I was test driving a few 2004 civic ex.
The auto one when I was driving in 5ht gear going 7mph it was @ 2,900ish
But when I test drove the manual, in 5ht gear going ONLY 60mph it was already at 3,000rpms....

Any idea if that is correct or somthing must be wrong with his car?


Modified by Charlie Moua at 10:58 PM 12/28/2005

 

automatic and manual transmissions arent geared the same. Its fine.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by veggiemaster &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">automatic and manual transmissions arent geared the same. Its fine.</TD></TR></TABLE>


well i understand that much but typically the gearing should not be a whole 1,000rpm difference... I mean that tranny felt like it had a gsr 5th gear instead of a D series longer gear

 

Your numbers are correct. I have both a manual and an auto 01, the manual has shorter gears. Gives it that more "sporty" feeling I guess.

 

The auto is a 4 speed with Overdrive, not a 5 speed
And 3400ish at 70 in 5th sounds normal to me.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Boilermaker1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The auto is a 4 speed with Overdrive, not a 5 speed
And 3400ish at 70 in 5th sounds normal to me.</TD></TR></TABLE>


well if that's the case... how come honda says that auto gets slightly less mpg then manual....BUT maual is at higher rpm on hwy driving @ 70mph
know what i mean?...

 

because manuals are more effecient.
You lose tons of power through an automatic, and the car's gotta burn more gas to go.
Gear ratios also play into it. Just because its turning 3400 doesn't mean its wasting gas.
The car uses enough gas to keep it running if you're cruising down the highway, its not going to suck gas. I get 41 to the gallon on the highway with the cruise control on.

 

i always thought the longer you stay on each gear... the more gas you're comsuming. ie. if you take all gears up to 5k and above, each time, of course the fuel efficency will drop down, correct? we're you doing this?

with a manual tranny, having more gears (shorter the better), can get you up to peak hp quicker.... saving you gas mileage. the overdrive on an auto "can" cause fuel ineffeciency.

at 3500 you should be around 55-60 on 5th gear... so that sounds about right.

 

woah.. i had no idea.... that the new em1 get that mph on hwy....
.....


BTW what is the new d17 r/s ratio?

 

Gas mileage is actually more affected by throttle position than RPM

EDIT: Say you were in third going up a hill at 3,500 rpm. This is a decent part of the power band so you can be very light with the throttle, putting the engine under very little load and maintaining your speed up the hill, while probably only using about 15 or so % throttle position. However, if attempting to go up the same hill in say, 4th gear at 1,700 RPM, this is not a good part of the power band and you are going to have to lay into the throttle to maintain speed, using maybe 30+% throttle position. And this laying into the throttle, despite the low RPMS, is what really wastes gas Hope I did a decent job explaining

 

blah boiler you beat me to it.

 

you're wasting your fuel cruising at a high rpm. Reason being, generally, the engine makes more vac at higher rpm so you have to give it more throttle to overcome the vac and maintain speed. Also, unlike a diesel, gas engines consume fuel to maintain a rpm.

Automatics have different gear ratios than the manual and I bet the final drive is lower too. Automatics have 4 speeds with a lock-up torque converter so it's almost like having 5 gears. An automatic should be able to get more gas millage on the highway than a manual provided the TC stays locked-up