Today's cars
have gone beyond the conventional five-speed transmission, reaching
as high as ten. Imagine what the stick shift would look like with so
many gears.
More speeds bring
benefits such as better fuel economy. In fact, General Motors in
January has been developing an innovative transmission system that
will make their Chevy Corvette reach 30 mpg on a highway. This will
go a long way in reducing the cost of owning not just a Corvette, but
sports cars in general.
However, if you're
having trouble stepping up or down on a stick shift, more speeds may
make the task of changing gears a lot harder. This isn't much of an
issue with automatic transmission with the computer automatically
adjusting the gears for you. Drivers make the most of every shift,
primarily to conserve fuel.
Experts say compact and
subcompact cars can't accommodate the extra gears, leaving buyers to
choose among the expensive, high-performance cars. This is why small
cars settle for the next best thing: continuous variable transmission
(CVT). It has the accurate shifting of an automatic gearbox and the
fuel efficiency of a stick shift.
If you don't mind the
increase in gears, then good for you. Run that baby down the highway.
If you're just looking for a car you can casually use, a six-speed is
more than enough.
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