|
I don't get it. There is a law of diminishing returns with adding gears on a transmission.
At some point, the lag of having to constantly shift will diminish the increased acceleration provided by the closer gear ratio.
The constant shifting will diminish the ride comfort and make it annoying. I can't stand overly-shifty automatics.
With every gear you add, you add another point of failure.
We are approaching the point of putting in less efficient, less comfortable, less reliable, more expensive transmissions in vehicles just for the sake of marketing more "speeds." It doesn't make sense. 6 gears is the sweet spot, IMO. It allows a tight ratio with a large overdrive and an aggressive first gear. Adding more is fruitless and annoying to deal with.
One of the biggest downsides of the internal combustion engine is that it makes its power in a very narrow range and requires a transmission. This was its Achilles Heel a century ago when it was competing against electric and steam motors. The goal of any engineer should be to make a vehicle function at maximum potential using as few gears as possible. This is how you define drivetrain efficiency. They're just dumping gears in there because a bigger number advertised looks more impressive just like camera manufacturers dump larger MP numbers on their cameras for marketing with no regard to lens or sensor quality.
|