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>What? Did I stutter? These 8-10 speed transmissions absolutely make a huge difference. Just one example I'm familiar with is the Dodge charger. The 2014 mode

>What? Did I stutter? These 8-10 speed transmissions absolutely make a huge difference. Just one example I'm familiar with is the Dodge charger. The 2014 model had a 5 speed automatic, and the 2015 had an 8 speed. Otherwise they are exactly the same car. The 8 speed transmission resulted in a 3MPG improvement on the highway from 27MPG to 30MPG. That is a huge improvement for only changing literally one component on the car. Sure it's "only one component" but you 5/3rd'ed the number of moving parts in it. And "it" is a component that frequently limits the effective useful life of the car. I said that tradeoff didn't make sense until the past decade or so. An example of someone in 2015 choosing to pick up ~10% fuel economy in something that was already pushing high 20s is, to put it undeservingly charitably, not an example to the contrary.

windowsrookie 4y ago
"Sure it's "only one component" but you 5/3rd'ed the number of moving parts in it." The ZF 8 Speed Automatic actually has less moving parts than the ZF 6 speed automatic it replaced.... And the it has proven to be one of the most reliable automatic transmissions produced. The old 4, and 5 speed transmissions are notoriously unreliable. "They don't make a "big" difference. If they made a "big" difference you'd have seen them decades ago. We've had the tech for as long as we've had automatic transmissions. More gears is just more stacked planetary gearsets." I guess I just don't understand your argument. Are you saying these new transmissions don't make a difference because they didn't do it earlier? Even though fuel economy testing proves they clearly do make a difference.... And these new transmissions most certainly are not "just more stacked planetary gearsets". There has been decades of technology and efficiency improvements integrated into these new transmissions. I'm quite certain the transmission control module and shift programming, clutch packs and materials, etc. are different than an old 4 speed transmission.

windowsrookie 4y ago

"Sure it's "only one component" but you 5/3rd'ed the number of moving parts in it." The ZF 8 Speed Automatic actually has less moving parts than the ZF 6 speed automatic it replaced.... And the it has proven to be one of the most reliable automatic transmissions produced. The old 4, and 5 speed transmissions are notoriously unreliable. "They don't make a "big" difference. If they made a "big" difference you'd have seen them decades ago. We've had the tech for as long as we've had automatic transmissions. More gears is just more stacked planetary gearsets." I guess I just don't understand your argument. Are you saying these new transmissions don't make a difference because they didn't do it earlier? Even though fuel economy testing proves they clearly do make a difference.... And these new transmissions most certainly are not "just more stacked planetary gearsets". There has been decades of technology and efficiency improvements integrated into these new transmissions. I'm quite certain the transmission control module and shift programming, clutch packs and materials, etc. are different than an old 4 speed transmission.