I had the chance to compare the new Mitsubishi Mirage's CVT against the manual transmission version over the same route (100% city driving). In that case, the CVT actually has
better ratings than the manual for both city & highway.
As you might expect, the difference there was smaller than what we saw with the Nissans, to be sure: 42 mpg US (CVT) vs. 48 mpg (5-spd).
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...age-27384.html
A 14% improvement for the Mitsu 5-speed vs. 27% with the Nissan manual.
But it also wasn't as good a test: it was me driving the two Mitsus on successive laps, not head-to-head like we did with the Nissans under identical traffic and accel/cruise/decel conditions.