A new occurrence that is staring to emerge is the number of gears in a transmission is greatly increasing due to a number of factors. These factors range from better fuel economy, to a quieter car, or a faster car, or even just a smoother ride. Whatever the case may be, I feel like too many can be a bad thing at a certain point.
Examples of where more gears present is a good thing is in somewhat larger cars that are aiming to use as little energy as possible to get from point A to B. Small econo-bots like smart cars and cubes though utilize a usually high number of gears, usually 6, but they don't use more because the weight of the extra clutch would be more parasitic to the efficiency of the car than beneficial. However, in larger cars like sedans and luxury coupes, the weight of the extra clutch isn't as parasitic on the motor, due to a higher power output. What these engineers hope to capture is easier acceleration of the car through more gears to keep the revs down as much as possible. This puts less strain on the engine and also allows for less fuel to be used.
High performance cars are also beginning to see this trend, seven and eight speed dual clutch automatic transmissions are becoming the norm for cars with ever increasing top speeds. Manuals are also not omitted from this trend, as Porsche is offering a new 7-speed manual option in some of their cars. This is in an effort to appeal to more new trends occurring in the car world today, but if you ask me, trying to manage finding the right gear in seven different slots would be a nightmare.
So, what do you think? Are more gears better? Is this a fad or do you think that this is going to become the norm?
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