Stretching It By Far

[suitedcboy]

Manual transmission powertrains are harder to get qulified for emissions these days and the fuel economy advantage once held by manuals is not true today. Electronically controlled automatics will shift at more appropriate rpm and thus yield better mpg than most of us could achieve with a manual.

 

[Geesie]

It's true that modern automatics will have more efficient shift points than any but the most experienced driver shifts at. However, there will always been efficiency loss at the torque converter compared to a mechanical clutch.

 

[suitedcboy]

Locking torque converter eliminates that and many car makers use the clutch partially applied to overcome TC losses in lower gears when TC is not usually locked for even more TC loss reductions..
I am a multiple dozens manual transmission owner and favor them significantly but the EPA mpg numbers for manual transmission models of the same car are more and more often lower than the auto trans models. Straight highway will be better for manual but for so many of us that is not the majority of our driving and electronic throttle control, variable cam timing, and electronically controlled auto trans can accomplish optimization of the acceleration we have requested better than we can manage by shifting it ourselves.
Soon we will see the servo shifted, electronically controlled wet clutch dual path manual/automatics make their way from luxury/sport models to the lower priced models. These have advantages over torque converter linked automatics. Lossess in TC are eliminated and fluid pumping losses are less.

 

[Paisley]

What I'm trying to get at is that cars are heavier than they ought to be.

Cars in general may be heavier than they should be. But given the number of huge vehicles out there, I wouldn't feel safe driving a Smart car or motorcycle in traffic. I was in a wreck in a Honda Civic a few years ago. It gave me a sprained neck, sprained back, and TMJ problems that kept me up nights with pain. It was a year before I felt back to normal. As for the woman who rammed into my car with her SUV, I imagine the worst she suffered was a ticket and a higher insurance rate.

 

[Paisley]

Straight highway will be better for manual but for so many of us that is not the majority of our driving...

Yes, if you live in the city, you're constantly shifting. How can you talk on the phone or text when you're doing that?

 

[SamMarlowPI]

I'm disappointed to hear that stick shifts are really dying out, and that it's getting harder to find vehicles that are made with stick shifts. Still, I guess it only makes sense that a company wouldn't spend the money to tool their factories to make a transmission so little of the population buys.

i've noticed most of the base-base-base models of cars are stick but once you start looking at the more loaded models they switch to auto...

 

[adamjaskie]

Most of the cars that still come with a stick are actually sports cars. The higher-end performance packages sometimes come with a 6-speed manual. Of course they generally also have bigger engines, shorter gearing, and so forth, and only take premium, so you won't see the benefit at the pump.

Going 50 on a highway where the limit is 70 (which means around here people are going 75-80) isn't very safe. I suppose if it's three lanes each way and you keep to the right you should be fine, but really it isn't high speed that kills, it's differences in speed. People don't expect to crest a hill and up on a car going 20 under the limit. If you want to go 50, get off the freeway and take two-lane roads. Sure, you might get stuck behind an occasional combine for a few minutes, but you'll be going the average speed, and the safest you can be is when you are going the same speed as everyone else.

 

[SamMarlowPI]

i was thinking the same, adam...

 

[Flivver]

Cars in general may be heavier than they should be. But given the number of huge vehicles out there, I wouldn't feel safe driving a Smart car or motorcycle in traffic. I was in a wreck in a Honda Civic a few years ago. It gave me a sprained neck, sprained back, and TMJ problems that kept me up nights with pain. It was a year before I felt back to normal. As for the woman who rammed into my car with her SUV, I imagine the worst she suffered was a ticket and a higher insurance rate.

That five star safety rating that customers look for is one of the main reasons vehicles have gotten so heavy in recent years. It requires some pretty serious structural enhancements to achieve that five star rating and that leads to significant weight increases.

Back in the 1930s, GM began doing market research with consumers to better determine what they wanted in a car. I believe that GM's early use of consumer research is one of the reasons their market share was so high during the golden era.

Auto companies take their best crack (within constraints) to give consumers what they want. SUVs, high horsepower engines and five star safety ratings were all demanded by consumers. Improved fuel economy is now on many consumers' minds and for the first time in decades, it looks like consumers might be willing to pay a bit extra for improved economy. This will allow the car makers to adopt more expensive technologies like downsized, direct injection turbocharged engines that will deliver impressive fuel economy without degrading the level of performance that consumers still demand.

 

[Lefty]

Until I get my '72 BMW R75/5 back up and running, my wife and I cruise on her scooter, a Genuine Scooter Company, Stella model, on any nice weekend. It's a 150cc, so we don't take any road with a speed limit of over 55 (it tops out at about 62, but slows dramatically on hills). It's an injected 2 stroke and gets around 90-100 mpg. This weekend, it was perfect for trips to the mum festival in Barberton and the apple festival in Clinton, Ohio.

