My relatively new car developed bad noises so it needed to go in for repair. I was lent a replacement similar vehicle that was automatic, whilst mine has a 6 speed manual box.
The replacement was a bit newer and only had 7000 miles on the clock. I asked to be shown how the auto gears worked. The handover man said the vehicle had just under half a tank of fuel so would go about 185 miles on that. I was amazed. My similar car does 375 miles on half a tank, or more if I am lucky in avoiding congestion and lots of road closures and red lights. Could being automatic make that much difference?
The car’s history programme for fuel use said the car had only managed a little under 35 mpg over its life, compared to my vehicle’s 55. When I started driving the auto I saw the problems. The Car needed more revs to get moving. The first two gear changes produced noise and lurch. You needed to use the brakes more as it is difficult to use anticipation and the engine in a lower gear to slow the machine.
The gear choice by the vehicle misses out on driver anticipation. The car changed up to a higher gear just as you needed to decelerate to allow traffic to clear ahead. It did not see the need to stay in a lower gear when the road starts to climb.
It looked as if the automatic could do a lot better than 35 mpg. I soon got it up to a little over 50 mpg. It must just have been a succession of fuel hungry drivers. It looks as if the lack of control over gears will hit fuel economy by a few percent, not by the 35% that the clocked comparison showed.
Such a pity in automatic mode it kept you in the dark about which gear it was in, and did not want your advice based on road conditions. Trying to drive it on clutchless paddle shift did not work either as the car kept changing gears when it wanted.
June 16, 2026
I drive the same route daily. It’s hilly, so I watch the mpg go up and down as I go up and downhill. There’s very little traffic. The driving speed on the flatter sections is what makes the biggest difference to journey mpg on my manual diesel car. At 35-45mph I’m crawling but getting 50-60mpg; at 50-60mph I’m moving along but only getting 35-45mpg. If I’m feeling poor I drive slowly.
I’d hate an automatic. I already resent electric windows, auto boot opening, tyre sensors and all the other expensive-when-fails unnecessary bloat they stick into cars these days. If I had the money I’d buy a really old car that didn’t have all this junk in it. I can wind down my own window and check my tyre pressure myself thank you very much.