavy footing and accelerate gently. I noticed if use a heavy foot, the box tends to down shift. This I have noticed in just the plain vanilla D mode and not Sport mode which tries to shift at top of the rev range. I don't regularly use the Sport mode. On typical motorway driving, I keep at 70mph to 75mph between 2300rpm to 2500rpm. That is the rpm range and speed at which I have been able to get 40+ mpg. I could try the "strong acceleration" theory and see if I get any better mileage... but I guess I won't see a massive improvement. > People look at me cross-eyed when I tell them I run 40+ psi Interesting. How far above the manufacturer spec is that :-) My car is a touring/estate/wagon style and the due to the extra weight, the rear tires are rated at 2.5 bar / 36 psi ! Which I personally find to be very high. But I stick to the manufacturer specs. Depending on how quickly you change your tires you may not notice the wear. I am too paranoid about driving on sub-par tires and so far have stuck to changing all four tires after 24 months.

fnj 10y ago

"Accelerate gently" Nope. Absolutely incorrect. Best fuel economy is to accelerate rather strongly to cruising speed, getting into top gear quickly. BMW studied this when they brought out the 528e, and found something like 70% throttle is most efficient for this purpose. Upshift at moderate rpm, to be sure, but dawdling in the lower gears taking forever to reach top gear is a waste of fuel. You don't waste fuel accelerating. Fuel is being converted into potential energy. You waste fuel every single time you touch the brakes. That is turning potential energy into heat. All your other points are spot on. Most of all, drive way ahead! As soon as you see that light change to red far ahead, let off the accelerator and start coasting. Tire pressure is important. People look at me cross-eyed when I tell them I run 40+ psi, but it makes a big difference, and my tires do not wear in the middle.

stillworks 10y ago
> Best fuel economy is to accelerate rather strongly to cruising speed, getting into top gear quickly I have noticed that if I am accelerating strongly then up shifts happen between 2500 and 3000 rpm, otherwise the up shifts happen very much at 2000 rpm. Once I am in one of the upper gears then I tend to avoid heavy footing and accelerate gently. I noticed if use a heavy foot, the box tends to down shift. This I have noticed in just the plain vanilla D mode and not Sport mode which tries to shift at top of the rev range. I don't regularly use the Sport mode. On typical motorway driving, I keep at 70mph to 75mph between 2300rpm to 2500rpm. That is the rpm range and speed at which I have been able to get 40+ mpg. I could try the "strong acceleration" theory and see if I get any better mileage... but I guess I won't see a massive improvement. > People look at me cross-eyed when I tell them I run 40+ psi Interesting. How far above the manufacturer spec is that :-) My car is a touring/estate/wagon style and the due to the extra weight, the rear tires are rated at 2.5 bar / 36 psi ! Which I personally find to be very high. But I stick to the manufacturer specs. Depending on how quickly you change your tires you may not notice the wear. I am too paranoid about driving on sub-par tires and so far have stuck to changing all four tires after 24 months.