New Aston 2015 8-Speed Gearbox

[KarlFranz]

Today Aston finally made public their new 8-Speed Touchtronic III gearbox after months of some of us having to keep quiet:

http://youtu.be/AnWMPiaD-Ug
http://youtu.be/qKoWRbA9Fcg

Edited by KarlFranz on Wednesday 6th August 00:42

[AdamV12V]

Well aside from the gearbox the new AM29 V12 stats looks like an interesting set of tweaks...

AM28 V12:

565 bhp @ 6750 rpm
620 Nm @ 5750 rpm
MPG 13.2 Urban / 27.7 Extra-Urban / 19.6 Combined

AM29 V12:

568 bhp @ 6650 rpm
630 Nm @ 5500 rpm
MPG 14.6 Urban / 31.0 Extra-Urban / 22.1 Combined

Not huge increases in output but nice to see that it is now developed a little lower down and fairly decent improvements in economy.

Wonder if AM29 V12 will find its way into the next model year V12VS and V12VSR then?

[toohuge]

The ZF 8 speed gearbox (matched to Bosch engine management) will be sensational. If you haven't tried one of these yet, it really is as good as the reviews. It is almost telepathic in gear selection - it is uncanny.

This is a great addition to the aston line up and hopefully this drivetrain (or gearbox at least) will find its way down through the other models.

Chris

[XXXAngelXXX]

AMG drive-train - gearbox- and engine will be an improvement......

[Beefmeister]

Autocar seem to like the improvements!

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/aston-martin/v...

Top speed goes from 183 to 201 mph which 'fits' a bit better now.

So it's faster, more economical, cleaner, better to drive. Could this finally be the new Vanquish that stops everyone whinging about it?

I hope so as I absolutely adore the current car, this can only make it better.

[petesv8v]

I bet current Vanquish owners are pleased to hear this news - car has only been out 5 minutes and here we have a revised and evidently much improved version. Be interesting to see what this does to the already poor residuals.

[Beefmeister]

Ooh, new wheel design too.

Edited by Beefmeister on Wednesday 6th August 16:21

[SFO]

anyone noticed that facelift Vanquish and N430 share instrument dials, fonts and colours (black)?

[SELON]

Excellent. Love the Vanquish anyway, now the numbers match the looks. Wonder if they mean that much to real world driving, but in the top trumps game, it brings Aston up a few notches and gets 3 of their cars up in to the 200mph class.

[jonby]

SELON said:

Excellent. Love the Vanquish anyway, now the numbers match the looks. Wonder if they mean that much to real world driving, but in the top trumps game, it brings Aston up a few notches and gets 3 of their cars up in to the 200mph class.

I suspect the gearbox will be a fair bit better regardless of the numbers, rather than because of the numbers

the better acceleration & top speed will be great for marketing but I can't see that extra acceleration in itself making much of a difference to the driver and patently the top speed only has relevance to marketing

incidentally, I have a friend who's dad once changed the gearing on his tvr grif so that the top speed wasn't much more than 100mph. It was the relatively LOW top speed that he boasted about, because it told anyone who remotely understands these things just how fast the acceleration was !

[mikey k]

jonby said:

I suspect the gearbox will be a fair bit better regardless of the numbers, rather than because of the numbers

the better acceleration & top speed will be great for marketing but I can't see that extra acceleration in itself making much of a difference to the driver and patently the top speed only has relevance to marketing

incidentally, I have a friend who's dad once changed the gearing on his tvr grif so that the top speed wasn't much more than 100mph. It was the relatively LOW top speed that he boasted about, because it told anyone who remotely understands these things just how fast the acceleration was !

Its all in the gears and final drive ratio
I nearly did the same on my last S2000 when it had 425 BHP, but decided it may be a step too far
I know it can be done on Vantage 6MT and ASM2

[avinalarf]

Great news.....fabulous.
P.S. What's a gearbox ?

[adamfawsitt]

More power, better acceleration, higher top speed, faster gear changes - what's not to like. Love that the Vanquish is now in the 200 MPH club.

[hornbaek]

Its a very welcome change that AML has announced the availabulity of a ZF 8 speed gearbox and it transforms the Vanquish '15 and onwards. What is quite disconcerting is what will happen to the residuals of the outgoing Vanquish which will probably now go below or at par with the original 2007 Vanquish - which had a questionable gearbox as well.

[JohnG1]

hornbaek said:

Its a very welcome change that AML has announced the availabulity of a ZF 8 speed gearbox and it transforms the Vanquish '15 and onwards. What is quite disconcerting is what will happen to the residuals of the outgoing Vanquish which will probably now go below or at par with the original 2007 Vanquish - which had a questionable gearbox as well.

Well, the move to the ZF 8 speeder was always on the cards with a continual incremental model year improvement policy. So while it'll bite on the initial buyers, surely that's nothing to cry over? That's what happens, no?

[SFO]

is there any technical reason why the the new 8 speed gearbox can't be fitted to the DB9?

[hashluck]

SFO said:

is there any technical reason why the the new 8 speed gearbox can't be fitted to the DB9?

Probably not but the DB9 needs a far more radical overhaul to get it compliant with US Safety Laws amongst other things so I doubt there will be any major investment in the current model until an all new DB9 arrives

[Y100]

I once drove a Maserati Quatroporte up to 145mph (I'm not saying where but not on a race circuit) I thought that was fast enough. @ 200mph + ,although wouldn't mind knowing that my car was capable, I'm not sure that I am. I'll see how Vesuvius and I get on at Snetterton next month, there's a nice long straight isn't there.

Edited by Y100 on Thursday 7th August 12:56

[mikey k]

Y100 said:

I once drove a Maserati Quatroporte up to 145mph (I'm not saying where but not on a race circuit) I thought that was fast enough. @ 200mph + ,although wouldn't mind knowing that my car was capable, I'm not sure that I am. I'll see how Vesuvius and I get on at Snetterton next month, there's a nice long straight isn't there.

Edited by Y100 on Thursday 7th August 12:56

Get Mike to take you to Millbrook and do the 1 mile straight or do an airfield vmax event
Johnny managed 170 mph roof up with current set up (scary sitting in the passenger seat!)

[Y100]

mikey k said:

Y100 said:

I once drove a Maserati Quatroporte up to 145mph (I'm not saying where but not on a race circuit) I thought that was fast enough. @ 200mph + ,although wouldn't mind knowing that my car was capable, I'm not sure that I am. I'll see how Vesuvius and I get on at Snetterton next month, there's a nice long straight isn't there.

Edited by Y100 on Thursday 7th August 12:56

Get Mike to take you to Millbrook and do the 1 mile straight or do an airfield vmax event
Johnny managed 170 mph roof up with current set up (scary sitting in the passenger seat!)

Now you mention it, the Vesuvius handover from BR was at Millbrook and Mike did floor her along the mile straight, twice. For some reason I didn't register the speed ,,,, Vmax event would be interesting though Mike.