5-speed automatic

[Silver 99 Camaro]

Actually, there are lots of 5-speeds out there...Honda Accord, Mazda6, Chrysler 300, the new Ford Five Hundred has a 6-speed auto, the list goes on...

It's not expensive and doesn't require more gears. In a planetary transmission, one gear is held still while the rest spin. If you hold different ones still, the ratio changes. Adding a 5th gear to an auto requires simply adding another program to the control system, and maybe a little more hardware, to use another gear setup to add a 5th gear. It's simple, easy, cheap, and lots of companies are doing it now. It makes an automatic car just about as fast as a 5 speed stick. GM is the only company resisting it, and I can't figure out why.

[T-Punk]

well our good pal the general resists because they already have 4 speeds and they are great for the average driver. it would also cost money to engineer the change the 4 speeds to make them 5 or 6 speeds and then to empliment the changes. In big companies they take into acount every penny that they dont have to spend because it adds up to alot of money.

[shenanigans]

There a few out there already. Its cheaper with the 4speed auto... Remember some of the basis of our auto is like 20 years old.

Personally I'd be kinda happy with a tried and true 4speed, then a new 5-speed auto.

[Silver 99 Camaro]

The engineering change is minor, trust me, I'm a mechanical engineer. From a cost standpoint, EVERYONE else has one from japs to the other 2 of the Big 3. Dodge trucks, Fords, I mean come on! Tried and true 4 speed sounds like my grandfather talking.

GM makes tough engines, and traditionally has one of the best powertrain lines in the world. I hate to say, they are slacking big time! GM engines would perform so much better and be a lot more competitive with another gear to wind them out with.

[99v6cam]

Mercedes made a 7 speed auto, here's a link that tells about it http://fast-autos.net/news/51403.html

[T-Punk]

umm, do you work as a GM engineer? they dont have one engineer do this kind of stuff. i have talked to several and they have told me that they spend weeks perfecting even a spring to make it reliable and as cheap as possible. the small changes you are talking about would take about 6 months of engineering (a pretty big cost considering how many engineers they would have work on it) and then they would have to set up the machinery to empliment these changes and you would still end up with a half assed 5 or 6 speed. The way i know GM will and is doing this is to design the new tranny from the ground up. And yeah tried and true 4 speeds still suck, i want a 6 speed auto real bad :cough:Cadilac XLR-V:cough:

[Silver 99 Camaro]

Don't kid yourself...they do everything half assed. THAT keeps the cost down.

[chadder]

so the c6,c6 z06,LS1,LS2,LS7,C5R, and 572 big block are all half assed? hmm...lets think before we post some more stupid stuff...Silver 99 must be thinking of Ford....