Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Lee
All that complexity and expense and for what?...
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Let's face it, most kids (future consumers) won't ever learn how to drive a stick. The goal would be a hybrid manual-automatic transmission that anyone can drive, with the efficiency of a manual gearbox. With shifts that take small fractions of a second, it opens the door to all sorts of possibilities:
no energy sapping torque converter
no gear change torque spike to break loose the drive tires in ice or snow
"looks and feels like an automatic to the driver, but delivers the effieciency of a manual". I will say the cost is going to have to come down, to make those things viable to put in any daily commuter car. I've seen a $14,000 transaxle for a dunebuggy... <google Mendeola>