#Dual-clutch

Updated January 2019

In the quest to find a new car, there are a lot of questions that need to be asked. Questions about cargo room, technology, options, luxuries and other various elements will come up more than a few times while shopping for a new car. However, from the car driver’s perspective, there are just three main questions: 

How comfortable is the driving experience? 
How fun is it to drive? 
How good is the car on fuel?

SEE ALSO: Manual Transmission Supra Still Being Considered

A major factor in answering those three questions has to do with the right transmission. Let’s face it, manual transmissions aren’t for everyone. They require familiarity and a level of perfection to get just right. With a traditional automatic transmission, drivers have been able to experience a fairly comfortable, yet less engaging experience. Still, an automatic transmission can leave any driving enthusiast unsatisfied. Luckily, progress has been made in the world of automatic transmissions that can help alleviate those woes.

Welcome to the final installment of Trans Wars, a three-part miniseries exploring the automatic transmission. So far we’ve compared torque-converter and dual-clutch units, but these two gearboxes aren’t the only ones on the market today.

In yesterday’s installment of Trans Wars we explored the benefits and downsides of conventional automatic gearboxes, ones that feature fluid-filled torque converters. This type of transmission has been around for more than 50 years; it works well and has pretty much become the industry standard.

Join us for a three-part miniseries exploring the ins and outs of automatic transmissions. For the first installment we celebrate heritage by tipping our hats to a great motoring tradition that’s as American as baseball, apple pie and Oldsmobile. This is Trans Wars!

General Motors has filed for a patent for a seven-speed dual clutch transmission, hinting that there might soon include be such a gearbox in the Corvette.

Everyone knows “bigger is better,” especially in America. It’s practically our national slogan; the founding fathers should have included it in the Bill of Rights as the 10.5th Amendment. Here in the land of the free and the home of the brave there may be a compelling case for all things large and in charge, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for small.

It’s rare that Porsche’s PDK transmission meets much criticism, but dropping it into the hardcore track-oriented 911 GT3 might be a place to start. That is, until you learn that the system was improved for the new application.

The engine wizards at Mercedes AMG went completely bonkers with the new CLA 45 model, pumping out 177-hp per liter of displacement. That means that this turbocharged 2.0L engine is the most powerful four-cylinder engine available on the market.

It’s said March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. It may be late in 2013’s third month but that hasn’t stopped the weather from being cool in New York City. Cranking up the thermostat in the NY Auto Show the folks at Mercedes-Benz just revealed a 355-horsepower compact, the CLA  45 AMG.

One of the most illustrious names in German sport sedan history, the BMW M3 will transition away from its naturally aspirated engine roots in the upcoming model meant to bow at next year’s Geneva Motor Show, doing so without a manual transmission.

Perhaps the most pure of sports cars, enthusiasts my cry foul about the next generation Porsche GT3 if the rumors prove true.

Oh how compact cars have changed…   Chrysler, or Fiat as it were, is taking a march through the elephant graveyard and bringing new life to some old bones.

Porsche is apparently readying some significant changes to its street-legal race car, the GT3. According to a forum member on Rennlist, the next-generation (991) version of the GT3 will adopt a larger engine, a dual-clutch gearbox and several even more significant changes.

Bentley‘s new V8 powered variant of the Continental GT may get an Audi derived dual clutch gearbox. Engineers are apparently looking into solutions that will allow the Conti’s unibody structure to accept the Audi S-tronic transmission, which is sized differently than the ZF automatic used in the W12 car.