Automatics Are Getting Good Enough To Kill Off DCTs, Says BMW M Boss

With conventional automatic gearboxes getting smarter and faster, dual-clutch systems could become obsolete quite soon

24 Apr 2017

Automatics Are Getting Good Enough To Kill Off DCTs, Says BMW M Boss

At this point, we’re pretty used to the concept that - certainly for higher powered cars at least - the future of the manual gearbox is looking a little dicey. However, according to Peter Quintus - BMW M’s vice president of sales and marketing - the days of the dual-clutch gearbox may be numbered too.

Speaking to Drive.com.au, Quintus said: “It’s more a question of how long has the DCT got to go.”

DCT ‘boxes were nothing short of revolutionary when they broke into the mainstream, providing near immediate shifts that were a world apart from traditional, lazy auto slush-boxes many were used to. The trouble is, torque converter automatics have gotten a lot quicker and a lot smarter in recent years.

“The DCT once had two advantages: it was light and its shift speeds were higher,” Quintus explained, adding: “Now, a lot of that shift-time advantage has disappeared as automatics get better and smarter.”

On the subject of manuals, Quintus reckons 450bhp is about the limit of what they can reliably take. And while quite a few American cars manage much more than that with a stick shifter, he noted that “We looked at US gearboxes. We found they were heavy and the shift quality was awful”. Ouch.

Source: Drive via Jalopnik

Comments

He is not wrong in many regards, but that has been spoken every time something new in gearbox industry comes in. Also he is German and MT is suboptimal. Germans don’t do sub-optimal very well…

They should figure out computer assisted sequential boxes (Like in Formula Ford EcoBoost) for the wide market and refine CVTs a bit more and that is the set that could make everyone happy.
Stickshift is hard to kill of and goes by waves. Mainly due to maintenance efforts. It is always near. Let me explain:

People buy cars with fancy automatics, people start to doubt the if manuals are still a thing.
Fancy automatics start to wear and tear and need maintenance
People remember manuals again and they rise up in prices
Manufacturers hope to regain market through some stick shift hype
New idea of ATM comes out
Go back to #1

I like the idea but people are too lazy to go back. Normies amirite?

I’ll say this. I’ve just ordered myself a new car, and I went for a ‘Sports Automatic transmission’ (a fancy and long winded way of saying an auto, with paddles).

Now, my previous 3 cars have been manual, I agree that it’s more engaging, and I enjoyed the ‘touring car’ style feeling of having to take a hand off the wheel to change gear, it’s more exciting and frenzied - which adds to the excitement of a spirited drive.

However, I’ve opted for a SAT this time for 3 reasons -

I do 25k miles a year, a lot of it on the motorway, stuck in traffic. An auto made more sense.
It lowered my tax from £800 to £500 for the first year, increased MPG and decreased 0-60 time
I still have the control of a manual when I want it. If I want to use the paddles, I can, if I want to use the stick as a sequential shifter, I can, or if I want the car to do it for me, I can.

I’ve changed, and I can’t see myself going back now. Sure in an old 240SX, or similar a manual is more fun, but for day to day life including occasional spirited drives, Sport autos really are the way forward.

I also do 25K miles a year, through all kinds of conditions from inching town traffic, to cruising highway, all the way to mid night touge, and also take the wife to grocery every weekend. If I have to do it all over again, it has to be a manual and nothing else.
I only have space to park one car, so that car has to do everything I ask it to do.

But I do understand your point and respect why you’d pick an automatic.

However, it’s very satisfying everytime I completed a heel-toe downshift and the wife still enjoying the smooth ride listening to the radio without knowing what I just did.
Everyday when I drive home from work through traffic, I enjoy the drive, every minute of it. Everytime I hit a corner, every on/off ramp, and also every time I grab the next gear. =]
Just sharing you a part of my life =P

American gearboxes are terrible? Hah! BMW is just mad that a Camaro is a better sports car than a six figure M4. RIP M

What the ** really! I feel like this guy is just trying to be a snob, there a several manual transmissions out there that hold plenty of power and shift great. I speak from personal experiences with a few of Nissan’s legendary cd009. He also never stated why autos are better than a dct. I can conclude that they are probably cheaper to manufacturer and not as bad, but still I can say with certainty that it is men like this that will bring about the end if enjoyable fun sports cars. Especially because he is the vice president of the sports division of a company that claims to make “the ultimate driving machine.” I guess if I ever become depressed and want to drive a car as hollow and soulless as me, I’ll know where to look from now on.