Quote:
Originally Posted by funwheeldrive
From my impression more and more DCT transmissions are being phased out in favor of purely automatic versions instead. I'm not sure if that's accurate, but it's a trend I feel like I've been seeing. My friend is a Bimmer fanatic and he seems to think the next generation of their cars will stop using DCTs altogether.
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Ya, I've noticed it as well, specially for more "main stream" performance luxury brands like BMW. Although DCTs are technically more efficient (direct coupling) and shift quicker, they are inherently more complex and therefore more susceptible to issue (more points of failure). Regular ATs (torque converted) are technically less efficient (indirect fluid coupling) but drive much smoother for day to day driving and matches well with the trend of going to 7,8 even 9 speeds ((ie every luxury car now). I think DCTs will still stick around on purely performance oriented cars, but I think the fad has passed for all others.