Super Duty gets a 10 speed and an updated diesel

mich800 wrote:

wilber1 wrote:

mich800 wrote:

APT wrote:

Lynnmor wrote:
Of course all the discussion about needing more gears only pertains to those folks that operate at wide open throttle a significant amount of time.

Is that what owners of vehicles that have had 4->6->8 or 10 speeds say? There are more benefits to having more gears available than WOT acceleration.

I had 4-spds in my two F-150s. Now 6-spd in Suburban, 9-spd in my wife's daily driver and CVT in my DD. While I agree WOT and high throttle such as towing the difference is more measurable, but I always appreciate have the trans pick a ratio quickly that matches my demands. Te smaller the gear spacing, the more efficient and effective the power will be.

I have the privilege to drive a lot of vehicles with different technologies. If anything, my experience is the higher gear transmissions have more benefits at more moderate
throttle than full throttle.

I disagree when it come to tow vehicles. Having more gears makes it more possible to use the power one has. Who hasn’t been stuck between gears pulling up a grade? You can’t use a lower gear at WOT because you keep bumping up against the redline and the next higher gear isn’t low enough to hold your speed, so you either slow down to keep from over reving or keep shifting back and forth.

They are not designing these transmissions for single purpose vehicles. And yes your example is true especially if you are pedal to the floor the entire way up. I did not mean to imply there is not a benefit for tow vehicles.

Another advantage is improved fuel economy and they are not measuring that at straight full throttle. "just driving around" is where you see these benefits.

I agree that manufacturers are going to more gears primarily for greater fuel economy. I have a ZF 8 spd in my car and it is by far and away the best transmission I have ever had. However more gears in a tow vehicle give other advantages that outweigh any gains in towing mileage.