October 31, 2007
This Slate piece answers a question I have often wondered about: whether stick shift cars get better gas mileage than cars with automatic transmissions.
If you're lazy about shifting and allow your RPMs to soar unnoticed, then you might actually guzzle more gas than if your car were equipped with a well-engineered slushbox. The federal fuel-economy ratings acknowledge as much, by including an important caveat: "Your vehicle's fuel economy will almost certainly vary from EPA's estimate. It varies significantly based on where you drive, how you drive, and other factors." So, unless you're prepared to be a vigilant, skilled motorist, you're probably not going to save much, if any, fuel by adopting a stick shift.When we replaced my old stick shift car a year and a half ago, we went with an automatic transmission, mainly because I didn't want to deal with the hassle of shifting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the Eisenhower. But given the way I drove that old car, we probably reduced our emissions at the same time.
interesting, i didn't even know i was supposed to be changing my transmission fluid. i guess that will happen when our car gets old enough.
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