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
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
I would actually prefer a semi-automatic rather than a conventional automatic. It does allow you to practice shifting (despite not using a clutch pedal) and you can just cruise in it too.
you do realise you can do that in an auto right?
Bmw just mad because they cant handle a v8 with a stick lmao…
Only in America will people say stuff like that. They were getting to lazy to change gears themselves, now they are to lazy to flick a f*ing paddle. At least a manual car is theft-proof in America, so that’s good.
Too much fat people…
RIP Ultimate Driving Machine. You will be missed.
First my beloved harambe,now the dct.
I’m ready to meet my maker.
450bhp from a manual?
What about the Pagani? That’s an AMT…. and handling near double that output.
Not if you have racing driver skills
Stocking up some true driver machines. E30 is in my mind, in my blood and is my real love.
I don’t mind auto as long as it is super fast and has shift pedals behind the steering wheel.
some cars don’t need all of that, EG, 1966 Buick Riviera
I don’t see how a transmission with a torque-converter could be any better than a dct. You always lose power through that. I also call BS for the 450hp. But this comes from a sales & marketing guy, these tend to talk complete nonsense just to bring themselfes in a better position.
you can control the stall speed of a torque converter in a traditional auto which can dramatically change the transmission’s driving character
Transmission ECU’s can be programmed to fully lock the torque converter for a direct torque transfer such as the system used in the Lexus F models.