The Stella is an 80s Vespa PX 150, as Genuine bought Vespa's equipment (or was it the factory and equipment), when Vespa decided to build more modern looking scooters.

Here's the Genunie site.

This one isn't ours, but it's the same color. The only differences are the rear rack, rear view mirrors, and moon hubcaps we've got on ours.

 

[BellyTank]

That only happens at about 2 am here..... or that one day when the stars moon....

Sorry... what day was this..?


B
T

 

[Miss 1929]

I want an electric car!

it takes less petroleum to fuel the power plants than we waste in our cars. 90% of driving is done in the range an battery electric (like the yanked EV1) can easily travel. Thanks to the car companies and the oil companies, no electric cars for us, not for a long time.
If you want to build one of your own, the batteries alone can cost you 10K.

In the meantime, I am thanking my lucky stars that my new job is 1.6 miles away, on bike-friendly flat terrain, on a bus line - so no driving except the days I go from there to a gig. It's a bit expensive to use the Jaguar these days.

 

[Flivver]

it takes less petroleum to fuel the power plants than we waste in our cars. 90% of driving is done in the range an battery electric (like the yanked EV1) can easily travel. Thanks to the car companies and the oil companies, no electric cars for us, not for a long time.
If you want to build one of your own, the batteries alone can cost you 10K.

In the meantime, I am thanking my lucky stars that my new job is 1.6 miles away, on bike-friendly flat terrain, on a bus line - so no driving except the days I go from there to a gig. It's a bit expensive to use the Jaguar these days.

The Chevy Volt goes on sale in November, 2010. It's called an E-REV (extended-range electric vehicle). The Volt will travel 40 miles on a single charge. Should you run out of charge, a 1.4 Liter gas engine comes on that runs a generator to provide power to the electric motor (that drives the car) for another 300-400 miles. Because the gas engine runs at a constant speed, it gets outstanding fuel economy as well.

GM's research indicates that 70% of Americans drive less than 40 miles per day, so these folks can run on pure electric all the time. The Volt will charge from your light socket in 8 hours...good for another 40 miles.

I was in Detroit for the unveiling of the Volt last week. I came away very impressed. The technology behind the Volt is interesting, and the car is quite a looker too.

Reports indicate that Nissan is well along in developing pure electric vehicles as well.

 

[Flivver]

Just this morning, Chrysler has announced one pure electric vehicle and two E-REVs:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=864784364

 

[Gilbey]

Going 50 on a highway where the limit is 70 (which means around here people are going 75-80) isn't very safe. I suppose if it's three lanes each way and you keep to the right you should be fine, but really it isn't high speed that kills, it's differences in speed. People don't expect to crest a hill and up on a car going 20 under the limit. If you want to go 50, get off the freeway and take two-lane roads. Sure, you might get stuck behind an occasional combine for a few minutes, but you'll be going the average speed, and the safest you can be is when you are going the same speed as everyone else.

But my highway says - Minimum Speed 40 Mph.

So I guess I'm good

 

[HamletJSD]

Don't want to turn this into a traffic rant thread, but it's been driving me (pun intended) insane that I CAN'T go the speed limit on my motorcycle. The speed drops to 50 MPH through town but everyone still drives 70. It's necessary to speed up since, as someone said above, the difference in speed is more dangerous than speeding itself.
I'm tired of getting tickets for being fond of staying alive...

 

[DutchIndo]

Bicyclist please be careful ! I lost a brother last year he was run over by an 18 wheeler. My son is now biking to work 9 miles both ways was run over last week. He has a tire track on his back luckily no internal injuries. Please carry ID with you just in case ! My brother did not carry his license and was a John Doe for 7 hrs. They finally ID'd him through fingerprints now my Son is giving me Grey hairs on my already sparse noggin. Please be careful !

 

[Gilbey]

If bike trails where built nationwide as interstate highways were, there would be few of these tragedies. And there would be more people biking to work as we get America back into physical shape and have less obese people. Much more save gas! Why doesn't our government think of this? [huh]

 

[Undertow]

Cruise control is great. NOTE: do NOT use cruise control in the rain or on wet roads. It is *extremely* dangerous!

Cruise control is only good on long stretches of highway that do not require frequent, or even semi-frequent stops. The constant stopping or slowing causes the engine to use more gas while trying to reattain the desired speed.

When resuming cruising speed after a slow down or stop, it's best to do so manually. If you click on your resume cruise from a slow speed (in most models), the engine will work extra hard to get back up to speed. This, of course, wastes gas.

 

[kampkatz]

Thanks for the cruise control lesson. More people need to be aware of these matters.