Why do you drive an automatic (unless you don't)?

[user removed]

Find a Car

19 city and 26 highway= GAS HOG for a Sentra.

If I wanted to putt around at average speeds of less than 40 MPH per tank then my mileage would equal yours, in a significantly heavier car, with one of those automatic transmissions you like to trash. The Altima averages close to 38 MPG at 65 MPH on the Interstate.

regards
Mech

[dcb]

You seem to have missed the point. You called his car a gas hog, when it is saving much more gas than your own. You ignore the integration of man and machine that a stick shift enables.

We all drive sticks here, the mrs doesn't mind at all and enjoys getting good mpg and beating her high score. I enjoy doing everything I can to help national security and energy independence and conserving resources (and saving money ).

[user removed]

I missed nothing. He chose to purchase one of the most inefficient small cars in the market. Then he brags about his percentage over EPA mileage. Like shooting fish in a barrel.

I explained my choice clearly, and my mileage will climb as I learn to drive my car more effectively, and the ambient temps rise above freezing here. Even with E10 and cold temps I am still beating EPA highway easily on my car.

You also made a comment about the difference between highway mileage between manual and auto versions of my car, a situation which was reversed in the 2010 model year. You used that information to conclude that the manual was more efficient, but the 2010 data refutes your assumption. You also admitted you knew nothing about the CVT when you asked if it even had a neutral position in the gear shifter.

If you want to drive a diesel that's your choice, and Sentra can make his choices freely as well, but when you come here and trash those who, for whatever reason, choose to drive a car that shifts it's gears automatically, your hypocrisy is obvious.

You and Sentra wish to trash others for driving autos, when it's their right to choose what they drive, not yours. Two years ago I drove 2 different cars that beat both yours and his easily. I was also driving twice as many miles, but the fuel cost was still below $200 per month.

Using yours and Sentras rationale and attitude, I guess I should conclude that both of you are Morons for driving cars that could not touch my VX or Insight.

Whats good for the Goose etc.

You called me stupid before when I stated that driving for mileage does not mean you should suffer verbal abuse for your car choices.

I guess that means you are stupid for not driving something that gets 100 MPG right?
After all you and Sentra are soo much smarter than the rest of us peons, at least in your mind.

[dcb]

I really do enjoy doing the patriotic thing and driving a bike to 98mpg and a car that easily gets 50mpg (well, it is a pita with the clutch dragging and when you let the veggie gel). And I'm really glad my wife plays along and isn't all material about "needing" an automatic, I love that she has that practical side. All I can do is encourage folks to reconsider what is a "need" and be willing to challenge others on their perceptions of "need", we (US) can't keep being wasteful like this.

I'm not here to make excuses for others, but to set examples, and as you say sentra is doing a fine job with his car. A perfect example of what someone with a stick shift and some dedication can do. His 22mpg epa car STILL gets 12% better REAL mpg than your 26mpg car. But you were the one who thought to make a comparison there, so don't complain.

BTW, I called your question stupid, not you. Your question about soccer moms was unusually stupid for you.

And I don't know who "us peons" is.

[gone-ot]

Originally Posted by dcb

And I don't know who "us peons" is.

...uh, maybe it's a typo and should've been U.S. Peons, meaning a euphamism for "American tax-payers"?

[SentraSE-R]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

Find a Car

19 city and 26 highway= GAS HOG for a Sentra.

... and within 1 mpg of the same year Altima's 20 city and 27 highway, Both manual and automatic. So my car is a gas hog, and yours is a responsible, sensible choice? Really. Unless you and your wife can't physically fit in a Sentra, your choice is just as irresponsible as mine - more so, since you compound it by driving wastefully.

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

If I wanted to putt around at average speeds of less than 40 MPH per tank then my mileage would equal yours, in a significantly heavier car, with one of those automatic transmissions you like to trash. The Altima averages close to 38 MPG at 65 MPH on the Interstate.

regards
Mech

Sure, and if wishes were fishes, you'd never have to buy food. Real world results say you live in a glass house, and should be the last person to throw rocks. My Sentra has the same engine in it as your Altima. If it's a gas hog, yours is equally bad at best, and likely worse, since you're getting worse fuel economy.

