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Originally Posted by madfast
funny how they made no mention of government laws causing manufacturers to do what they do... electric steering is a DIRECT result of tightening fuel economy standards. the rise of the AT/DCT is also very much mpg related considering 7 speeds are normal, 8 speeds are becoming common, and we are on the verge of a ZF 9 speed AT (with a 10 speed in development). not to mention the proliferation of CVTs...
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Not really, there are easier ways to get fuel economy. Targeting parasitic load is nice because it increases max engine power available, but from a cost perspective perhaps adding an extra gear into the transmission is cheaper than swapping belt drive for electric motors everywhere.
Electric steering always gets attacked, but there are different electric steering systems and often times the electric steering is just a hydraulic system with electric steering pump.
Fuel economy standards aren't what's killing MT, imo, the demand is just dead. The way cars are tested for fuel economy is bad for MTs though, and necessitates crappy gearing (for fuel economy) (part of that is also market demand, sports car buyers like their short cruise gears for "good response"). Porsche is making their 7 speed manual, which is awesome. If Honda/Toyota weren't such cheapasses they wouldn't have only 5 speed transmissions available when Hyundai has 6 standard. More gears is a good thing, as long as they remember that there are people who want manual transmissions. Unfortunately, people who buy Porsches probably go for DCT since it's faster and all, so all we can hope is that there is enough demand to keep MT alive.