The improved CO2 and other elements seems to be down to the more efficient use of more gears when left to it's own programming. You can optimise the engine for a smaller rev band and let the gearbox do more work to keep it there. So if you select the other engine patterns (support race etc) all bets are off for WLTP type mpg figures.
It still niggles my mind that this can be done through programming of gearbox, turbo management and injection etc and so a test can be cheated to a degree. Will we get gearboxgate after dieselgate one day? The engine and gearbox are tuned to optimise the use of fuel and that feels like wiggle room for a smart engineer. With the serious pressure on manufacturers to hit the future CO2 rules and high penalties we are driving towards bad practices?
Certainly gearboxes have always been rated up to a maximum torque/power level. I had a beautiful pre-loved W216-CL600 which had to have an old five speed autobox when the W216-CL63 had the same bhp but had a more advanced 7 speed. It had a lot less torque so the 7sp could cope with it. The biturbo V12 had to much grunt for that gearbox. This can be seen in the current German power race by AMG/RS/M club all using the ZF8HP which runs up to the 600/600 mark with tiny chips above appearing (on short term boost in most cases).
Last edited by Alistair; 07/05/20 10:30 PM.
