Transmission ratios arms race?

[280Z Turbo]

Three-speeds worked just fine for many many years on a great variety of vehicles.

Oh, and my ceiling fan has infinitely variable speeds.

3 speeds is unacceptable.

[Soup DeVille]

3 speeds is unacceptable.

It works.

[2o6]

It works.

Not well at all.

[TurboDan]

No job could ever pay me enough to drive in that crap.  Well, unless I was paid enough for a helo ride into work everyday.

That's what has always kept me from getting a manual as my daily driver. I don't have terrible highway commutes, but I live in an area that is overrun with tourists half the year, and as a news guy I have to go out and cover shit - normally wherever the insanity is at its worst. Plus since I live on an island, a trip over the bridge between Memorial Day and Labor Day (and weekends in the two months before and after) is pure torture.

Now that I have an SUV it's kind of a moot point, since there's nothing that can really make an SUV "fun to drive" on road. So it bothers me less than when I had the Passat.

[GoCougs]

lolz - you turkeys should go drive a run-of-the-mill moderately powerful V8 (4 bbl small block) of the '60s and '70s and you'd plainly see (feel) that a 3 sp AT was perfectly adequate for those vehicles.

[Soup DeVille]

Not well at all.

Balderdash. It worked just fine. It still does. it may not be the best when it comes to efficiency, but it works just fine.

[Madman]

3 speeds is unacceptable.

It works.

Not well at all.

The legendary Chevrolet Powerglide (long favoured by drag racers for it's rock-solid durability) had only TWO speeds!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powerglide

[2o6]

Balderdash. It worked just fine. It still does. it may not be the best when it comes to efficiency, but it works just fine.

I suppose a big torque-y V8 with a pretty narrow powerband, but a modern engine? My car would be a dog with two fewer speeds.

[93JC]

I suppose a big torque-y V8 with a pretty narrow wide powerband, but a modern engine? My car would be a dog with two fewer speeds.

[2o6]

Same difference. (Well, no not really)

[Rupert]

Come on Rupert, that fleet on your sig is from 1985. Wouldn't expect you to dig newfangled car tech.

I drive more miles every year in new tech auto trans SUVs and pick-ups than I do in my own cars, so I do know what I'm talking about here. Like I said, three-speeds in a really good automatic is preferable to eight-speeds of hunting mushy "economic" bullshit. What's ideal, IMO, is five or six speeds in a good transmission.

For example, we have a JGC with a five speed auto. If you leave it in drive, it'll hunt up and down at the slightest grade. I find that most of the time, I want it to just hold the lower gear uphill, and I end up shifting it down myself. I've driven about 30,000 miles in this and another JGC we had. We also have a Chevy 3500 with a three-speed transmission, and it holds the gear you want like a champ. Of course, it doesn't have a gear to go to often, but that's OK, because it's got a butt-ton of power at any RPM. I've done probably 3000 miles in this truck. Finally, we have a Dodge 2500 with a five speed auto, and it shifts when you want, and holds the gear when you want, and it's the best transmission we have in the 'ole fleet. Probably 10,000 miles in the Dodge.

[SVT666]

I find the 7 speed in the Infiniti is awesome at being in the right gear and holding it when needed.   The 5 speed auto in our Explorer hunts between 4th and 5th on every incline,  so as soon as I hit an incline I just push the tow/haul button to lock out 5th gear. Kind of a PITA.

[Rupert]

Yeah, I'm usually pretty happy to have the manual trans in my Explorer.

[Raza]

No good for shitty stop and go around here. My boyfriend was seriously grumpy on evenings where traffic was bad, even using the excellent clutch+stick like the Accord had.

I've done plenty of stop and go in a stick.  I don't personally have the complaint, though I suppose I can almost understand those who do.