Autos vs Manual transmissions

You seem to me confused about how autos work. At higher speeds and if a heavy load is detected, they don't "lug" and they don't shift up to allow any slower rpm speed than drivers typically do with a stick. Where drivers burn additional fuel is in the lower gears and getting rolling from a stop. Autos will skip shift and progressive shift in the lower speed ranges where "lugging" does not occur, heavy or light.

At normal top cruise speeds, my auto actually downshifts [when ascending a grade] sooner than I was taught to with a stick. But the bottom line is a current generation auto will NEVER "lug".

They also gain fuel savings [over manual sticks] by using eCoast and reading the road topography ahead, as well as providing a cruise overspeed parameter to be changed by driver to gain speed on downhills without applying any power.

 

Oh I agree. Modern autos are computer controlled, they won't allow it to lug.

You seem confused. I'm not saying autos will lug the engine I'm saying gear jammers do.

 

Actually it's big engines. Low idle equals low oil pressure and lubrication for bottom end. As well as cold engine temps in winter, and high soot load, and turbo slubber. I'm not a guru but I know a few.

 

I've drove an o mack

I have drove an auto mack really Volvo engine. But special elm codes for low grunt. It was ok but never saw better than 6.5 mpg.

 

I don't know. All I know is we move typically in excess of 75k gross, all over the nation, mostly west. The few older sticks we still have are getting 7.1 mpg. And previous generation autos (2016-2017's) are getting 7.5 And new generation autos (2018's) are currently averaging 7.7 mpg

As far as the engine life expectancy, I can't speak to that. But I can tell you my company has some smart people in the upper offices and they won't invest in options where they will be penalized at trade-in at <500k

 

I love it when one guy says that since he gets .4mpg better with a stick than someone gets with an auto then all autos suck.

The megas didn't become megas by making stupid choices. If they are all going to autos they are obviously more efficient. Large fleets are realizing the fuel savings. Voltage regulators, high voltage, dead ECU's aside.....money speaks and standards are weak.

Autos win hands down with all large fleets. You might call them "wheel grabbers" but having both hands on the wheel at all times is known to be safer than having to shift with one hand. More focus can be had on the road ahead rather than having to worry about shifting. Blowing out a front tire while having two hands on the wheel is ten times safer than having only one.

 

They need volvos.

 

This was a manual 13 speed grossed 150k to 160k it was 3.8mpg round trip.

 

The owner of the outfit where I work has some investment in a large Freightliner dealership chain so, no ... no Volvos in my future. I know Volvo makes a pretty solid and comfortable truck, but I don't know that they're any better overall than the Freightliners. They are ALL mass-produced POS's with questionable build quality when you get right down to the nuts and bolts.

And the new DT-12 autos are going to give Volvo some serious competition in the coming years I suspect

 

9mpg is possible with dd15.