When I first started driving in the 90s it seemed like the 4 and 5 speed transmission was the best, modern transmission you could get. They were relatively reliable, and had enough gears to make acceleration, and fuel economy good in my Honda CRX.
Today, I can buy a Honda Odyssey with a 9-speed automatic transmission standard, and 10-speed on the high end model.
**What has changed in transmission engineering, materials science, and technology to allow more gears in the gearbox?**
What are the potential downsides? E.g. is the typical 10-speed as reliable as the old standard 5-speed gearbox?
Edit: To be more clear, this is an ENGINEERING, MATERIALS SCIENCE, and TECHNOLOGY question. I understand the benefits of having more gears for ride quality, and fuel efficiency.
In: Engineering
If you have a 1950’s 3-speed transmission, you can really only use one gear at most speeds because they have small overlaps.
When you have 10 gears, you have lots of overlap. This brings an additional benefit, you can choose from among the usable gears the one that provides the most acceleration, or fuel economy, depending on what you’re trying to do.
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