The great gearbox debate ......

[graeme]

Took the Scooby out for a wee blast today, just to keep the battery charged you understand.

The STi 6-speed is sublime. Such great short ratios, and all stacked so low. It feels like the first half of a 12-speed box.

Heel and toe, while of questionable performance value on road or trackdays, is essential for fun! I appreciate the genius and versatility of DSG boxes, but today I am reminded that 3 pedals are 100% compulsory on sunny Sundays, and long may they live!

[campbell]

Amen, Graeme

[van cleef]

I have the 8 speed DSG in my SQ5 and l love it for wafting about in, its my first auto car and first experience so I’ve nothing else to compare it to, wife absolutely loves it and would now have nothing else. Only gripe I have is the manual with the paddles! They’re not really paddles as they are just buttons on what look like paddles and aren’t really mechanical. I changed my old toniq r kit car with a bike engine for my elise which had a sequential box, flat shifter and AB Performance mechanical push pull cable operated PROPER mechanical gear change where you pulled back smacking it into every gear...... that was properly brilliant.

[Andy G]

So when i bought my first F430, i really missed not having a manual.

R8s have been manuals to date - loved them.

997 GT3 was such a good manual (motosport clutch and gearbox - just superb) i avoided buying a 991 Gt3 till i tried it (having declined the invitation pre-launch to do so) - and actually the PDK was so much better than the normal 991 road car version, it was actually one of the positives - despite me originally seeing it as a negative.

997 with the early pdk/tip tronic was bloody awful - a fantastic way to ruin the Carrera - utterly utterly sh*t.

Huracan PDK is great.

Daily - PDK
Toys - whatevers in them. Thankfully both gearbox variants tend to be so good now it makes little difference, although love the involvement of the manual, h&t, and generally having more to do

[BiggestNizzy]

CVT

[Mr Momo]

Dont be DAFt

[jason]

Dont be DAFt

Williams famously tested a 'Variomatic' in their '93 car. In response FIA banned CVT gearboxes before they had a chance to race it. The story goes it was a few seconds quicker in just initial testing (which kind of makes sense). I'm sure it would have sounded weird (just wrong!) from a fans' POV though.

And to make the circle complete... that car is now displayed at the DAF museum

Watch on YouTube

[rawsco]

The STi 6-speed is sublime. Such great short ratios, and all stacked so low. It feels like the first half of a 12-speed box.

It was a lovely gearbox one of the things I remember best about my MY04 STi that and the unrelenting abuse it could take smashing over crap roads, jumping, and standing starts dumping the clutch with 5k RPM on the tacho. I wasn’t nice to it but it was under warranty. Nothing broke. Just felt indestructible!

[campbell]

Dont be DAFt

Williams famously tested a 'Variomatic' in their '93 car. In response FIA banned CVT gearboxes before they had a chance to race it. The story goes it was a few seconds quicker in just initial testing (which kind of makes sense). I'm sure it would have sounded weird (just wrong!) from a fans' POV though.

And to make the circle complete... that car is now displayed at the DAF museum

Watch on YouTube

F1 has cared not a jot how the cars sound for several years now. I doubt they'd let a major aspect like that hold them back