Alan Sanders

THERE are now so many choices to make when buying a new car that the makers often provide a click-through configuration service on their websites, so the combinations of model, engine, colour, interior trim, entertainment system and so forth can be explored by customers. When it comes to the transmission, the choice used to be a simple one: automatic or manual? And most buyers knew exactly what they wanted; nine out of ten drivers in America would choose automatics, and eight out of ten Europeans would go for manuals. But now a range of new gearboxes is blurring the distinction—and giving car buyers a lot more to think about.

Confusingly, carmakers use many different terms and brand names for these new transmissions, and new types are being unveiled all the time. To make matters worse, many car salesmen do not know much about them, if complaints on motoring blogs are anything to go by. The new gearboxes are perhaps best described as automated-manuals, though sometimes they are called semi-automatics or clutchless-manuals, which is a bit misleading.

Most are based on manual gearboxes, but use electronic actuators to shift gears and to operate a built-in clutch. This is a very different arrangement from a standard automatic, which uses a more complex system of “planetary” gears, and transmits power to the wheels through a torque converter, a hefty piece of kit that takes the place of a clutch. Some standard automatics, such as the Porsche-developed Tiptronic system, can also operate in a semi-automatic mode when equipped with manual overrides.

Carmakers have played around with gearboxes that are half-manual and half-automatic for decades. So what has caused the sudden renewal of interest? The fact that electronics are now powerful and robust enough to make automated manuals which are far better, and reliable enough to do away with the clutch pedal altogether. Some people in the car industry think pedal clutches will now disappear, just as carburettors did after electronically controlled fuel-injectors came in.

Hardcore stick-shifters, who think automatics are for wimps, will laugh at that. But they should try something like a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti fitted with an F1A automated-manual gearbox. The car has no gearstick and no clutch pedal, but it does have a button marked “auto”. Press this, and instead of using the shift levers on the steering wheel to change gear manually, a computer takes over. It changes gear as sedately as a family saloon when ambling along, but driven aggressively it turns into a different beast. Software analyses the style of driving and selects the appropriate shift patterns. It can change gear in microseconds, which is much faster than any human can. Hardly surprisingly, the gearbox was derived from an automated manual used in Formula 1 cars.

But it is not just supercars that are being fitted with these new gearboxes. They are also appearing in smaller, cheaper cars. In Europe the Vauxhaul/Opel Corsa, for instance, is offered with an automated manual called Easytronic. Standard automatics have generally remained a bit too expensive, heavy and fuel-thirsty for use in small cars, but automated manuals are lighter, less complex and cheaper to produce. In part this is because gear changes are more accurate when carried out under computer control, so gearboxes do not have to be made extra rugged.

One system that has set the pace is the DualTronic produced by America's BorgWarner, which is known as a Direct Shift Gearbox when fitted in a Volkswagen, and an s-Tronic in an Audi. This is a dual-clutch transmission, which works rather like two gearboxes combined into one, with one gear driving the car while another stands ready to take over. One clutch operates first, third and fifth gear, and the other looks after second, fourth and sixth. Software detects how the car is being driven and pre-selects which gear should get ready to be engaged next. So, if accelerating in third, fourth gear will be ready for the change up. Gear selection can be left to the computer, or controlled by the driver.

Taking over

In such systems the computer will not allow foolish manual changes. It will change down, for instance, if the engine is labouring up a steep hill in a gear that is too high. This level of cleverness allows carmakers to program the gearboxes to maximise fuel efficiency and minimise emissions. The bonus for drivers is fast, smooth gear changes, and no clutch pedal to press. The buyer is still likely to pay a premium for an automated manual, although that could change if they become more universal. They are heading that way: BorgWarner alone expects soon to be building 2.3m DualTronics a year.

How automated manuals will affect sales of continuously variable transmissions (CVTs) remains to be seen. Instead of cogs, CVTs use belt systems that provide an infinite number of gear ratios. They tend to be more popular in Asia, but have not sold in huge numbers. As rival technologies add more gear ratios—ZF, a German gearbox-maker, recently announced an eight-speed automatic—CVTs could be overtaken. And just to blur things even further, Mercedes has launched a new gearbox called the Speedshift MCT, which is a planetary-geared automatic in which the torque converter has been replaced by an automated clutch. The only sure way for a car buyer to pick the right sort of gearbox is to arrange lots of test drives.