[Shaneajanderson]

Originally Posted by litesong

Yeah, that's about what I figured, too. Had all manuals for decades that gave good MPG. Loved the idea of a CVT, so got a Dodge Caliber w/ Nissan CVT. I loved it.....the unaerodynamic Dodge body, not so much. But, I managed 31MPG, overall with E10, 33MPG with E0 fuel, which was 10% better than other drivers reported. Figured, I could have gotten 33-34MPG with a manual & never would have bought a Caliber with an automatic step tranny (which it didn't have). Nissan used their own CVTs. Also had optional 4speed auto trannies, which were reported to have less MPG AND less acceleration.

Step automatics are generally a bit more reliable though, and much less expensive.