8 speeds are unnecessary to begin with IMO

The days of the clutch pedal seem to be coming to an end……

how big will the gearbox be on it lol?

8 speeds? Double those on the first Escort RS, and that seemed to get by pretty well. 6 is enough for anyone, 7 for a serious racer/sports car, 8 is just plain unnecessary. The way forward is in simplicity, not heavy, over complicated stuff which is more likely to go wrong.

I’m waiting for the 15-speed triple clutch gearbox…

Jon.

A dual clutch for an off-roader could have one set of gears for the road and another, lower set for going off-road.

VW/Audi makes a mean dsg!

That Nothing!
The new Uplander will have a 36-speed mind-controlled gearbox that will get 200 miles per liter, and an instant nav system that guides you to the red-light district of any town you enter. Then, you can have Zen discussions with the car. Witty repartee is a dealer option

What you guys don’t know is that these gearboxes don’t necessarily increase in weight along with the number of gears. The 7-speed gearbox that Mercedes makes is just slightly lighter than their former 5-speed gearbox despite having 2 more gears. The reason that these cars are having more gears is to increase efficiency, due to the engine getting up to speed quicker because shorter gear ratios allow the engine to spin quicker with less stress before the next gear kickes in and the process starts over. And with 2 clutches, it switches gears much quicker and smoothly therefore keeping the engine in the optimum power range.

Yes, this was VW’s thinking but, just like Mercedes has created new technology on cars, Other manufacturers will try to perfect it and put in on platforms that even the DSG can’t. It’s a game of one-upsmanship.

Lol Uplander.

Instead of 8 separate gears, create a system that would inter-connect 3 gears, so you get 2^3 = 8 different ratios.

sounds like some sort of sad personal ad… but I wonder who will chance it, knowing MB has the clap and all…

Anyway… holy ****ing **** batman… Ass-ton Martin is back and I actually agree with him! 8 speeds is totally unnecessary for todays engines. Five gears is more than enough for most applications even though six seems to becoming the norm. But all of these 7 and 8 speed trannies… I just don’t see the need, regardless of the manufacturer.

Where’s Stuart? I’m sure he’ll tell us why this is both needed and why MB is the greatest car maker ever for doing such a thing….

Good. Dual clutches all the way (at least until they can make CVTs more durable in the long run).

Why is it that the S-Class with the 5.4 V-8 and the 7-speed gearbox has the same fuel ecomony as the former S-Class with the 5.0 V-8 and 5-speed gearbox and a lighter body? These gearbox’s improve efficiency so shut up. And these gearboxes aren’t as large as you guys think. the 7-speed ‘box is barely larger than the old 5-speed one.

Isn’t there a comfort issue with a gearbox that changes up 7 times on its way to cruising speed. ? I find driving my old Chevy Blazer so relaxing because you change into 3rd at 25mph and you can stay in that gear all the way to an indicated 100, if you’re feeling particularly brave that day

Wow! Is it… I’m in agreement with Got Handling? today!

Very aggressive gears means you have to change very quickly, and very often. What I think these manufacturers need to invest in are CVT’s, in other words, infinite amount of gears (well, not quite but you get my point).

If they could get past the reliability issues, which I’m sure wouldn’t be a hassle, not only could it save weight, but economy and gear changes as well.

i have serious problems with the cvt concept as it stands today. sure, in theory it’s sound… a gearbox capable of damn near infinite ratios capable of adapting to whatever situation arises. my beef – it’s belt driven. what comprises the majority of engine failures today? belts. once they can develop a belt that shows no sign of wear until atleast a million miles, i’ll stick with my box full of cogs. it’s a shame too, because the electronics for it are there… now we just need the manufacturing to catch up.

I’m sure those CVT steel belts will last longer than the traditional clutch. Current CVT is awesome for low powered cars like the Honda Fit or anything below 150 HP for up to about 70 mph.

You’ll need 8 speeds if you want to eventually make a 300 mph street car with “only” 1000 hp.

Veda,

There have been a few Formula racing teams that have been working on CVTs that will handle their 1500+ hp engines.

Further Nissan has been using CVTs with over 200 hp for a while, though I think they have changed the models they are offered in. Used to be the Maxima, but I think they moved that tranny over to the Altima as an option.

Still I have yet to really hear how a Formula racing CVT has gone down. So I really don’t have a strong opinion one way or the other. But I think CVTs might have a future.

They would be cheaper than an eight-speed tranny, and be more efficient as well. the problem is making them strong enough. I’m looking at carbon nano-tubes for than. Many times stronger than tempered steel, weighing next to nothing, this material could solve a lot of problems were metal, as we understand it just is not strong enough. But Only after manufacturing limtiations are overcome.

F1 cars dont have 1500 hp

i’ll wait for the 11 speed

Unless anyone can prove the good old manual wrong, I’ll be sticking to a proper, beefy, 6-speed manual like on my Vantage and to hell with all this CVT crap.

I’ll still be sticking to the no-nonsense 6-speed manual on my Aston.

It’ll be years before any CVT is up to serious consumer performance standards. So you have no need to fear there.

Further unless you are an ace Semi-truck racer or crazy good trucker, you will NOT have to worry about a straight manual 8-speed tranny. They will likely only be automatics with or without manual shift modes.

Blakarr, even if it is an auto, its still going to be changing gears very often and you’re still going to feel it and hear it.

AMGoff you are one hell of a sad lonely person who only companion are the people in that chatroom. I have a life and friend unlike you so i don’t need to sit on this site allday everyday. Your questions ain’t even worth awnsering because even a little baby know that more the gears the higher the efficeincy.

Plus do some research before you next open your trap and find out how many gears Lexus now has. They are using a 8 speed so I don’t think mercedes will be the most gears. Hell even BMW is almost at 8 with the next auto.

Plus Mercedes may have the clap but it is only because they were banging chrysler over and over and over and over. Chrysler on the other hand has HIV and every other disese in the book. (Highly Incompetent Vechicles)

Got Handling?

Have you ever even been in a luxury car. The trannies are as smooth as melted butter, even with “only” five speeds. Six speeds are even better and eight is just greased glass.

The engineering that goes into these devices is enormous. It is little wonder that there is any big deal being made at all about this subject. As for shift shock, that has to do with shift speed, how long it takes to shift gears properly, and ration spacing, how big a jump from one gear to the next there is. Using dual clutches helps with this cutting down shift response time and having the next gear ready to go ahead of time.

Yes you might feel it, it depends on the transmission settings and mode, as available, how you are driving (Like a racer, a cruiser, or “Driving Mrs Daisy”), and how it is built (Is it smooth or purposefully rough?).

Hear it? I suppose you will, but a good tranny sounds like the strings accompanying the engine’s brass in an orchestra. But will it be loud? I doubt it. This is going into some high mark luxury cars. Sound deadening is the order of the day. But it would be a bad thing to make the cars inner workings completely soundless. You’ll never hear the problem should one ever come up. Plus, you’ll never get some sense of enjoyment from actually driving the car.

I’m not sure about your disposition in you statement but it does come off as a comment lacking proper consideration for the subject.

Blakarr you pompous arse, my statement is a consideration of the detriment to comfort in a class of car whose primary purpose is to provide just that.
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My disposition, for your information, is as sunny as a ball of helium and hydrogen in a state of fusion