it's all about gears!

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by Cobb

Its my experience most automatics beat the stick shifts in mpg in epa testing. In fact its hard to find a prius, insight, or civic in a stick shift.

That's true, but EPA testing involves shifting at 3000+rpm out of 1st gear with slow acceleration, which is hardly representative of my driving and what kind of gas mileage I get

[Frank Lee]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

I feel like this argument is never going to end lol. Adding a gear to the gearbox adds maybe like 5-10 pounds, the extra gears have negligible parasitic loss due to churning oil, but the acceleration is better, the fuel economy is better. The only people who don't want more gears are people who don't want to shift more, but thank god I'm not one of them. Well, actually my car only has 5 gears, so it sucks wanting more gears I guess, but thank god most cars have more than 5.

Just because the gear ratios don't have a 40% spread all around doesn't mean it's for "ricers" that rev their engines too high. Shifting gears is not as smooth on wide ratio gearboxes, and it takes a lot of the fun out of driving stick. If you want to get from A to B on public roads yea, you only "need" 3 or 4 gears, but I'd much rather have 7.

The issue isn't whether people enjoy shifting or not (at least AFAIC); it's that the shifting process itself seems damned inefficient. Plus the other things I already mentioned.

Originally Posted by serialk11r

Yea, too bad just about no cars have electric drive :/

I thought there were lots of hybrids out there now?

[oldtamiyaphile]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

it's that the shifting process itself seems damned inefficient.

I used to shift as quickly as possible, I still do (though not all cars are happy to oblige), but I wonder if shifting slower is actually a form of pulse and glide, and therefore not that bad for efficency. I mean my TDI uses no fuel between gears anyway.

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

The issue isn't whether people enjoy shifting or not (at least AFAIC); it's that the shifting process itself seems damned inefficient. Plus the other things I already mentioned.

I thought there were lots of hybrids out there now?

I dunno, modern ECUs are pretty good at handling transient throttle conditions and a lightweight flywheel means not much energy is lost matching revs. I don't think it could be less efficient than hauling around an extra 50-100 pounds of automatic transmission gear.

Also I suppose there are "lots of hybrids" but they aren't cars I'd want to buy. If I wanted a Civic, a Civic HX seems like a much better value proposition than a Civic Hybrid, I still can't stomach the look of the Prius and 2nd gen Insight, and I'm not in the market for a new car. I mean, it doesn't seem like you own any hybrid cars in your large stable of vehicles either right?

[Frank Lee]

I don't participate in any highway parking lot so I don't need to fret over not having the right gear or even the best motive power source for that. And my newest vehicle is eligible for collector plates in four years yet I'm not in the market for any more vehicles.

[serialk11r]

Hahaha fair enough. To be fair though, I've only seen the highway parking lot get so bad that I fretted over gearing a couple times a year (which since I don't do a daily commute probably amounts to 10% of the time), so it's not really a big deal. I'm just excited for more widespread (mild to what I would call "semi-mild") hybrid tech because that could allow efficient battery charging and cutting the engine while rolling along through the parking lot instead of running the engine at 10% load constantly.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by P-hack

Do you prefer walking?

I actually walk regularly, but sometimes due to the distance a motor vehicle is useful to save time.

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

I actually walk regularly, but sometimes due to the distance a motor vehicle is useful to save time.

1. Wear roller blades.
2. Strap rocket onto your back.
3. Ignite rocket.
4. No need for Motor vehicle.
5. ???
6. Profit!

On a more serious note, the lowest (or highest I forgot how it works) geared vehicle I have ever driven is my 91 Mustang, at 55mph it runs at 1k rpm (might be 1.2k I haven't driven it for a while). The next cloest to that was my parents 2003 Honda Oddessey which ran about 1.4k at that speed.

[Frank Lee]

Originally Posted by Baltothewolf

1. Wear roller blades.
2. Strap rocket onto your back.
3. Ignite rocket.
4. No need for Motor vehicle.
5. ???
6. Profit!

Even better, swap the rocket out for a diesel.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Baltothewolf

5. ???

Bicycle? Sometimes it's even harder to ride one in hilly terrain than walking, or I wouldn't want to arrive at my destination sweating heavily.