Comments on: BMW’s New Slushbox: Eight is Enough

By: akitadog

akitadog — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 21:34:13 +0000

Justin,

The only BMWs owned are out of warranty. All those still under warranty are of the long-term rent variety.

By: yankinwaoz

yankinwaoz — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 06:48:52 +0000

Why? What happened to CVT’s?

By: NICKNICK

NICKNICK — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 03:33:04 +0000

jkross22: we’re up to 27 speeds on mountain bikes and 30 on touring bikes. i like lots of gears because my legs have a narrow power band. i can’t see modern cars needing a whole bunch of gears with the engines we’ve got today. V8s and 4-speeds would be fine.

if you have a 6 liter V8, you can get a pretty flat 350ish ftlb torque plateau. if you made 2 liter V8s, would you get a 120ish ftlb *flat* torque curve? are small engines always peaky, or is that just a function of 4-cyl engines?

By: maxspivak

maxspivak — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 02:28:32 +0000

People own BMWs out of warranty?

Um… YA

By: jkross22

jkross22 — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 23:16:19 +0000

Reminds me of what happened to bikes. Growing up, 10 speeds were king… then came 12 speeds, and now aren’t we up to 21 speeds? Yet its the material the bike is made of that’s much more important.

Also, this is similar to digital cameras. The manufacturers have pounded into our heads that more megapixels = better camera, yet I’ll take a 6mp camera with a great lens any day over a 11mp Samsung.

By: Austin Greene

Austin Greene — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:57:38 +0000

Mirko Reinhardt: BMW doesn’t use the GM units in any current model.
Perhaps you know of changes made for the 2008 model year, but Wikipedia says that the 2007 BMW X3 3.0, BMW X5 3.0, and BMW 328 coupe all use General Motors’ 6L50 transmission.

By: carguy

carguy — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 20:34:05 +0000

Modern gas engines have such broad power bands it seems superfulous to have that many gears.
Diesel engines, however, have a much more limited rev range and will probably benefit from a couple of extra ratios.

By: ra_pro

ra_pro — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 19:55:33 +0000

What for? I have an 01 740i with only a 5-speed and 1 gear (the third) is already superfluous when accelerating as it barely stays on for a moment before it upshifts. It’s an unsettling experience. I actually thought there was something wrong with the transmission.

By: Mirko Reinhardt

Mirko Reinhardt — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 19:27:08 +0000

@Austin Greene
As with other BMW-installed transmissions, this one will be made by ZF. BMW doesn’t use the GM units in any current model.

By: Justin Berkowitz

Justin Berkowitz — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 19:05:09 +0000

Johnny Canada:

People own BMWs out of warranty?

By: Johnny Canada

Johnny Canada — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 19:04:30 +0000

Just before you purchase one, walk over to the service department and get a quotation for a rebuild or exchange for the 8 speed transmission. There’s a reason why chairs are always available for customers in those departments.

By: ca36gtp

ca36gtp — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 18:30:05 +0000

I wouldn’t be surprised. GM has been working on an 8-speed transmission themselves, though updates have been scarce. You can’t really get much better than GM’s automatics, that’s one thing they’re very good at.

By: Austin Greene

Austin Greene — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 18:27:18 +0000

As with other BMW installed automatic transmissions, will this eight speed be supplied by General Motors’ Hydra-Matic division?