Quote:
Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary
But it is increased friction, especially in a manual.
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This is the point I'm not sold on.
Find a slope where you're neither gaining nor losing speed while rolling in neutral. Now, put it in gear and find the exact throttle position where you're neither accelerating nor decelerating. At this point, as long as you hold the throttle exactly where it is, you can take it in and out of gear and 1) RPM will not drop when it leaves gear, and 2) fuel consumption will not change whether in or out of gear.
Similarly, taking your foot off the gas while leaving it in gear will decelerate the vehicle more quickly than throwing it in neutral. Exactly as quickly, in fact, as the inverse of the amount of fuel used to spin the engine at the RPM it would be turning while in gear.
The engine is the lossy component, whether it's connected to the transmission or not. A CVT is almost always better at keeping RPM down and load up, granted, but I don't see how shifts themselves can make any difference.