Quote:
Originally Posted by nomenclator
On the highway, at 60-75 mph, the CVT keeps the engine at much lower revs than you can get with the top gear in the manual transmission. We are talking about 2000 rpm. There is just no way you can get gas mileage with the manual transmission that is as good as with the CVT, no matter how you drive the manual. In 6th gear at 70 mph the rpm's are over 3000. You can't do it around town either as the CVT is constantly seeking the lowest engine speed that will keep the engine from lugging. You just can't do that with only 6 gears. Increased frictional losses in the CVT aren't enough to make it less efficient overall.
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You're right on the highway part. There's not much you can do about the high rpm. Around town it's a whole different story. See my mileage log. I only have 5 gears to work with, too.
I like the new Fits, but they didn't offer enough over my older one to be worth a trade. Especially with the 6-speed manual not getting a better top gear ratio than my old 5.