Enough gears?
06/15/2014
At the Geneva Motor Show, ZF is reported to have said that it is not worth installing more gear steps in an (automatic) transmission. With 10 gears, complexity and running resistance would overcompensate for the advantages of the additional gear step.
10 gears! Let's remember. Until the 1970s, four gears were the measure of all things, and only sporty cars had five manual gears at best. Automatic gearboxes usually had to make do with three or, in the most advanced cases, four gears. Even the BMW 850i from 1989 only had four gears in the version with a torque converter.
Then came the arms race among transmission manufacturers and six-speed manual transmissions became the standard. The builders of DSG and automatic gearboxes went further and so at some point nine gears were achieved in the automatic, which ultimately did not have to be manually arranged in shift lanes. That would have been too much effort for the driver.
Funnily enough, it is precisely modern technology that is causing vehicle manufacturers to revert to fewer gears, as hybridization reduces the need for gears, as there is always enough torque available.
In classic cars, three to five gears are and will probably remain the measure of all things; an estimated 98% of all vehicles over 30 years old that are still in circulation are probably equipped with them ...
