Automatics changing my view.

[GasSavers_Scott]

I just did a car review on the Chevy Malibu LT, the Solstice is out getting repaired and I had to get a rental while the door is being repaired. The Malibu has the same engine as the Solstice, the Ecotec 2.4 and it's the got the new 5 speed auto with paddle shift. So of course the first thing I want to do is test the Chevy claims of a 30 MPG car. So far with city combined heavy traffic and 50% highway I'm getting 28.8. It's currently beating the Solstice at 26-27.

The star of the car is the 5 speed transmission, this thing shifts at 2200 to 2500 RPM, I switched to manual mode and shifted at 3000 and managed to get 27 mpg. Here is a case of an automatic transmission beating a stick shift. I drive allot of city and have been considering an automatic and this car has really pushed me over. I shift into neutral at lights, feather the gas at start, and draft on the highway. So far so good with the only mod being driving style.

[VetteOwner]

id rather have a failproof normal manual tranny, why did automakers pretty much stop making them?

i will agree that the malibus are nice, my cousin has a malibu max and i like the looks ride and what its got.

bet if you did 100% highway the car would be way over 30

[GasSavers_Scott]

I know I would prefer a manual, but like the Grand AM, Grand Prix, Malibu, Alero, they dont offer a stick, plus with the days spent sometimes 8 hours in downtown D.C. traffic, my clutch and brake foot are exhausted. Especially the Grand Am GT and the Grand Prix GT, doesn't GT generaly mean a stick is an option if not the standard? So sticking to my number one choce of cost and durability, GM is my first brand choice, I have to deal with the fact they don't offer manual.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

id rather have a failproof normal manual tranny, why did automakers pretty much stop making them?

You know the answer to this one...there's not enough demand. If more people wanted them, they'd be in more models.

[slurp812]

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

id rather have a failproof normal manual tranny, why did automakers pretty much stop making them?

i will agree that the malibus are nice, my cousin has a malibu max and i like the looks ride and what its got.

bet if you did 100% highway the car would be way over 30

My model doesn't have an automatic as an option at all, of course its a jap car.

[RedAccord02]

Originally Posted by slurp812

My model doesn't have an automatic as an option at all, of course its a jap car.

Its a Si . The honda civic si is the only car that still strictly manual. i had a 8th gen model still missing it

[slurp812]

Originally Posted by RedAccord02

Its a Si . The honda civic si is the only car that still strictly manual. i had a 8th gen model still missing it

One more reason I love this car!

[8$PG]

I've always liked automatic better. All of my cars have been automatic with one exception for about a month. The reason is that I like controlling what the car should be doing rather than how the mechanics inside should do it. Where I live manual is alot more common because of tradition mostly but the new modern automatics are increasing in numbers.

The mileage I get with my Honda Accord -03 is about 30MPG driving 90% at 66MPH GPS-speed and 10% city traffic. Keeping it always below 60 on country roads my record is 42MPG or 5.6L/100km on a single trip of 360km. Almost no braking or rev-ing above 2500rpm.

I have just ordered scangaugee to play with since my car isn't equipped with a trip computer. Done some testing with an OBD2-cable but coudn't find a nice enough program to use, and I was curious about the open-loop/closed loop parameter incorporated in a mpg-calculation.

What I find most interesting about my car is how the transmission shifts when letting the foot off the gas. It goes from 5-4-3 with lockup still engaged and fuel system in open-loop mode engine braking and then on 3:rd gear at about 15mph it disengages at 1000rpm and then it starts to coast with the torque-converter slightly pulling in second and 1:st until you have to use the brakes to come to a complete stop. So you could in effect use the car with no gas consumed from highway speed to 15mph with a slight engine braking at fairly low revs. I wanted to se how this affects the mpg calculation while driving and how to use that in the most efficient way to save fuel.

If it would be to alternate between enginebrake and some more gas when going downhill on a highway i.e. and so on.

This is almost the opposite from how my previous car (an old Lexus LS) worked letting of the gas it would almost continue at the same speed as before when driving 30mph or less. It had an older 4-speed with lock-up only when in overdrive.

[litesong]

Originally Posted by GasSavers_Scott

Here is a case of an automatic transmission beating a stick shift. I drive allot of city....

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

id rather have a failproof normal manual tranny, why did automakers pretty much stop making them?

Nine years ago, I got a CVT transmission(after driving manuals all my life) & 2+ years ago I got a nice 6speed automatic. With feather footing & understanding, both trannies delivered excellent mpg, that a manual tranny might not have beaten. As the unwarranted CVT vehicle aged, falling in value & knowing the extreme expense of CVT repair, I saw that CVT repairs to a low valued car wasn't an economy for the future. That's why I got the strongly warranteed 6speed auto. However, my wife's mom's 19 year old car gave up the ghost. Now, she has the auto 6speed, & my wife & I purchased a same make & model, well warranteed 6speed.....manual. My wife loves it.....despite her bad stop & go traffic. At one point, she thought she would have to get an auto tranny because of increasing clutch leg problems. However, she re-balanced her medications & her leg problem went away. So hopefully, any (distant?) future tranny problems will be less expensive......& my wife's medical problems will always be manageable!!

[dkjones96]

I don't get what you mean by manufacturers not making manual transmission cars. Are you talking about the used or new market? The new market has plenty of choices, the used market, however, is mostly automatics because nobody buys the standard cars.

New cars available with manual transmissions:
Pontiac G5/G8/Vibe
Chevrolet Aveo/Cobalt/Corvette
Dodge Caliber/Viper
Ford Focus/Fusion/Mustang
Mazda 3/6/RX-8/Speed3
Honda Accord/Civic/Fit/S2000
Toyota Camry/Corolla/Matrix/Yaris
Hyundai Accent/Elantra/Sonata
VW EOS/GTI/Jetta/New Beetle/Rabbit
Nissan 350z/Altima/Sentra/Versa
Mitsubishi Eclipse/Lancer
Subaru Impreza/Legacy
Scion tC/xB/xD
Saturn Astra/SKY
Audi A3/A4/S4/S5/TT
Acura TSX
Volvo C30/C70/S40/V50
Mercedes SLK300/SLK350
and pretty much everything from BMW.

**EDIT** oh yeah, since I've been driving this Mazda 5 I've grown to like automatics a little more. It has that adaptive throttle-by-wire system and it's learned my driving habits very well!