Quote:
Originally Posted by Obioban
SMG 2 and SMG 3 both generated better performance numbers than their manual counterparts.
Similarly, PDK has generated better numbers than MT for years, as has ferrari's F1 trans. Every time manual is worth more (once past a certain age/no longer a "new" car).
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I think the better argument is that up until now, other forms of automatics have been somewhat flawed in regards to performance cars, whereas it's not clear if DCT will be viewed in the future as similarly flawed. Torque converter autos tend to break at 70k, and don't really have the peformance characteristics that are a good fit for performance cars. SMT variants have been more of a transitional transmission type, flawed with typically poor reliability and jerky shifts, and the market is somewhat abandoning them, so in another 5-10 years, it could be tough to find someone to work on them. So in both cases, it's not shocking collectors would avoid them vs manuals.
Conversely, the performance market seems to be moving toward DCTs. PDK is now coming on strong for Porsche, I think the R8 just moved to DCT, Ferrari seems to be fully adopting DCTs, Lamborghini is going in that direction. The only notable exceptions seem to be MB and the Corvette (though rumors of a DCT for that persist). I think it's also grasping at straws a bit that there will be radical improvements making this DCT less desireable. The current E9x M3 DCT already has very fast shifts, and adding another gear wouldn't change things much other than maybe improving MPG. Not saying it's perfect by any stretch (I still find the auto 'D' modes leave a lot to be desired), but improvements are likely to be evolutionary. In fact, I think BMW has actually dumbed down the DCT in the M5 (not sure about the F80), where we get 11 total modes, and I think that one only has 6.
Will the DCT follow past patterns? Who knows, but I think the arguments that it won't are as compelling as that it will.