Nine Ratios Is As Far As Mercedes' Auto Gearboxes Will Go

There was a time when the automatic gearbox was a thing of derision; with slow shifts, poor economy and rubbish software that always seemed to pick the wrong gear for any given situation, it’s easy to see why many dismissed automatic gearboxes and have never looked back. As technology has developed, however, automatic gearboxes have progressed to the point where they’re faster and more economical than any human could ever dream of.

Part of this progression has resulted in manufacturers chucking more and more cogs into their gearboxes, with the likes of GM and Ford now offering 10-speed transmissions. According to Autocar, Mercedes has called it quits in the race to offer a gear ratio for every occasion, saying that it has conducted “81 billion different computer simulations for gearbox scenarios and believes nine speeds work best.”

It’s probably a good thing. We’re all for progression, and many years ago it was deemed unfeasible for road cars to be drivable with the kind of power we see in performance motors today, however the gear ratio race was getting a bit silly; shifts are barely perceptible under normal driving, but the constant, minor changes in torque and engine note are noticable to those of us who care about such things. We were starting to reach a point where our cars would be spending more time between gears than actually engaged…