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Originally Posted by paulyoung666
worse fuel consumption i would have thought  |
Historically it used to be due to the fact that the clutch or torque converter was a fluid coupling, wheras a standard clutch has two friction plates, thus when fully engaged the drivetrain and engine are connected an auto box had a fluid turbine style arrangement (I'm not a mechanic - far from it), this required more power and was less efficient.
Small engined cars are now using the CVT auto boxes, these use a direct steel band coupling, in general auto boxes have got much more sophisticated , smaller and efficient and this stuff called computer technology has improved control also.