Most of the time these pages are covered with discussion about electric, hybrid, or efficient combustion engine news and opinion. However, there is more to a car than the power source. An under-appreciated, but still very important part of any car is its transmission.
In fact, as far as fuel economy goes, transmissions can either make or break the car. Ever wondered why the Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris gets worse mileage than you would expect? It’s because the transmission has shorter gearing to provide better performance with a smaller engine.
In the above video, GM discusses some of the issues linking the transmission to performance and fuel economy while at the same time highlighting their new 6-speed automatic transmissions. A move to the 6-speed gearbox helps on all accounts because it allows for your gearing to span a greater distance without creating too large of a gap between each individual gear.
In short: on the low end you will get better performance through shorter gearing but on the high end you will get better fuel economy through lower cruising RPM. GM is not the only one doing this, of course, but they do offer a nice explanation of how it works even if they do not go into detail about the associated cost increases.
By Benjamin Jones
EcoModder is a community of fuel economy enthusiasts, dedicated to helping others increase their gas mileage and make green car choices. It is a Premier Content Partner of SustainLane.
