401–410 of 893 posts
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can confirm with anecdata: in my car the computer reports 0.0 fuel consumption when coasting in gear but non-zero when in neutral/clutch depressed.
another anecdata: I once drove a car that reported negative fuel consumption when driving down the hill. EDIT: no, it was neither electric nor hybrid car, but some old petrol car with manual transmission (Saab 900 or similar).
Now, though, you basically have three choices if you want a manual: economy cars, sporty cars, or trucks.
The cars in Europe seem to be sharply divided between small, efficient feeling manual hatchbacks and powerful autobahn chewing rear wheel drive German luxury/sport sedans that will pass you on the inside lane like you're standing still when you're already going 140kph.
I think because Europeans simply don't see most advanced American, Japanese and Korean cars they simply have no idea what we're getting on about and they have virtually no experience with the state of the art in modern transmissions. Having just spent a few weeks driving around in a manual again, it felt pretty absurd and old timey to be honest.
For example, the absurdly tiny golfcart/hatchback I was touring around in claimed around 17km/l fuel efficiency, I don't think I ever quite hit that, I was more in the 15-16 km/l range. It was so small, I couldn't fit both my luggage and my friends in it, and it struggled to maintain speed on hills with the aircon on.
Coming back home, my very modern, full sized Japanese sedan hits around 19km/l on most daily drives. Plus I can actually put both people and luggage in it at the same time, and it hits highway speeds with absolutely no drama. Most new full-sized cars in the U.S. are getting somewhere around that fuel efficiency, and the cars are closer in size to the autobahn chewers than the econohatches.
I couldn't really find any particular advantage to driving a manual, and I drove it for about 3,000km just on this trip. But there were tons of disadvantages. When I asked my friends why the preference, all I got back where vague statements about "being more in touch with the car" and a bunch of outdated old-wives tales about fuel efficiency.
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In Germany you are even required to drive fast on the Autobahn while taking your drivers' test I heard. I can't find the hard numbers to back it up but probably up to 160 or 180Km/H. This is very different from the sedated "keep your lane", slow speeds and wide roads everywhere traffic in the US.
I got my license in Germany and was never required to go that fast during any driving lessons or my test. My driving instructor told me to go roughly the recommended speed of 130km/h to practice some real-world Autobahn driving. That said, I know of one person who was told to go fast on the Autobahn during their driving lessons by their instructor. Definitely not part of the official test though.
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>when automatic transmissions are consistently outperforming humans at fuel efficiency Do you have data to back this up? Unless you're driving a dual clutch "dry" transmission or a CVT, because of Physics, an automatic transmission will always be less efficient. The Automatic transmission Torque converter [1] will waste some of the energy provided by the engine, especially with city driving. Also, most automatic cars…
Coasting in neutral or with the clutch disengaged is both more dangerous and less efficient then engine braking. In the UK you will fail your driving test if you coast, and in some countries / states it is illegal - with good reason. Just google it - not a single article supporting your argument.
Just got back from another trip to Europe where I encountered the slightly odd European preference for manuals. I can kind of see why, the car culture is quite different from the States -- where most cars are two or three generations beyond the kind of automatics most Europeans associate with the transmission type. The inverse is that most European diesels are two or three generations beyond what most Americans assoc…
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Eco driving is also about driving with foresight: don't accelerate if you likely have to stop soon anyway. Braking wastes the most gas.
So many people hate you if you do that. They will pass you angry, just to stop 5m down the road while you get there behind.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In Germany you are even required to drive fast on the Autobahn while taking your drivers' test I heard. I can't find the hard numbers to back it up but probably up to 160 or 180Km/H. This is very different from the sedated "keep your lane", slow speeds and wide roads everywhere traffic in the US.
I got my license in Germany and was never required to go that fast during any driving lessons or my test. My driving instructor told me to go roughly the recommended speed of 130km/h to practice some real-world Autobahn driving. That said, I know of one person who was told to go fast on the Autobahn during their driving lessons by their instructor. Definitely not part of the official test though.
That being said, my instructor told me to "floor it" once in a driving lessons as well, just to see how it feels and how the car behaves.
[Edit: Grammar]
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>when automatic transmissions are consistently outperforming humans at fuel efficiency Do you have data to back this up? Unless you're driving a dual clutch "dry" transmission or a CVT, because of Physics, an automatic transmission will always be less efficient. The Automatic transmission Torque converter [1] will waste some of the energy provided by the engine, especially with city driving. Also, most automatic cars…
> because of Physics, an automatic transmission will always be less efficient You making that claim based on how automatic transmissions currently work, right? And not on every way they could work. Purely from logic, your claim has to be false: Imagine a humanoid robot sitting in your driver's seat, driving your manual transmission car, its robot arm doing the shifting exactly as a human would. Your manual car has be…