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Okay, it's like this. An automatic transmission these days controls the engine and gearbox together, so the gearbox can shift up very early and operate the engine more efficiently in the EPA test, where a car is required to accelerate at a predetermined rate at any given time. The manual transmission however is to be kept in the same gear until some speed, which could be much less efficient. Thus an automatic wins out in the EPA test, while in the real world normal drivers can do just as well with a manual transmission typically speaking.
Basically what it comes down to is, a manual transmission's fuel economy depends more on the driver. The computer is not necessarily "better" at shifting the gears for you (aside from the fact that it shifts faster), since the way it's programmed is a compromise.
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