Automatic Transmission Drag Kills Stop and Go Gas Mileage

Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:


You guys keep mentioning ABS being good on ice. I thought ice was one
thing that it was universally agreed that ABS is horrible on. What did
I miss?

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Pahgh? I'm offended! That's gotta be some kinda slur or somethin'!

 

Well, I live in Florida and haven't seen a whole lot of ice, lol. I've read
that on some surfaces like gravel, that it's actually best to have some
lockup?

 

I think ABS is poor on soft surfaces such as deep snow and sand. These
are two exceptions to the "don't lock the wheels" rule. Locked wheels
will stop faster in such conditions. I haven't heard about ABS being
worse on ice than non-ABS. I'd think it would be better as it could
control individual wheels. The only place I believe that ABS is a
detriment is in the special cases where you really WANT to be able to
lock the wheels.


Matt

 

It depends on the car, but I'd say GBP 1000 - 1500 is not an overestimate.
In my own case (2001) the auto gearbox was actually included in the base
price, but then it's a brand whose buyers tend to prefer auto for many of
the models (Mercedes). I bought mine in Germany, where manuals for Mercs
are more popular, but in the UK the vast majority of Mercs are sold with
auto.

I don't know what the overall percentages manual:auto in Britain or western
Europe are, but auto accounts for much less than half.

I had the impression from some posts here that auto on the US is very cheap,
so I am a bit surprised it is as much as USD 1200, but it is still a lot
less than here.

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

 

Most of the auto makers now have a web site that allows you to "build
and price" a car, so you can easily check a few models if you want to
get concrete numbers.

Matt

 

OK - I was going from memory (always dangerous) of one of the heated
political marathon threads that took place on RAMC a couple of years
ago. I defer to you or anyone else on the subject.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

So, pick a lower gear with your auto-stick when you're stuck in traffic...