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2018 Holden Trax
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Honda has unveiled a dazzling array of new technical innovations - including the world’s first 10-speed automatic, a 1.0-litre VTEC turbo engine, a PHEV that can run in EV mode on the highway and an all new Fuel Cell Vehicle with a range of 700km - at a special briefing at its R&D centre in Tochigi, Japan.
The new 10-speed auto may not be the end of the “how many cogs is perfect” argument - Ford has already patented an 11-speed gearbox - but it does prove that dual-clutch systems aren’t the be-all and end-all, yet.
Honda says “10” is the perfect number to produce a mix of exhilarating acceleration and quiet, quality cruising, and compares a transmission to a piano keyboard; you can have a little organ at home (ahem…) but you don’t get the full experience without the keys of a grand one.
Its all-new design features four planetary gear-sets and, despite having four more gears, it’s the same overall length as the six-speed Honda transmission it replaces.
We tried the 10-speed out in a V6 Acura RLX on Honda’s test track and it was quiet and silky smooth out of the pits, but soon displayed its real party trick - impressive and thrusty kickdown.
Watching the gears drop from 10th to 4th in the blink of an eye - Honda says its shifts take just 750-milliseconds - is impressive, but it’s the power delivery that will widen your eyes.
All this comes with a claimed six percent improvement in fuel economy. The only downside we discovered seems to be that if you switch to manual mode and drive the paddles, you soon get frustrated by just how many gears there are.
Or you could just leave it in Drive, which most people surely will.
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9 Comments
OK showing my age here but .... bring back the 2 speed Powerglide! :p
Glad I wasn't around in such a primitive era. My first auto was a Traumatic - with 50% more gears than the Powerglide!
But the Powerglide would do 70 mph in 1st (if you nailed the pedal to the floor) behind a 307 V8. Only needed two gears.
some 4s are still better than some 6s
The trimatic wasn't as bad as people made out, ditto the Starfire engine. But I didn't appreciate the Powerglide until I drove one in city traffic - it actually makes a lot of sense! Six and seven speed autos shit me sometimes when jumping off the mark, pulling away from traffic lights. I cant imagine how short 1st gear would be in a ten speed. Having said that, I have driven a nine speed auto as well and it wasnt as bad as I was expecting. Didnt the boss of ZF say nine is the natural limit or something a short while back? I really don't want a car with a 15 speed auto...
Isn't there a 10sp auto in the new Ford Raptor that was designed with GM?
Nice if the story told us what type of Auto it was eg I am guessing it's a traditional torque converter slush box over a 10 speed CVT with fake gear step points. I can rule out Dual clutch since you said in the article it was cool seeing it drop down from 10 to 4 in a blink of the eye too which a DC can't do without flicking through all the gears.
If it can jump straight from 10th to 4th, why can't they make it skip gears when you're shifting in manual mode so there's a more usual number to deal with, say 6-7.
Interesting to see they developed their own this time. I think the 8-speed in the Acura's in the USA are ZF sourced.