Are you refusing to buy a Ferrari or an Aston until you catch a glimpse of the new Porsche 911 as it get unveiled in Frankfurt? We would! But if you’re considering a mack to basics version with a manual gearbox, you’d better be prepared to shift an extra gear, especially if you’re cruising on the highway.
Car and Driver has managed to extract an extra piece for the big 911 puzzle, but it’s a very important one: Porsche will add and extra cog to its manual gearbox, so all the 911 models will have seven-speed, in either automatic or manual forms.
Why would the German sportscar maker want to do this? Because the taller final gear will help a lot with fuel efficiency at highway speeds. This is the simplest and purest way for the 911 to become both more frugal and, more importantly, cleaner for the next generation.
We have to mention that this is the first manual gearbox for cars with seven forward gears, although plenty of trucks have as many as 16.
After Mercedes Benz introduced the 5G-Tronic in the 90s - the first automatic with five cogs - ZF countered with a the first six-speed in 2001. Two years later, Mercedes answered back with the 7G-Tronic, but the victory was short lived, as both Lexus and ZF now have eight-speed autos.
However, the manual battle has lacked luster, and it’s good to see that Porsche is stepping things up a notch. So, will the new seven-shifter make it into other performance machines in need of better economy? Well, right now interest in the technology is limited, according to C/D sources.
Car and Driver has managed to extract an extra piece for the big 911 puzzle, but it’s a very important one: Porsche will add and extra cog to its manual gearbox, so all the 911 models will have seven-speed, in either automatic or manual forms.
Why would the German sportscar maker want to do this? Because the taller final gear will help a lot with fuel efficiency at highway speeds. This is the simplest and purest way for the 911 to become both more frugal and, more importantly, cleaner for the next generation.
We have to mention that this is the first manual gearbox for cars with seven forward gears, although plenty of trucks have as many as 16.
After Mercedes Benz introduced the 5G-Tronic in the 90s - the first automatic with five cogs - ZF countered with a the first six-speed in 2001. Two years later, Mercedes answered back with the 7G-Tronic, but the victory was short lived, as both Lexus and ZF now have eight-speed autos.
However, the manual battle has lacked luster, and it’s good to see that Porsche is stepping things up a notch. So, will the new seven-shifter make it into other performance machines in need of better economy? Well, right now interest in the technology is limited, according to C/D sources.