Autos vs Manual transmissions

The real purpose of automatic transmissions in trucks. ....
As told to me by the head of Werner in 1997 when I leased on,
The biggest pool of potential drivers are women. But they are very intimidated by a manual transmission.
Not to mention most men born after 1970.
Fuel mileage ain't got a thing to do with it.

 

An interesting website on autos:

Automatic Transmissions and Class 8 Trucks: Are We Better with Them or Without?

They do say that autos give better fuel economy overall.

A website from CR England and they also say that computers shift better than humans. No matter how great you think you are.

Trucking Companies Embracing Automatic Transmissions - C.R. England

 

What I love about automatics is that they take off at all different rpm ranges. They can’t get out of there own way, they skip gears and lug the motor. Getting in reverse in a hurry is all kinds of fun, make sure you have the brake pedal depressed, defrost set to heat and fan on level 4, left signal on, and if you are lucky it will do it the first time. Trying to overpower the trailer brakes if they are frozen? Not in an automatic.

The engine brake will throw you into the windshield and it goes down ever gear. The best part is the air line broke on one last week and there it sat, it will not move without sufficient air. The only reason I can fathom those transmissions get better fuel mileage is the shorter shift extensions. It shifts to me like it’s set on random. All in all I hate them.

 

Cars no longer have slipping torque converters.

 

Well they still have torque converters but the CVT is becoming more common, but that's a WHOLE 'nutha animal.

 

No it doesn't.

The auto may do better on the EPA test dyno because all the shift points can be pre-programed to maximize fuel economy for the test. Just like Volkswagen did with their diesel. The manual has to be driven on the dyno with prescribed shift points that equalize the test but do not maximize efficiency. Basically, since the engineers know the data points pick up in the test, they can program the auto to short shift and maximize dyno efficiency. Not, at all possible with the manual. In the real world manual will always best automatic.

No, that has nothing to do with it. Manual transmissions can and have been made to shift seamlessly

Taller gears are almost always good for fuel economy.

 

Who says maximum number of gears is 7?

Why would cars be any different then trucks? 18speeds with 2 speed rears actually gets you 40 gears.

Who says you need that many gear ratios to have fuel economy?

Really you make my point. EPA milage is calculated from running a cycle resembling city driving and fuel economy is extrapolated from that. By having 8-10 speeds modern autos are short shifting the transmissions on the dyno to simulate more fuel economy. In actual daily driving speeds and acceleration, they are not using that many gears. It is just a trick that is helpful on the dyno, not the real world.

 

Yes it does, BUT, it depends on the vehicle. It's not an across-the-board thing for either tranny right now. But auto's are much better than they were as far as MPG than just a couple of decades ago. For the 2014 Ford Fiesta, it comes with a 6 speed automated manual. At 70mph that car is doing 2450rpm. The same car with the 5 speed at 70mph is doing 3200. Why? The auto has a 6th gear.

That car at economy cruise can do almost 50mpg and it's NOT a hybrid. It's a plain old 4 banger with a 5 speed (or auto 6 speed). Unfortunately, Ford has had a ton of issues with that automated manual tranny in that car and has a class action lawsuit filed against them.

 

I posted before, you know how I feel.

 

If you're just starting out and you're going to be driving someone else's truck I say who cares which gets better mpg's?

Find a company with a stick, learn to use that stick and learn to get the best mpg's you can with it.

Auto's are becoming pretty common now but knowing how to drive a manual proficiently is still an important skill to have.

I recently got an auto and spend most of the time with it in manual mode btw.