For over a decade, we’ve watched performance automakers ditch manual transmissions for automatic or dual-clutch transmissions for performance reasons. There’s no question, automatics can shift far, far faster than humans can with manuals. It’s not even close, actually. Or is it? Car and Driver recently tested the BMW M2 Competition with both a manual and a DCT and their 0-60 mph times were actually faster with the manual. Huh?
It doesn’t make any sense at first. BMW’s DCT is typically much faster than any manually-equipped Bimmer. So how could the all-new M2 Competition actually be quicker with a manual? The answer is apparently all in the launch. Which is even more unusual.
Typically, dual-clutch gearboxes like BMW’s DCT are excellent at launching cars. Advanced launch control systems and uber-fast shifting automated clutches are superb at putting the exact amount of power down to the wheels to ensure the best possible launch. However, it seems BMW’s DCT has a hard time launching the M2 Competition as well as the previous M2, due to its extra wallop of torque. It’s still quick, getting from 0-60 mph in 4.0 seconds flat, but C&D was able to improve on that time with careful clutch modulation.
With the manual-equipped car, C&D was able to record a 3.9-second 0-60 mph time. That’s only one tenth of a second faster than the DCT car but that one tenth is a huge triumph for a manual gearbox and the driver. It seems as if careful launching with an actual clutch pedal is actually a bit more efficient at putting power down than the DCT’s brain.
Before you go celebrating the return of the manual gearbox, understand that this is a very unusual case and might not even be repeatable in other circumstances. Still, it’s fun to see a rare win for the three-pedal box.
[Source: Car and Driver]
I’m not entiely surprised. If you catch someone launching without time to fiddle with the settings you have a good chance to humiliate them. For the manual driver it’s just muscle memory which works almost always.
Insurance company after car is pulled out of ditch: “Oh, so you were using Launch Mode. Sorry, we don’t cover that.”
The DCT launch control can’t take into account variable factors such as tire temp, road surface, etc. An extremely well-practiced driver of the manual can modulate the clutch timing and the throttle ever so slightly, just enough to produce that perfect launch.
C and D is the most notorious of magazine acceleraton tester abusers.
I will wait until some other more well considered tests are documented.
6MT should lose on the first shift, regardless.
R&T andC and D staffs are populated by young ex-Jalopnik type bloggers who have no clue how to test much less acquire accurate data. Both are mere shadows of their former excellence.
Please fix the grammar of the headline
My question has always been which is quicker around a track. DCT’s have much quicker shifts each time, but they cannot skip gears like a manual can, nor can they see and anticipate upcoming road features and traffic, for purposes of gear changes. They can only react (albeit quite quickly) after the driver begins to change the vehicle’s parameters.
I suppose the best of both worlds would be manual mode for quicker shifts + control
Potentially true, although manual modes still don’t allow for gear skipping. For me, I find that mentally counting paddle clicks and keeping track of current gear selection while driving aggressively is an unneeded distraction. With a true manual, there’s no mental deliberation step involved. It’s all muscle memory as soon as you place your hand on the shifter, knowing what gear you’re currently in and how to move it to get to the one you want next.
I agree, especially coming from a manual where there’s a direct connection to skipping gears. But the muscle memory for paddles should eventually develop. I imagine it’s similar to working a sequential manual gearbox?
Overhear a Toyota saying the company decided not to offer the Supra with Manual allegedly
due to their experience with the 86 that the drivers who, after wrapping
them around a tree, came back to claim a defect with
the car, were running a MT and black box ECU data recorders showed something like a power-shift. To any manufacturer (except maybe GM and Dodge’s
SRT division), safer (and not getting sued) is more important than
faster. It’s the case in everything today — design and build for the average, medicre end-user not the honed and skilled power user. Then make up for the lost sales with marketing spin.