I think I found Typhoons auto

[Venom XR6]

12 months and counting. Current 4 speed could not handle the torque and wasn't worth spending money on whens its being replaced soon.

Will it be a 4 speed or 5 speed auto...?

Neither ... keep counting.

:lol:

[ms700]

12 months and counting. Current 4 speed could not handle the torque and wasn't worth spending money on whens its being replaced soon.

Will it be a 4 speed or 5 speed auto...?

Neither ... keep counting.

3 sp?

The ol' C6 could handle the torque I reckon! :lol:

[ktford]

12 months and counting. Current 4 speed could not handle the torque and wasn't worth spending money on whens its being replaced soon.

Will it be a 4 speed or 5 speed auto...?

Neither ... keep counting.

3 sp?

The ol' C6 could handle the torque I reckon! :lol:

Yeah as long as it has the reverse pattern shift. LOL

Scotty

[Phido]

Ford needs a new transmission.. Mitsubishi and Expensive Daewoo both have 5 speeders now. Hell nearly everybody has a 5 speed in a big family car.

Both the Turbo 6 and the boss V8's are pretty much right on the limit for the auto trans. It has not auto for the Typhoon.. Auto's are by far the most popular transmission, even among high performance cars, even ferrari, BMW, lambo can see making a "auto" version will net them much more customers.

Cars that obviously could use a new transmission:

-Typhoon (too much torque for the current one)

-GT/GT-P (make em faster, smoother, plus allow for more engine development)

-Fairmont Ghia/Fairlane/LTD (these are $55k+ luxury cars after all, making them faster, smoother, more economical etc)

-XR8/XR6T (perhaps as optional equipment, again faster, smoother and more economical)

The new six speed auto are apparently lighter too.

But we will be waiting at the very earliest till mid 2005! Proberly more like late 2005/early 2006 as they are phased in.

With new auto's, I would guess and say ford might take the oportunity to up the power. So even for manual drivers, new auto's are good news.

[Venom XR6]

Some models from Expensive Daewoo and Mitsu may have 5 speeders but I'd rather wait 12 months and get a far superior 6 speed. ZF make the best.

[Phido]

The thing is, Holdens and Mitsu are avalible now, and are better than the BTR/ION crud box.

I would have thought Ford could have sourced the ZF box directly atleast for a few premium models. Say the LTD, limited edition Fairmont Ghia and say 50 for the Typhoon as a auto.

Sure it would have cost more than ford making it themselves, but would have blown away everyone at the motorshow. Pass on some of the added cost onto the consumer.

Imagine what it would have been like if they pull the curtain back, and they showed off the Typhoon (manual) and announce Auto versions will be avalible early next year, a 6 speed auto Fairmont Ghia Turbo and G260 with a Boss V8.

Coupling the 6 speed auto with say ESP would be a nice move too.

Expensive Daewoo wouldn't have got any press at all.. It would be all ford.

[Cobra]

I would have paid $5k more for an auto ... Henry has lost my sale ... but I still bought another Ford after cancelling my Typhoon order ...

Henry has me worked out

[Venom XR6]

The thing is, Holdens and Mitsu are avalible now, and are better than the BTR/ION crud box.

I would have thought Ford could have sourced the ZF box directly atleast for a few premium models. Say the LTD, limited edition Fairmont Ghia and say 50 for the Typhoon as a auto.

Sure it would have cost more than ford making it themselves, but would have blown away everyone at the motorshow. Pass on some of the added cost onto the consumer.

Imagine what it would have been like if they pull the curtain back, and they showed off the Typhoon (manual) and announce Auto versions will be avalible early next year, a 6 speed auto Fairmont Ghia Turbo and G260 with a Boss V8.

Coupling the 6 speed auto with say ESP would be a nice move too.

Expensive Daewoo wouldn't have got any press at all.. It would be all ford.

The ZF wasn't ready anyway, its still being developed. Its not as easy as just bolting it up behind the engine, its take a whole heap of other parts to get it all to fit up, some of which will only fit the new model.

What percentage of Holdens cars get the new 5 speed anyway. Not even 10%. Only SV6, Calais and Statesman V6.

[Phido]

Ford should have had this on the drawing board since day Dot of AU. Everyone knew eventually the current 4 speed would become obsolete, just like the 5 speed manual.

I would be suprised if it required stamping changes to fit the Ford made ZF box.

SV6, Calais and Statesman, that's actually a pretty good volume of cars, your talking 10,000's of cars a year just there. More importantly these are the cars where it is expected to have atleast 5 speeds. Pleb models can proberly chug along with 4 speeds for a while yet.. But premium models that's $50k+, 5 or 6 speed autos and 6 speed manuals are to be expected.

I don't buy this crud about it taking ages to do. Mitsubishi was able to convert there car to AWD in what, less than 12 months from concept to showroom. that's far more indepth conversion, new gearbox, rear diff, tailshaft, new rear suspension, new brakes, new software, new engine spec, new ecu, new stampings etc etc. I think the real reason is that Ford OZ has to wait until Ford US gets this plant up and running. Which at this stage is what, late 2005 at the very earliest. If there are any problems then if could slip till early or mid 2006.

The problem with the Typhoon is that when they finished the engine development they didn't have a single gearbox to bolt up to it. Now that's not exactly thinking ahead now is it?. Hence they did the impossible and quickly sourced a manual gearbox with six speeds (after all this fud of only needing 5 ratios, about how the commo box was crud, they offer almost the exact same box that Expensive Daewoo did *WAY* back in VTII 1999 and HSV had way back in the mid 90's).

I'm thinking Syd motorshow 2005 they might hint at the fact that the new model will have, a 6 speed auto (MKIII? or BB?). Then in early/mid 2006 deliveries will start.

Ford should have really had a 6 speed auto ready for MkII. Then they would have been able to match Holdens 5 speed launch and had a auto for the F6..

But they didn't and they missed it. Next year Oz will get it, but by then it will really be painful.

Mean while XR6/XT N/A will dribble along with 5 speed manuals... That proberly won't be replaced until 2006, and when it does it won't be replaced so much as dropped..

[Venom XR6]

You really have no idea about how long some things take do you. The development process is quite long. I have been involved in a lot of development programs and some things take at least 2-3 years from hand made protypes to production. The thing is Ford will have a 6 speed auto before anybody else so in 12 months time do you think it will be a lack of forward thinking the allowed Ford to be the first. Why bother with a 5 speed when you can use 6. I don't think Ford would be worried about the 5 speed auto when only a small percentage of Commodores actually use it.

The reason some of these things came later than expected is because of the massive amount of resources required to get the Territory off the ground. Some things were put on the backburner, and with the recent sales results of the Territory I think it was well worth it.

Mitsubishi got their AWD so easy because the borrowed most of the parts from the Japanese AWD Diamante and the EVO. You are kidding if you thought it only took 12 months.