Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

Re:Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transm... by Neil44 on Thursday November 17, 2016 @04:11AM (#12975758)

Those things have not been true of automatics for the last two or three generations. They have clutches inside the torque converter, they can block shift. But it is only the latest generation of gearboxes that return better economy figures than manuals. Until very very recently auto boxes were indeed much worse for economy.

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Re:Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transm... by jfitbsidbfb on Thursday November 17, 2016 @04:18AM (#12975798)

The TC only locks under light load on the highway, and isn't 100% effective there because the hydraulic fluid still produces a lot of drag.

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Re:Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transm... by Neil44 on Thursday November 17, 2016 @12:57PM (#12979721)

That's not true any more, for recent transmissions. They can lock from first gear. E.g. ZF 8 speed, Mercedes 5,7,9 speeds.

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