When you ’re shit for a newcar , you desire to get a well - price vehicle that wo n’t be too expensive to own . One of the big price of have a car is keeping it fueled . So , it clear sense that budget - conscious consumer go for cars with great fuel economy . If you need to save at the dealership as well as at the heart , the ceremonious Wisdom of Solomon is to choose a car with amanual transmissionbecause they tend to have lower sticker Price and better fuel economy .
That just goes to show you how dependable conventional wisdom is . While manual transmissions used to be more fuel - efficient than automatics , some of today’sautomatic transmissionsare changing that whimsey .
One thing that ’s helping automatonlike transmittal catch up is the wider use ofcontinuously variable contagion ( CVTs ) . Now , to be clear , the mechanics ofCVTsdiffer from those of automatic transmissions , but for drivers , the operation is the same : You put the car in drive and go . Unlike manual and automatonlike transmissions , which have a fixed lot of gears ( and a set up set of ratios ) , CVTs can continuously vary their train ratios ( hence their name ) for maximum fuel efficiency . That helps them reach better fuel economy when liken to a traditional manual transmission system .
Traditional automatic transmissions can also puzzle manual fuel saving . Today ’s automatic pistol lean to have more forward gear ( those are gears that move the cable car forward , not in turnabout ) than manual contagion do . Those extra gears help the engine deliver the same power to the bike while working at a humiliated locomotive speeding , which saves gas . Car makers have also gotten really good at working with the new technology in automatic transmissions to make them more effective . Part of that is due to simple economics : Most cars sold in the United States are sell with automatonlike transmissions , and car company are finding that they can pass the cost of developing new transmission tech on to their consumer , who will merrily take it in interchange for vehicle promising better fuel economy . It aid as well that car company are also have to run into strict government - mandate fuel economy standard . That also help force ( heck yeah , that paronomasia is mean ) the development of more fuel - efficient machine rifle .
So , why buy a manual - equip car if you ’re not guaranteed unspoilt fuel economy ? A manual transmission give you a lilliputian more control over how hard your engine works and how much power buzz off to the cycle , so if that ’s something you need , go for the manual . If you suppose manual make you calculate nerveless , you ’re right — and you should bribe a manual . But if you want the best fuel economy , a manual transmission is n’t always the good way to go .
