Quote:
Originally Posted by jason1973tl
An automatic without a torque converter would never work, or they would have one now. The only way I see to make that work is to have a computer use a clutch and change gears and such. It would be a massively complicated system. I am not an auto tech, but I don't see how you could practically make an auto work without a torque converter.
As far as the U.S. is concerned. We are a lazy bunch. I don't know about Europe and the rest of the world, but Americans want to talk/text on their cell phones, play with sat nav,mp3 and various doodads in their cars and generally want driving to be as easy as possible so they can be distracted with other things.
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DSG transmissions are clutchless autos, and before them there were also automated manuals, which were just manuals operated by a computer (though they weren't very smooth). Honda also has a CVT with a clutch, which would fine as well.
As far as I know, there's nothing stopping car companies from having the torque converter lockup at low speeds, other than a slight added cost in having a stronger lockup clutch. In fact, I hope there is a good reason they don't do this, as otherwise they have been wasting huge amounts of gas for the sake of a little bit of extra profit.