Quote:
Originally Posted by Doctor J
The MT is a dinosaur in terms of its likelihood to survive into the future.
BMW is thinking global instead of niche market. From an accounting standpoint it makes no sense to continue offering a manual transmission that is really used in a very small percentage of their product line.
I'm sure they are willing to lose a few sales to purists who demand a MT in their sports cars -- because they sell a hell of a lot more SUVs and sedans with ATs to make up the difference.
Hell even Porsche purists admit the PDK shifts faster and better and gets better fuel economy than the manual transmission. I think the MT is going to be a very small % of Porsche future sales too -- and as soon as that happens the bean counters will kill it.
|
Agreed. Whether we like it or not (and I don't, even though I drive a DCT), the winds of change are blowing. DCTs, heavily boosted steering, drive-by-wire throttles, hill assists, lane minders, automated parking, bumper-mounted radar, cameras, dozens of airbags, automatic mirrors, collision warnings, and a whole slew of other automated technologies will continue to appear in all future cars until eventually the driver becomes unnecessary.
Sorry to go off-topic...