Quote:
Originally Posted by tjts1
Dogleg gearboxes are useless on the street.
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Hmm, I've usually heard "dog-leg" only refer to the shift pattern. Some older German cars (Porsches and BMWs) have first gear to the left and down, with 2nd being middle/up, 3rd middle/down, etc. The type of transmission we're talking about here is one I've heard called "dog box". The sliders for gear engagement have "dogs" or "dog teeth" on them. Uhh, anyway.
In the video, you can see that someone with (presumably) quite a lot of experience driving this particular car and gearbox setup still gets a clunk pretty frequently. That is not acceptable to most of the drivers out there. It might be OK in a car that is primarily intended to be a track car, but my mom won't want that in her grocery-getter.
Heck, these days most Americans don't even know how to drive a regular manual transmission! If they won't even learn that, what makes you think that they'll be willing to put up with clunking and grinding noises in some or all gear changes? Or willing to put forth the thought and effort of actually shifting with a good enough technique not to have the grind?
The dual-clutch transmissions are much easier to operate automatically, without the NVH of a dog-box.
If they make a dog-box transaxle that fits my car that lasts for 100K miles, though, I would be quite interested. (But not enough to pay the undoubtedly-large amount of money required to buy one.)
The "why" in this case, as in so many, is "Because the carmakers think they won't make enough money to be worthwhile."
-soD