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Friends, I ran tests for fuel economy with the Auto Stick on and then with the auto in Drive with MDS = city and highway. Wow, was I surprised!!!
I had been reading where some were touting the auto stick for economy with the MDS off. I didn't believe it. Here are the results (non scientific of course):
1): Using the auto stick and leaving it engaged in the city showed at least a 10 mpg instant avg over the MDS . The only exception is coasting where they both were about equal.
2): Using the auto stick and leaving it engaged driving on the interstate and other 'highways' again showed the auto Stick had an average (sometimes instant) 10 MPG over the auto with MDS engaged.
I know, I couldn't believe it. I kept testing and grabbing the meter from my son thinking he was fooling me but its true. I found no situation (with the exception of that rare coasting to a stop and that wasn't constant) where the MDS gave better gas mileage.
I did one tank with the MDS and averaged 19 MPG overall. Another tank with the auto stick yielded 27.6 MPG over all.
Unless the Ecometer made by Autometer was consistently incorrect, the auto stick is the way to go. It showed 8 mpg when accelerating to 3000 rpm which was the same as the plain auto (only auto took longer), then (auto stick) dropped to the average of 18 to 88 mpg depending on the load while the auto was always avg 10 mpg lower, same speed, same stretch of road.
Now, why do we have MDS? I'll never use mine again. Can anyone confirm that these observations may be true and somewhat accurate?
Thanks.....
I had been reading where some were touting the auto stick for economy with the MDS off. I didn't believe it. Here are the results (non scientific of course):
1): Using the auto stick and leaving it engaged in the city showed at least a 10 mpg instant avg over the MDS . The only exception is coasting where they both were about equal.
2): Using the auto stick and leaving it engaged driving on the interstate and other 'highways' again showed the auto Stick had an average (sometimes instant) 10 MPG over the auto with MDS engaged.
I know, I couldn't believe it. I kept testing and grabbing the meter from my son thinking he was fooling me but its true. I found no situation (with the exception of that rare coasting to a stop and that wasn't constant) where the MDS gave better gas mileage.
I did one tank with the MDS and averaged 19 MPG overall. Another tank with the auto stick yielded 27.6 MPG over all.
Unless the Ecometer made by Autometer was consistently incorrect, the auto stick is the way to go. It showed 8 mpg when accelerating to 3000 rpm which was the same as the plain auto (only auto took longer), then (auto stick) dropped to the average of 18 to 88 mpg depending on the load while the auto was always avg 10 mpg lower, same speed, same stretch of road.
Now, why do we have MDS? I'll never use mine again. Can anyone confirm that these observations may be true and somewhat accurate?
Thanks.....