Like everyone else here, I've been discussing automatic/manual advantages/disadvantages. That's not trashing autos. I've owned my share of them. As you've noted, my wife can only drive autos because of her handicap, so I have equal stakes in both camps.

The only person trashing anyone else's choice of cars is you (for a choice I made 8 years ago), and you're quick to toss in moron labels (and build intellectually superior straw men) as well. If that's the kind of contribution you bring to the table, stay home.

[user removed]

Sentra and dcb. I invite every member of this forum to look at the posts from you two and see who is confrontational, obnoxious, and in general derogatory to others in many of your posts.

My car is not an 02 Altima and it is not a spec V. Ratings are 23 and 31, so get your facts straight.

My overall average is in the mid 40s with the bike and car combined. It could be as high as 60 if I drove the bike more and the car less.

If you two want to carry on a respectful debate about facts and even opinions I will gladly join you. If you want to be jerks, I can play that game as well, and will do so until the moderators kick me off this forum.

I managed to average 68 MPG in an Automatic Insight. At one point it was in the top ten. Probably the highest mileage of any auto on this forum.

Unfortunately in this area of the country the Insight and the VX are both deathtraps, as you Sentra referred to in another post about older cars, and in the case of the vx or Insight versus this Altima in a similar collision the injuries I would sustain would be catastrophic compared to minor in the Altima.

It rides many times better with 44 PSI air in the tires than either of the other two cars, and I will get the mileage up to close to you figure on your Sentra. The difference will be the bike that I ride alone and get over 80 MPG. If I split the driving between the two then the mileage would be close to 60 average.

With 20 k miles and costing me less than 12k repaired it was 40% of the cost new.

I love the CVT and I am still learning it's secrets as far as what you can do to increase mileage. In my Insight I averaged 68 versus 47 EPA combined, which was one of the highest EPA ratings, if not the highest of any AT equipped car ever sold in the US.

The Altima coasted .6 mile today from 60 to 35 MPH, so it requires even greater anticipation and situational awareness to extract maximum mileage. It gets 60 MPG coasting at 16 MPH, and I got 60 driving on a deserted road at 35 MPH using pulse and coast (engine on).

That's on E10. Only fuel available within 200 miles for the last 6 years.

The problem with the Insight was it needed $7000 in warranty work in less than 18 months, and when the warranty ran out that was a cost I would have to bear. Used parts are very hard to find. More warranty work than every other car I have ever owned in my life combined.

The VX I drove for 35k miles and sold for exactly what I had put in the car, to a woman who absolutely loves it.

My point is, we are supposedly all advocates of efficiency. I know I have been one for over 40 years. Averaged 44 MPH in an 84 Civic CRX for 50 k miles that I bought new late in 1983, 27 years ago.

People who come here to learn something do not need to have to crawl through childish verbal fistfights. In fact they may even not bother when the SPAM gets bad enough. Not saying don't disagree, just state your point with a minimum of common courtesy and I will gladly do the same.

Then a newcomer to this forum will see a community that treats each other with respect for each persons efforts to improve their driving efficiency, instead of reading useless garbage that teaches nothing to anyone.

Even people who drive Automatics should have the ability to learn techniques without having to crawl through all the crap about their choice of transportation. That includes people whose lives include other distractions that would make intense hypermiling extremely dangerous, which was the point in my question you called stupid dcb.

Maybe you missed something.

Dude.

regards
Mech

[tumnasgt]

Any chance that this thread can stop being a warzone and return to being a place to discuss why people chose the transmission they chose?

I started this thread because I am a not a big fan of automatics, and I was somewhat surprised at the number of people on EM that drive auto, so I was curious why. People will have different point of views on the matter, and that's why I started the thread: because I wanted to hear other people's point of view. Questioning somebody's view can be fantastic at making everybody think about things, but all this back and forward arguing just makes other people want to avoid joining in on the discussion (or in my case, returning to the discussion).

[jcp123]

Why? it's what I have. I prefer manual, but beggars can't be choosers.

[SentraSE-R]

Welll, this is the third time this moron has been the target of Mech's venom when he's targeted my SE-R. Time for an end one way or another. His first post says it. He took this thread to the crapper when he joined it. I'm out of it.