[Christ]

I like auxiliary transmissions, personally. In a 5&4 setup, you get something like 20 nominal ranges, but there are overlaps, and if you know your input/output ratios and what the engine /wants/ versus what you want, you can do some funny things with it... for instance, in one of the old trucks we had, you might split between 3/2 and 3/3 by shifting to 2/5 or 1/5. It takes a bit of practice and understanding of the ratios to do things like that, though.

I really love multi-speed transmissions. The loss in forward momentum can be solved with dual clutch gearboxes though. Ask VW about that.