3 ms·
It's not just the final ratio. A modern automatic has a large number of closely-spaced gears and many of the engines have been tuned to have a very efficient lo
by saltcured 8y ago
It's not just the final ratio. A modern automatic has a large number of closely-spaced gears and many of the engines have been tuned to have a very efficient low RPM cruise mode. Some have entirely different valve, injection, and ignition timing regimes for this low RPM cruise mode.
It is very difficult for a human to keep the engine within such a narrow RPM band for efficiency, without accidentally lugging or stalling. So, they will likely spend their time with higher RPMs which miss these opportunities.
- benj111 8y agoI take it you would still need a human to get the very best fuel economy, just that its becoming increasing difficult to beat the automatic (like compilers v hand optimised ASM).