auto less economical than manual?

[TheAngryDog]

Is there ever a point when an auto would be better on fuel than the same car in manual guise? I fancy an auto for my DD as I am bored of changing gears around Sheffield, but if an auto is going to cost too much to run then I'll stick with a manual.

Then I just need something that will do 35mpg plus on the motorway and be petrol for under a grand!

[mike-r]

Most petrol autos for under a grand will be shocking on fuel.

[Krikkit]

Most stuff in that budget will be torque converter auto, which by their very nature aren't as efficient as a clutched gearbox (in either manual or robotised form).

Even so, you should be able to get 35mpg on a motorway cruise without too much difficulty.

[TheEnd]

Depends on how you drive them.
An auto will be set up to drive economically, and although you could match it in a manual, you do need to make more of a conscious effort to be "driving miss daisy"

[TheAngryDog]

I'm currently driving my M5 in miss daisy mode and managing over 25mpg on a run, but Sheffield is killing it, plus the economy is dropping like a brick on my commute to work through Sheffield. Drops to by 5mpg after a few days. I literally sit at 75 leptons on the motorway for 100 miles.