[Christ]

Not that it really makes a difference, but a welded body will get you better economy if you're stop and go all the time... stiffer body means less flex on acceleration, so less energy wasted on awkward motion, and more energy spent doing what's supposed to be done.

This principle applies moreso for automagic cars, which don't normally accelerate under TC lockup, so you're already constantly higher in the RPMs than you need to be in order to make the same speed compared to a direct-drive system, so even more energy (in the initial application of torque) is wasted moving in awkward directions.

To that extent, the idea stands... but it falls over as soon as you get drunk and attempt to read the whole post.