Dual-Clutch Coming to Detroit

[GimpyMcFarlan]

er.... Make that Indiana. $530M transmission plant. Isn't Chrysler looking money hand-over-fist? Ouch!

http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070706/FREE/70703007/1024/LATESTNEWS

[lupinsea]

So edjumecate me on the dual clutch thingy. What's the big deal. Reading the article it sounds like it the dual clutch transmissions are somewhere between a manual and automatic in that you get the direct power transfer of a clutch but with the "over lap" of an automatic.

No?

Never driven one of these. How do they work. Paddle shifters? Usual stick for rowing gears?

[lemming]

there's simultaneous engagement of two gears so moving a SINGLE gear up or down is a lot smoother than an SMG gearbox.

but trying to do more than one gear at once is teh suck because it's slower than an automatic to downshift that far.

(having driven the GTI DSG, it also does not hold redline --it shifts up unfortunately).

[FC]

At this point I don't have the time to really learn all the details. All I know is that I've driven a DSG and while I would still want a manual over it, I'd LOVE to have DSG instead of a regular slushy tranny for the family car.