The race is on: Ford's 6 speed auto

As im typing now, plans are afoot for the possibilty of 3 different 6 speed automatic transmissions to make their way into the Falcon in the future

Possobility 1: The expensive, yet very smooth ZF 6 speed auto favoured by Jaguar in their RWD applications (in other words, not the Mondeo based X-Type). There have been strong links to this transmission slotting behind V8's and high series Falcons for 2004 and keep the BTR 4 speed in the XT, Futura and N/A XR6

Possibility 2: Ford/ZF North America joint venture: This ones been in the news alot lately, Ford and ZF have started developing a 6 speed auto for fords applications and follows the Ford/Peugeot Common-rail Diesel V6 venture in Europe.

Possibility 3: BTR locally made 6 speed version of current 4 speed box: I've heard a rumour that BTR by 2007 will have a 6 speed auto to put in low series Falcons whilst ZF directly takes care of the high series and V8 models. BTR have supplied the current 4 speed box since 1989 and Ford credit themselves for providing local industry development in the form of being BTR's prime customer, and i think its something they want to keep their heads in still.

[QUOTE=fpv_gtho]As im typing now, plans are afoot for the possibilty of 3 different 6 speed automatic transmissions to make their way into the Falcon in the future

Possobility 1: The expensive, yet very smooth ZF 6 speed auto favoured by Jaguar in their RWD applications (in other words, not the Mondeo based X-Type). There have been strong links to this transmission slotting behind V8's and high series Falcons for 2004 and keep the BTR 4 speed in the XT, Futura and N/A XR6

Possibility 2: Ford/ZF North America joint venture: This ones been in the news alot lately, Ford and ZF have started developing a 6 speed auto for fords applications and follows the Ford/Peugeot Common-rail Diesel V6 venture in Europe.

Possibility 3: BTR locally made 6 speed version of current 4 speed box: I've heard a rumour that BTR by 2007 will have a 6 speed auto to put in low series Falcons whilst ZF directly takes care of the high series and V8 models. BTR have supplied the current 4 speed box since 1989 and Ford credit themselves for providing local industry development in the form of being BTR's prime customer, and i think its something they want to keep their heads in still.[/QUOTE]
call me old fashioned ( or whatever else you want ) but how many gears doth an automatic actually need? They would want a super smooth shift or they would drive you nuts.

well are you happy with having 6 gears in your SV8 or do you find that your only using 4 or 5 of them.

Ford have said that compared to the 4 speed BTR unit the 6 speed auto will be more fuel economical and have better performance. if they decide on the wholey ZF unit then it will be remarkably smooth and you probably wont even notice the engine changing in normal driving

[QUOTE=fpv_gtho]well are you happy with having 6 gears in your SV8 or do you find that your only using 4 or 5 of them.

Ford have said that compared to the 4 speed BTR unit the 6 speed auto will be more fuel economical and have better performance. if they decide on the wholey ZF unit then it will be remarkably smooth and you probably wont even notice the engine changing in normal driving[/QUOTE]
Mostly 4 or 5. Only 6 for the highway. But manual gearboxes are not usually about smoothness anyway.

well i guess its good your not used to lil 4 cylinder jap cars, wheels done this test where they got 2 V8 drivers (lowndes and skaife) and 3 rally drivers (bates, bourne and ordynski) and got them to swap cars. all the rally drivers thought the V8's (an AU2 XR8 and a VX GTS)had too tall gearing and lowndes and skaife all thought the rally drivers cars (EVO, STI and IS200) were too revvy.

back to the point though, the 6th in the T-56 is admittedly just a fuel saving gear, but im surprised i havent heard any complaints yet about the 5th in the FPV GT. By my rather unorthodox calculations, its geared to do 300km/h (sheerly based on the fact that a car with a 6K cutout does 250km/h at 4940rpm)