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BMW Also Developing 7-Speed Manual Gearbox

It’s clear that the German manufacturers have gone gear-crazy adding more and more cogs to their gearboxes, both automatic ones and manuals, as well. A few people may not have known what to make of the 7-speed manual gearbox fitted to the new Porsche 911, and it apparently works very well.
BMW 7-Speed Manual 1 photo
Photo: e90post.com
So, in the quest for increased fuel efficiency (probably), BMW will apparently also be adopting the 7-speed manual gearbox, using 7th gear as economical overdrive, like the Porsche. If you were thinking that having so many gears and having them so close together is dangerous, as it can lead to miss-selection of gears and (possibly) ruin the gearbox, you’ll be happy to know that the system which will be used by BMW has magnetorheologic or electrorheologic fluid around the shift gate, with various sensors applying an electric current in order to change the viscosity of the fluid. This enables the blocking of unwanted gears, to avoid the dangers of selecting the wrong cog.

The information doesn’t say when or on what cars it will be used, or if it’s real, actually. However, BMW will never ever let Porsche have more gears than they do. It’s a German macho thing, you wouldn’t understand...

Story via e90post.com
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