When BMW released the redesigned 7-series back in 2001, they were the first to offer a six-speed automatic transmission. Two years later, Mercedes upped the ante by throwing an additional cog into the mix, equipping their new S-class with a seven-speed auto. Now that Lexus is offering an eight-speed slush box in their waftastic LS460, BMW has vowed not be left behind in the ratio wars and plans to bring an nine- eight-speed transmission to market by the end of the decade. The next 7-series will be due for a substantial redesign by 2009 or 2010, so that's when industry analysts expect the eight-speed box to find its way into BMW's luxury sedan. The engineering haus, ZF Friedrichsafen, has been tapped to create the new automatic and has plenty of experience increasing fuel economy, while decreasing build costs, on the current model's six-speed automatic. When will this cog-swapping numbers race end? We're not entirely sure, but as soon as manufacturers start cresting the double digits, we doubt anyone will even be paying attention Source: Automotive News
I hope you see what shows from your link....:rofl: And i was j/k... I know about Actros... :t-cheers:
So I guess this means the HP wars have turned into the gear ratio wars... now this is going to get scary...
One question: Why do we see only automatic transmissions with seven and more speeds and manuals have only five or six speeds?
Manuals I don't know, but it's not just automatics that have more than 6 cogs, the SMG III also has 7 and I heard that a 7 speed dual clutch is on the way. So we have automatics, sequentials, and soon dual-clutches all with more than 6 cogs.
CVTs also have 7 gears. The A6 CVT for example, allows you to change through the 7 gears using button shifters. Anyway, so much for Lexus having 'too many gears'.
Does anyone know what happened to BMW's version of DSG (Audi's Direct Switch Gearbox) ...It has been rumored for a long time...If I remember correctly, it was supposed to be called DCG (Double Clutch Gearbox)..Thank you in advance for any info from our 'insiders'
it was ZSG if ui remember correctly not DCG and yes i think the 7er will come with some form of advanced ZSG with 7 cogs
CVT's do not have gears per se. but they can be programmed to lock on to any number of ratios, or virtyual gears
The gearbox is still in testing. General development is done, now BMW engineers are tweaking the gearbox to fit BMW driving dynamics. I will come sooner than you think. 335si will definitely get it. Latest info is the car will debut after M3, not before it. Also due longer-than-planned DCT tests. And yes, F01/02 7er will debut a new automatic transmission. But will it really have 8 gears? Khmmmm Do you realy think 8 is a right number?
All I can say is that if it really improves fuel economy then it's a good thing... it can have 8 million gears for all I care. Otherwise shame on them.
I heard SMG is for M3 but will be replaced with DSG (or whatever they call it) when the product is finished. Is it really a good thing to get rid of SMG when they sorted out the bugproblems with the DSG. Isnt this going to upset m3 owners and people thinking of buying a M3 might wait for the DSg instead. What if DSg is replacing SMG after only 6 months. Its better if they only offer M3 with manual while waiting for DSG:
SMG technology is still much more racing oriented - shifting as fast as DSG yet having much better response time. DSG response time is awful in hard braking-accelerating-braking-accelerating case - when compared directly to SMG. But DSG has some significant advantages: much lower torque loss, being more economical, shifting is much smoother. BMW engineers are working in two ways: making existing SMG III gearbox a bit more smoother & economical, while DSG needs much quicker response times to match BMW M standards of driving dynamics. Tweaking is in progress on both transmission types. I hope hard work will bring some excellent results quite soon.
