Please help me decide - Picanto vs Spark

**niky** · May 18th, 2012 12:05 PM

It's very difficult to diagnose problems with ATs.

With MTs... people know what gear they're in. Most commuters will never, ever go over 2,500 rpm, and will shift up when possible.

With an AT, people get impatient. They press the gas pedal harder to get the acceleration they're used to. Hence... higher consumption. And with cars with ECONOMY modes, the eco mode dulls throttle response, which makes the car slower... which makes people press on the gas pedal more.

This brings to mind when I first test drove the Mazda3 1.6. People were complaining it was a guzzler. I drove it. I didn't drive it especially slowly (did 100 km/h on the highway), but I accepted that the car's long gearing meant it wouldn't accelerate as quickly as a manual. Got the same consumption in mixed driving (including Makati) that I would have gotten from older 1.6 liter cars.

People nowadays just don't understand how to drive electronic throttle cars. This is why Toyota gets praises for fuel economy... because they program the throttle to jump open quickly, so instead of pressing harder, people let off the gas pedal quickly once they get going.

---

And compared to the Eon, everything is heavy.

**jdolor** · May 19th, 2012 10:59 AM

Originally Posted by renzo_d10

Why not teach the wifey on how to drive an MT ? ...

Anyway, since you've already accepted the fact that both cars gulp fuel, we're down by looks and I swear the Picanto looks way better than the spark.

(personal opinion)

Good point on the m/t thing, hahaha.

**jdolor** · May 19th, 2012 11:10 AM

My minds all set now, we're going to get the 1.2L m/t Picanto

I'm now actually thinking of what color to pick. since according to the brochure the 1.2 only has white, red and black. I would have loved the Titanium silver Picanto thou...

Oh well, hafta sell the old vanzie.. One last thing the 1.2L engine does not have an engine knocking problem, does it? ala "Rio?"

~Thanks Guys~

**niky** · May 19th, 2012 02:24 PM

So far... no. Check the manual to see if it is 95 RON recommended. If so, just spend that extra peso on Shell Premium. ;)

I like it in white. White is hard to keep clean, but the nice thing about white cars, it takes a long while for scratches to become apparent. Even deep scratches are hard to see against white paint.