Audi is yet to confirm the news but analysts at research firm CSM Worldwide have told Automotive News Europe that we’re likely to see the eight-speed ‘box in the A8 saloon, Q7 SUV and upcoming A7 four-door coupe from next year onwards.
ZF claims its new design improves fuel consumption by 14% compared with a standard five-speed automatic because of its longer gear ratio. Engineers have also improved the design to include compatibility with stop-start technology, allowing the close-geared system to shut the engine down when a vehicle comes to a stop and fire it back up and drive off at a moment’s notice.
Mercedes-Benz is yet to reveal if it will offer an eight-speed gearbox. The carmaker’s head of passenger car engines and powertrains, Leopold Mikulic, has told reporters Mercedes’ current seven-speed auto could be extended to eight gears but that the impact on fuel efficiency would be "limited."
Reader Comments
Mon May 12 2008 7:28 PM
MyWheelsOnWalls.com says
Can we assume more gears to follow in the near future? I suppose the reason for more gears is to gain the MPG advantage of a CVT transmission but with the ability to handle more power and work with an AWD system, such as Quattro.
Anyone?
Mon May 12 2008 7:57 PM
Gus says
8 speeds!
Wow.
Well, I guess it makes sense, keeps the engine in it's optimum range for longer periods of time. As long as it doesn't add too much more wieght?
Funny story: A friend of mine in my sports car club has a Mercedes C230 with a 7-speed tranny with shifting buttons on the back of the steering wheels. We were all driving up Angeles Crest highway and he was chasing me in my Mustang GT. When we stopped for lunch, he told me he liked his transmission, but it was tough to know when to shift and which gear he was in, 7 was just too many to keep track of, and that he was constantly having to shift. With my 5-speed auto, I just kept shifting between 2nd and 3rd and that was all a big V8 needed...
Mon May 12 2008 8:15 PM
MyWheelsOnWalls.com says
Sports car club and automatic transmissions? Sounds like an oxymoron to me!
Mon May 12 2008 9:26 PM
Gus says
Then you've never driven a modern automatic, which is faster than the same car with a stick, especially if it's a DSG, of which we have two.
Go ahead, try and outshift those guys...
Mon May 12 2008 10:35 PM
MyWheelsOnWalls.com says
What! in a Mustang? A VW product yes but there is no DSG in a Mustang.
Although DSG is fun and very quick there is nothing more rewarding and requires greater discipline than shifting for yourself.
Tue May 13 2008 3:59 AM
vb says
Well, modern automatic transmissions like the DSG are in fact faster than stick shifting, a standard 5 speed auto like in your mustang isn't. Neither is it (I have to quote mywheelsonwalls) as rewarding as stick shifting.
Tue May 13 2008 8:03 AM
Camski says
An auto can be more rewarding than a manual in some cases.
Take for instance a road you don't know well, it's much easier to press up and down, receiving instant shifts on corners and gradients that are unknown to you.
Also, you can't beat a good sounding engine with a 'box that blips your downshifts. Just slowing up to a set of lights next to a bean can Honda Civic dropping from 3rd to 1st with a nice growl to each downshift. Oh the look on their faces... =P
Tue May 13 2008 9:36 AM
JVC says
I find the argument of finding manual shifting more rewarding simply antiquated. Just because some people find the "discipline" of shifting manual "rewarding" it does not make it either better or more rewarding than alternatives for everyone else.
I surely do not want to get in a car that does not excite me or that drives itself but to stick with old technology just because SOME are loyal to it seems ridiculous. I'm open and flexible enough to adopt a new technology that proves superior, more efficient and even more rewarding than manual shifting.
I have not tested an 8-speed auto and although I look forward to it I, unfortunately, will have the preconception that it will require too many shifts. I cannot judge until I try it and perhaps it will grow on me as it did when learning to drive manuals and automatics.
I think that for the sake of fuel efficiency sport luxury makers such as Audi, BMW and MB should focus on maintaining performance while decreasing weight. Once they start compromising performance, these cars will stop being sporty.
Tue May 13 2008 9:52 AM
JVC says
... and what is it with setting this 'I lead you follow' scheme??? is this unbiased reporting or is there favoritism here?!
OEMs take years in developing complex components such as an 8-speed transmission. If BMW announced they will be introducing one it surely does not mean that Audi all of a sudden decided to start working on their own version. Audi may have started working on this way before and simply decided to not announce it as early as BMW did, we do not have these facts. This stupid war over who follows who is becoming ridiculous and stupid. They each have their strengths and achievements and claiming to be first can only have an effect on the buying decisions of the underpriviliged minds.
Tue May 13 2008 9:53 AM
Gus says
MyWheelsonWalls, anything American is going to be s**t on your list, so I'm not surprised.
What I am surprised about is your inability to understand that while there is no DSG in a Mustang (Duh), that in a sports car CLUB (meaning multiple cars, by the way) that there can be two vehicles which have the technology, and they are very, very fast, even faster than the manual you drive in your sports car club, right?
Tue May 13 2008 11:20 AM
MyWheelsOnWalls.com says
Infact I do find American products to be good for what they are. Yet at the end of the day the Japanese and Europe seem to be always at the front of the line when it comes to moving forward.
The Mustand quite frankly is a lazy mans sports car point blank built on some very old technology. The Corvette as of late seems to coming into its own but only because there is a huge push by GM to sell it in Europe and to do that you need to be at the front on the line!
Further more I do find American car companies to be lazy which is very sad since it is those very same companies that came up with automatics in the first place and also made them reliable. Cadilac for instance came up with what we now know as standard controls for a car, gas pedal on the right, brake in the middle, clutch on the left, and the hand brake to the side (drive a model T for ten minutes and you'll see why such controls were a blessing). I believe the model of Cadilac was the 16. This idea of standard controls was then mass produced and launched to the masses on the Austin 7.
So is everything American s**t on my list absolutely not but are U.S. car companies lazy and set a compromise bar that is way lower than the rest of the worlds? Absolutely!!!!
For the record my Ford F150 is a fantastic tool for both carting around the family and hauling camera equipment to shoots and the ride is smooth enough to deliver framed prints to art galleries without the glass shattering and you cant do that in my buddies Tundra.
Tue May 13 2008 11:56 AM
lexlife says
The Lexus LS was at the forefront of the 8 speed revolution and not a mention in the article. I know first hand It is an exceptionally smooth transmission.
Tue May 13 2008 1:03 PM
Gus says
Fine, but I still think you are extremely prejucdiced against anything American made.
Until you drive a new Mustang GT, you have no right to judge it, and no right to compare it to cars costing twice as much...
Back to the topic, modern automatics are awesome, and 8 speeds will surely soon be surpassed by even more gears...
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