There's been quite a shift in perception since, then, and that must have
been the view for the whole of MGB production i.e. nigh-on 20 years. From
what I hear from that side of the pond now the common view now is that
overdrive is a very good thing for driver comfort and for the engine. The
fuel issue is barely mentioned, in fact it is often said that overdrive
makes no difference to mileage. I don't believe that to be the case, by the
very fact that the engine is turning slower and giving less bangs per mile
and per minute you must be using less fuel, unless you have to drive with a
larger throttle opening to maintain a given speed in OD 4th as straight 4th,
which certainly isn't the case on any MGB I have driven. If one accepts
that you get better mileage in 3rd and 4th, one must also accept that one
gets around half that improvement in OD 4th compared to 4th.
PaulH.
----- Original Message -----
> Gasoline here was around $0.25/gallon in the 60's, sometimes cheaper
> during "gas wars". It didn't hit $0.60/gallon until the oil shortage in
> the mid 70's. With cheap fuel available the buyers were making the value
> judgement between saving perhaps $0.0015/mile on fuel cost or paying up
> font an additional 2% for the purchase price of the car.
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