Quote:
Originally posted by moparmike
I look at it like this: If you have to push harder on the gas in D, then you are wasting gas. If you maintain throttle level and drop a gear, then you are wasting gas. Either way, you waste gas.
I have a 380sel in a rather hilly part of Arkansas. If you dont shift manually, you will watch that econ guage stay all the way in the red until you get on a flat at about 40mph. It will be less red if you manually shift it....
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Don't econ gauges simply measure engine vacuum? For the same vacuum, a higher revving engine will suck more gas than a low revving engine, so you may be fooling yourself if you think downshifting to get the econ gauge out of the red will save gas. The higher revs cancel anything you save by having higher vacuum.
On another point, didn't somebody post that older MB transmissions can be destroyed if shifted down at too high a speed? Unlike most American cars, older MB transmissions don't have a lockout feature for those conditions. This, plus a slip of the wrist by shifting down too far can destroy the transmission!