I had an automatic Audi a4 that had 8 gears, it was that smooth that you didn’t notice any change in gear, I only noticed it had 8 gears when in semi auto and you moved up them sequentially. I wouldn’t worry about it!

Can you not get a test drive?

If the box is quick enough to shift and has a manual override it’s probably not too bad in a diesel/torquey car. Seems a bit like point scoring to me but then 10 years ago 6 speeds was a rarity and seems normal now.

In full automode the latest 8spds are great, pretty much seamless upshifts at any driver demand, and perfectly revmatched downsifts. They are can cope with a very aggressive torque converter locking strategy, so most of the time they drive like a manual (doens’t feel like much if any “slip” is occuring, so none of the horrible elastic feeling between engine rpm and roadspeed).
Typically for stop start driving they also start in 2nd or even 3rd gear from rest, limiting the need for some changes.

The only time i notice the number of gears is when in manual paddle shift mode, when it feels like you’re playing a pinball machine when manually downshifting during a hard braking event (although with some transcals, just holding the “down” paddle will automatically drop as many gears at once as it can, without needing to be pulled lots of times.

if you’ve ever driven a current 6spd ZF auto and been impressed, the 8spder is about 200% better in every respect 😉

Manual override is very very useful if you enjoy cornering. Nothing worse than a slush box changing gear half way around a corner completely changing the dynamic of the car.

has a manual override

Pretty pointless in a decent auto and once you are use to the car you know exactly how hard to ‘stab’ the pedal to kick-down.

And when wanting to hold a lower gear to maintain control when descending a steep hill?
Time for a brush up, b r. 🙂 💡

Have tried it on a 535d and it super smooth and the waves of torque are unbelievable. In the
afternoon I drove it over various a and b roads it was never caught short. Superb engineering[/quote]

Mmmmm, sounds great fun!

I still enjoy gunning my 5 speed BMW auto box at the moment, but i do look forward to the day a F10 535d becomes sensible money 🙂

We have both 8 speed auto & 6 speed auto boxes in our LR Discoveries at work – the consensus from the 60 odd people using them is that the 8 speed is garbage. It’s lazy, slow to react and seems tuned for optimum fuel efficiency than performance. The sport mode is only marginally better. The 6 speed in contrast is excellent. Just as smooth when changing gear but feels smoother on the overall drive because it performs less gear changes. The caveat to this is that we perhaps use them in a radically different manner compared to if it was your own vehicle.

I have a 7 speed Merc and its as smooth as a smooth thing with smooth bits on. As above sometimes you can only notice the gear change by looking at the rev counter. Luuuurrrrvvvly!

And when wanting to hold a lower gear to maintain control when descending a steep hill?
Time for a brush up, b r.

Either I’ve not driven 5h1t auto’s for a while or you’ve not driven good ones. They just do it for you.

Manual override is very very useful if you enjoy cornering. Nothing worse than a slush box changing gear half way around a corner completely changing the dynamic of the car.

Again disagree. It its a quality car with a powerful engine and multi-speed auto this just isn’t a problem – and hasn’t been for years.

We have both 8 speed auto & 6 speed auto boxes in our LR Discoveries at work – the consensus from the 60 odd people using them is that the 8 speed is garbage. It’s lazy, slow to react and seems tuned for optimum fuel efficiency than performance. The sport mode is only marginally better. The 6 speed in contrast is excellent. Just as smooth when changing gear but feels smoother on the overall drive because it performs less gear changes. The caveat to this is that we perhaps use them in a radically different manner compared to if it was your own vehicle.

Without wishing to offend anyone who works for JLR, but i find their transcals (and engine cals) to be hit and miss at the best of times. For me, L405 (new RR) is one of their better cals, and L359 with V6diesel (disco4) one of the worse.

Generally slightly better economy figures from the BMWs with the 8sp auto vs the manual.

Multi-speed auto? There’s another type?

Who’s going to let the race & rally teams know, you or me? They’re going to be pissed they’d not been using the best technology for the job.

Who’s going to let the race & rally teams know, you or me? They’re going to be pissed they’d not been using the best technology for the job.

They would if they could.

I’ve driven a BMW 530D with the 8 speed ZF box and it is a thing of beauty. Changes as quickly as a DSG box and was somehow able to read my mind as to what ratio I needed next. It will jump over ratios if need be so don’t think because it has 8 speeds it will be constantly changing gears. I tried using the paddle shifters but gave up after a while because they are simply not necessary even when pressing on. Also in the 5 series the fuel economy with the 8 speed auto is better than the equivalent manual car. The 6 speed auto in my Merc is positively crude and slothful by comparison.

It’s worth noting in the “fuel economy better than a manual” stakes, that this only applies to the fuel economy under the test conditions and during normal driving. if you have a manual, their are numerous hypermiling techniques that you can use to push fuel economy up well beyond the reach of even the best autos!

(my old manual 330d, i could fairly easily get up to ~56mpg with some hypermiling, my current 335d auto i can’t get above ~45mpg however i drive it)

It’s worth noting in the “fuel economy better than a manual” stakes, that this only applies to the fuel economy under the test conditions

Yep, the lab tests are skewed in favour of autos (something to do with them being able to choose what gear they do the tests in).

Anyway, my commuter has an infinite number of ratios so I guess I get to wave my willy the wildest. 😀

You’re suggesting trailing brakes.
On a mountain bike forum.
Where I’m guessing almost everyone is familiar with disc brakes.
And mountains.
😳

It appears you won’t take my word for it, so why not go on an advanced driving forum and ask there about never manually selecting gears in an auto.

It only offends us at JLR when you get the code numbers wrong, L359 is Freelander, Disco is L319, could tell you the others but might get in trouble 😉

It only offends us at JLR when you get the code numbers wrong, L359 is Freelander, Disco is L319, could tell you the others but might get in trouble

oops, sorry i transposed a 5 in their didn’t I

And BTW you don’t need to tell me the others i work for JLR 😉

Anywhich way, the 8spdr in the current MY products is a massive improvement in driveability to the old 6spd units!