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I'm helping a friend look at cars. One of the cars they are interested in is the new Malibu. I noticed this year they put a 6 speed auto transmission with the 4 cylinder engine and it bumped it up 3 mpg on the highway. I guess my question is what does everyone think of this? I know the mpg is great but is it going to be a quality issue with it being the first year of doing this? I'm not a hugh car guy, but I can't remember GM ever pairing a 4 cyl with a 6 speed tranny and that somewhat concerns me.
GM said 6-speed offers a quieter ride, acceleration improvement, smoother shifting 6-speed automatics spreading to more cars as the big automakers work to make vehicles better on fuel.
We have a 2008 Mitsubishi Outlander with a 4-cylinder 6-speed automatic transmission. Great gas mileage and smooth...6 speed clutch-less shifting is a nice feature on mountain roads.
I'm not a hugh car guy, but I can't remember GM ever pairing a 4 cyl with a 6 speed tranny and that somewhat concerns me.
What's wrong with more gears? My S2000 is a 2.2L 4 cylinder with a 6-speed. Adding a 6th gear will offer one more reduction in rpms at highway speeds, which increases highway MPG compared to a shorter 5th gear. That's why cars like the Corvette, Viper, and Supra have surprisingly good highway MPG for such powerful (fuel-consuming) engines - it's all about gearing. If you can cruise along at 70mph at only 2000rpm but not lug the engine into an inefficient range of the powerband, you'll get better gas mileage than if you were cruising at 70mph at 3000rpm with the same amount of throttle.
I don't buy into hype about a 6-speed auto as having "smoother shifting" or "quieter ride" - since the car will likely be shifting more often. If you want a quieter ride with smoother shifting, get a car with a CVT instead of individual transmission gears. However, more gears (6 instead of 4 or 5) does allow for better acceleration since there's a greater chance of being in a stronger part of the powerband at any given speed. It also allows for better highway fuel efficiency due the manufacturer's option of having a taller overdrive 6th gear.
The problem with more gears is that 6 speed manuals have been around for a long time. 6 speed autos are still relatively new, and will cost more if you need it worked on. There shouldn't be any extra shifting if the extra gears are used for overdrive, I pay attention to it anytime I drive my parents Saab 9-3 with the 6 speed auto. I've actually noticed some clunkiness in that one, IMO they are reducing transmission life making them take forever to shift just so they can feel smoother to the customer.
I think Mercedes was the first, or close to it, to put one in a street car, I think it also had some issues early on, but they were putting a lot of power to it IIRC. Also, nowadays 8 speeds are starting to see use through Lexus and BMW, I'm not sure if anyone else has them yet.
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