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I've been doing a bunch of reading since I posted this and from what I read and what I saw in a couple of the posts here I think the extra gears do you help. The point is to stay in the low RPM range as much as possible and extra gears help you do that. I can't see how a 3-speed automatic is going to be better for fuel economy then a 5-speed so to speak. And I don't think the gears are being added to automatic transmissions for the wow factor. I think they're actually is a difference in the fuel economy they bring. One of the best ways to find out because of everything being equal except for one thing would be a Saab 9-3 small t Turbo. They have a 5-speed but you can retrofit them with a six-speed. That'd be really interesting to do in to see what the difference was fuel economy because from what I remember everything is the same in terms of a final drive, first year, and Top Gear's. But I don't think anybody's ever going to test this out extensively
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