At recent fill up I only manual shifted in DS and my gas mileage went up almost 2 mpg. I would think the auto would shift for best gas mileage but it wasn't the case with me. Anyone else try this?

 

I manual shift all the time Can't say I notice much difference in mpg. Usually putting around town (35-45 mph) in 5th.

 

With manual shifting, it's possible that you can control the shifts to allow for the best MPG...but you'd need to be really careful that you didn't unconsciously drive it a little more light-footed knowing that you were trying to see what the MPG would be.

In other words, could you have been influenced to drive with less pedal to the metal when in manual to see what your MPG would be?

For me, when I'm in manual...I usually drive the car harder and my goal is to hold a gear for one reason or another...and it's not usually to ensure that I'm in the highest gear that happens to have the best MPG for that speed and road condition.

 

Way to much concentration making each shift perfect and thinking about economy for those extra 2-3 MPG's. I drive the car the way I feel and to hell with the mileage. Therefore, from my experience, I've never gotten better MPG's from manual shifting

 

Might depend on the traffic. I prefer to use DS for rush hour traffic because it holds the right gear longer. D just upshifts all the time and engine is constantly lagging, sometimes as low as 1000rpm. Most times when accelerating like this I end up waiting for the transmission to kick down a gear or two and that wait is not good for fuel economy. In DS you can easily keep pace with light throttle input as traffic speeds up and engine braking is often enough as traffic slows down a bit. You could achieve a similar effect shifting on your own as you know what traffic flow is and the right gear to hold. I can't say this gets me better fuel economy as I don't care much about that when I drive. The car just drives better and better = faster response to inputs IMO.

 

I use DS mode in traffic too in case I need to make a lane change, I'll likely get into the better gear sooner. If I am not feeling ambitious about moving ahead in traffic, I'll leave it in D and drive the the rest of the herd.