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Comment by NonNefarious | Hacker News Reader

Sixt rental cars in France hasn’t been doing manual transmission cars for years - automatics get better gas mileage and are actually better on overall emissions (you’ll notice modern manual cars keep the revs up even when you let off the throttle). Germany has followed, I believe. But you’re right, it’s probably those dumb Americans’ fault.

> you’ll notice modern manual cars keep the revs up even when you let off the throttle

It's called "engine brake" and the fuel consumption is 0 in spite of the revs.

As far as mileage goes, my experience in modern cars is still the opposite, manuals still use less fuel.

I think they are referring to rev hang that occurs in newer manual transmissions where the ECU is tuned to not drop revs quickly for emissions reasons. This makes for an annoying 1st-to-2nd gear shift because the driver must wait a long time between shifts before engaging the clutch in order to shift smoothly. Mostly only newer MTs do this - some worse than others.

That's fascinating. I had a manual hire car this summer and I kept getting the 1st - 2nd shift wrong and juddering - I was wondering why I suddenly couldn't shift well (I've exclusively driven manuals for years, so it wasn't as straightforward as being out of practice). I wonder if that was why.

yes i was referring to rev hang and you're spot on.

for anyone else seeing this that is interested, here is a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm6SSeLivqE

I didn't say it was their fault. I just said they're ignorant and lazy... which stands. I drive amongst them every day, and have for decades.

I didn't notice this auto-revving behavior, however. I was driving a Ford in England, so maybe they don't have this "feature."

Strangely I keep getting manuals, with automatics being additional money on the table.

I'm European and drive a manual, but it's not because I'm enlightened or motivated, just because it's cheaper.

Automatics nowadays are very good and pleasant.

Or the Europeans are too ignorant and lazy to update to new stuff like AC (and auto transmission). ;p

I have an AC in the Netherlands. It’s in the guest room for when our American friends visit and we occasionally all pile in there for the two (non-consecutive) days to weeks of the year it is ridiculously hot.

todays 32C is not ridiculously hot?

I’m not home today, but I wish I was…

Eu here: have ac and man tx. So does everyone i know. A big difference may be that we turn on the ac only when really necessary, and a manual tx isn't that hard...kids at 16 do it, and have to pass their tests doing it in that, if you take your test in an automatic you are not allowed to drive a manual without being considered a learner again.

Nah, we like the control manuals give us, and above all, cheaper maintenance rates.

In the last 10 years autos have become more and more popular in the UK, they've outnumbered manuals in new car sales for a couple of years now

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/analysis-are-man...

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