Why are the manual transmission EPA fuel economy ratings so low?

I have a 70 Cutlas, that is what the tow truck driver did, but that was about a 15 mile tow.

That would be fine unless it stalls or it overheats or something and you don’t know to do anything about it.

What if you want to tow a <3200 pound vehicle behind you? I know Jeeps and 4x4 trucks can generally be towed. Typically something smaller like a Corolla is what people want to tow.

I know the manual transmission is dead! New vehicles sales with manual transmissions in Europe is down to only 70%!

If the vehicle has an electric radiator fan and doesn’t overheat while idling standing still I don’t see how it’d overheat in tow.
A mini wireless camera pointed at the dash would let someone in the tow vehicle know if something was amiss.

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Remco went out of business last year but I have seen a few of these transmission lube pumps installed on towed vehicles;

Todays transmissions are mostly 5 to 9 speeds (or CVT), this with lock up converters and computers that have the ability to keep the engine vacuum at a highest point possible (best fuel mileage), it is next to impossible for a standard transmission to get as good fuel mileage as an automatic. The best scenario is the CVT but their history of reliability does not have a good track record but they are getting better. My wife almost refuses to drive an automatic, but if she wants a new car (specifically a Subaru) she does not have much of a choice.

Look at the 2005 Corolla. The 6 speed manual version takes premium gasoline and gets 25 MPG combined, but the 5 speed manual version gets 31 MPG. Fuel Economy of 2005 Toyota Corolla Something must be wrong with these numbers.

The 6 speed version is the 170 hp XRS model, a far sportier, faster Corolla model than the other two 130 hp models. The only thing wrong is the ignorance of the listing agency for missing that detail.

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What’s different about the engine to make the gas mileage worse?

40 horsepower… Did you miss that part?

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If you remember right he only sees what he wants to see.

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No, that’s not necessarily even a difference in the engine. It could just be the software tuning. In this case it at least has a different top end but it is still 1.8L so it could be the same 4 cylinder block. My point is that it is still a 4 cylinder 1.8L engine.

Are you suffering under the delusion that displacement is the only factor involved in fuel economy? If so, that is wrong.

Greater horsepower means reduced fuel efficiency or we all would be driving 300 hp 2 liter cars getting 50 mpg. We aren’t.

Toyota is getting the extra 40 hp with compression, rpm, and airflow like any ICE. The price they pay for that is reduced mpgs.

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Different versions of the same engine family, Lotus managed another 10hp out of their version of the engine shared with the Matrix XRS with a different tune. Used in the Elise for North America, Higher compression and tuned more for performance compared to the 1ZZ engine used in the base model which uses a block different enough that the head’s are not interchangeable.

Toyota 1zzfe and 2zzge engines are completely different animals.
Different bore, stroke, variable valve timing scheme (2zz has variable lift).
Redline 6400 vs 8200-8500 (Lotus).
2zz is actually a Yamaha design.

I see. The 2ZZ has a shorter stroke and wider bore, and it is turned for high RPM performance like a racing engine, with the peak torque at 6800 RPM! It has VVT but I guess it doesn’t have enough range to provide good low RPM performance or fuel economy.

I don’t know if I agree completely. Higher horsepower doesn’t necessarily equate to less fuel mileage if the displacement is the same and both vehicles are driven conservatively, does it? I mean if you actually use the higher hp, sure. But I don’t know that a 350 with stock heads vs a 350 with free flowing heads and a higher flowing intake is going to be more or less economical, driven the same. Old school example, I know. I suppose you could look at the old 5.0 mustangs vs the newer 5.0 mustangs. The newer one has almost twice the hp, but are the mpg’s less or generally more? Lots of other variables (transmission, etc) in that example, I know.

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There’s more to transmissions than the number of gear ratios. What is the depth of gearing? The sports cars tend to have very closely spaced gear ratios with a short high gear and a tall low gear. First gear can be a real clutch burner while 6th gear will have you hunting for a non existent seventh gear on the highway. I have experience this on sport bikes like the Yamaha R1. On the other hand, my Ninja 300, which also has six gears has a nice low first gear and a real overdrive 6th gear.
This is the real secret of the modern automatics. Those 7 or 9 speeds are not to make the gaps between gears smaller, it’s to extend the range of gearing giving you a high gear that essentially doesn’t interfere with the engine idling when going down a grade while being powered by gravity, and is actually too tall for flat ground cruising at the highway speed limit and the car actually spends a lot of time in the lower gears on a highway trip.

Good example, John. I’ll try and explain how you can have both.

The old 5.0 is a pushrod, 9:1 compression, manifold fuel injected engine with a hp peak at about 4800 rpm or so. The new 5.0 is a 4 valve, 12:1 compression engine with variable valve timing, direct and manifold fuel injection with a hp peak at 6400 rpm. There is 50 years of technical development between the 2.

The new engine is more efficient with a much wider operating range than the old 5.0. That means it can be driven easier to get good fuel economy or that extra hp can be used for fun.

Or, you could buy the V6 version with similar technology and efficiency to out power the old 5.0 and get far better MPGs.

My first car was a 73 Chevy Vega. Stock 2brl carb is 110hp. The 1brl carb put out 90hp. Just changing the carb and you increased the gas mileage 30hp (30%). I rebuilt the engine with domed pistons for a 11:1 compression ratio. Also had engine bored out and steel sleeves put in keeping displacement exactly the same. Then added a dual carb setup and new intake manifold. Estimated HO jumped to over 150 (70% increase over the stock 1brl version). The engine displacement didn’t change. All were 2.3l I4.

Besides having lots of ratios, modern automatics are controlled by the same computers that control ignition and fuel, resulting in optimal engine operation and efficiency. That can’t happen with a person shifting the gears.