2017 Cruze Diesel Hypermiled to 70MPG
 

Interesting article, and nice fuel economy. Not the greatest test with a fill up of only 2.25 gallons. A tiny variance will throw off that 70 mpg pretty wildly.

Pretty ****ty hypermiling. Crack a window a little. Cycle the AC a little. It is less the "price of parsimony" than it is "the price of poor technique. I bet many of us could beat their numbers on the same course and not sweat and drive at least 60 mph.

1500 rpm at 55 in 9th gear. 6th gear in my Golf TDI was the same.

Even though having more gears might eventually increase the fuel-efficiency under certain circumstances, the cost penalty and eventually the compromise between reliability and a compact packaging might be considered too, not to mention the internal friction inherent to a greater amount of gears.