View Single Post
      06-30-2019, 11:27 AM   #63
pbar
Captain
pbar's Avatar
1381
Rep
756
Posts

Drives: 992 GTS, Tesla M3P
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: San Francisco

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by themnmd View Post
For anyone who missed it, there was a descent article on the ZF8 in last fall's Car and Driver:

https://www.caranddriver.com/feature...f-eight-speed/
Thanks for posting... reads like a bit of a sales-piece, but there's some technical information in there.

Also some pretty worrying comments, e.g.

Quote:
The 8HP also executes certain multigear shifts in this manner; witness the leaps from sixth gear to third and even eighth to second.
Not sure why I want a gearbox that's in 8th when it should have been in 3rd?!

Obviously no M driver would ever let the gearbox make these decisions for them in the first place, but this seems to be what it's designed for.

Quote:
The ability to swap the torque converter for an electric motor, as BMW has done, allows automakers to develop hybrid variants with minimal changes to the drivetrain.
Please, please, anything but a torque converter!

There's nothing worse than that sound of the engine revving its nuts off and the car hardly moving as it rapidly overheats a whiny fluid-filled torque converter. Perhaps it gets crappy cars off the line a little faster, and makes 0-60 times look better, but it's miserable to drive once the car's moving.

The two quotes from manufacturers are probably more revealing of their respective customers. Aston Martin are all in favor of a ZF transmission, whereas McLaren are convinced that pre-engaged gears and really fast shifts are what their customers need. Luxury boats (M5) versus engaging driver's cars (M2) ?

I'll reserve judgement for now, given some of the earlier comments about the M325 Race car, but I already know I'm not buying a G80 car without a proper test drive.

Last edited by pbar; 06-30-2019 at 11:34 AM..
Appreciate 0