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Old 04-21-2017, 11:27 PM   #31 (permalink)
JSH
AKA - Jason
 
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: PDX
Posts: 3,498

Adventure Seeker - '04 Chevy Astro - Campervan
90 day: 17.3 mpg (US)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rmay635703 View Post
JSH I think you need to schedule a ride along with someone that knows how to drive to demonstrate the fuel economy differences and potential of an auto and manual XMSN version of the same car.

There are many master hypermilers who can demo.

I have driven both an auto eco trim Cruze and a manual 1.8 base.

Over the same route same day I was able to coax 62mpg out of the manual xmsn Cruze using very basic techniques but even driven with extreme methods the eco auto xmsn Cruze just wouldn't do better, I couldn't get the instantaneous MPGs within 10mpg of the manual in any gear at any speed, trip ended at 44mpg.

My old Cobalt all summer returns mid 50's on each tank when I'm driving, it is far less efficient than any of the Cruze variants but yet does just fine.

Autos are getting better but comparing an auto to a manual is apples to oranges, just no comparison.

Also for those of us in climates with 5 months of cool to cold weather the autos extra fluid and warmup time massively reduces economy, My MT cars can many times maintain fuel economy down to about 10F the autos I've had usually loose starting around 50f and get cut in half around 10f, the new dual clutch cars seem to still have this behavior
I would be interested to see the difference between a manual and DCT version of the same car. Automated manuals have taken over the Class 8 heavy duty market due the the fuel savings.

The comment about autos taking longer to warm up makes sense as they do have more fluid. However, the most recent DCTs use dry clutches instead of wet clutches so it would be interesting to see the fluid volume vs a traditional manual.

As to master hypermiling, no thanks. Most of the techniques I've seen in videos or described in forums simply aren't applicable for driving in traffic.

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