Who makes the best auto boxes?

Just to note, most car manufacturers do not make their own gearboxes, they are off the shelf then customised from other dedicated or subsidiary manufacturers of gearboxes. E.g. Borgwarner (VAG), ZF, Getrag or Jatco (nissan subsidiary), Aisin (toyota subsidiary). GM, Hyundai & Daimler/Mercedes make inhouse gearboxes. But most notably Honda are the only manufacturer who have designed and built all their own gearboxes from the beginning, they even came up with their own autobox design when everyone else used planetary system which was somewhat patented.
 
^^ Which Mercs use non Mercedes gearboxes? (Genuine question, i thought i was a bit of a Mercedes geek, but thought all cars used their own boxes). :)
 
The 9 speed in the Evoque is generally smooth, but the the tuning of it leaves a lot to be desired. A slight tap on the accelerator sees it drop several gears and up to 4000rpm. So hard to drive smoothly as a result. I hear the mapping of the same engine/gearbox combo in the Disco Sport is better.

I may well order my next Insignia Grand Sport with the new 8 speed auto. This is an Asin box, related to that used in many Volvos (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AWF8F35).
 
phone up a automatic gearbox repair / refurb specialist and ask them directly. after all they work on them day in and day out. whereas opinion on here is biased by what they have owned or driven.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
phone up a automatic gearbox repair / refurb specialist and ask them directly. after all they work on them day in and day out. whereas opinion on here is biased by what they have owned or driven.
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You're assuming that "Best" means "most reliable". Best is subjective, scenario specific, as well as application specific.
 
Jez said:
^^ Which Mercs use non Mercedes gearboxes? (Genuine question, i thought i was a bit of a Mercedes geek, but thought all cars used their own boxes). :)
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They have used plenty of gearboxes from Getrag for some of their cars such as in the SLS AMG, and in the past some ZF boxes made their way into a few models.
 
paradigm said:
You're assuming that "Best" means "most reliable". Best is subjective, scenario specific, as well as application specific.
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Agreed, it's all subjective. A gearbox mechanic fixes gearboxes, doesn't necessarily means he can say which is the best. He will also give his opinion which will have a bias, e.g. he might like performance, so will say a gearbox that is quick shifting is the best, but that gearbox might be the least reliable box out there. The 'best' gearbox is whatever suits your requirements or tastes.
 
ZF8 is lovely mated to the N55 engine, in Comfort it's smooth and puts you in the right gear at the right time, and in Sport+ it snaps through the gears almost brutally fast.

Can't envisage ever needing anything more.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
phone up a automatic gearbox repair / refurb specialist and ask them directly. after all they work on them day in and day out. whereas opinion on here is biased by what they have owned or driven.
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The Aventador gearbox was brutal and the AM V12 also so, Jag V* supercharged are nice but still that slush feel. The only box that blew me away was the M-DCT that I drove in 2011. Same box didn't work as well on the Z4 S35iS. R8 V10 plus DSG was rather good too.

So driven a few and judgement on that.
 
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