Mercedes-Benz is once again ahead in the cog count game, having just debuted the 9G-TRONIC transmission featuring nine gear ratios. The 9G-TRONIC is currently only available in a single W212 E-Class facelift variant, the Mercedes-Benz E 350 BlueTEC.
The 9G-TRONIC transmission doesn’t do anything to improve the E 350 BlueTEC’s 3.0 litre turbodiesel’s ability to propel the car to 100 km/h – acceleration figures remain at 6.6 seconds. But the two extra ratios do improve the car’s fuel efficiency – combined fuel consumption has dropped by 0.2 litres per 100 km from 5.5 to 5.3 litres per 100 km, and CO2 emissions have been reduced from 144 to 138 g/km.
The new gearbox is only available on the rear-wheel drive version of the E 350 BlueTEC – the 4MATIC version soldiers on with the 7G-TRONIC for now.
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They beat ZF’s 9HP to the market.
Well done Merc. ZF, time to step up the game!
Hei buddy. Who do you think supplied the automatic trannys to Mercedes-Benz????
Nobody. Mercedes builds it’s own gearboxes for instance in it’s Rastatt and Gaggenau plants.
Oops, sounded very cocky but………………
Is it such a necessity to have a nine gear system in the first place?
Either the ratio between becomes too short, or it wont be going to the ninth at all. And dont forget having too many gears, the electronics gonna act haywire – constantly changing. Cudnt make up mind.
But for engineering sake, what a tremendous achievement.
Having more gears is for the sake of improving fuel economy. Car still can go to nineth gear while cruising at highway with low revs.
As for gear changing, undoubtedly shifting will be happening constantly but there are pros and cons. Pro is car can travel at higher gears than the usual 6-speed or 7-speed gearboxes like using sixth or seventh gear while travelling at 70~80km/h with low engine rev. Con is that foot on the accelerator pedal must be delicate. Slightly hard on the accelerator will cause downshift two gears or more easily.
Wow….wonder when will it comes to 12 or 20 speed ratios??? Haha…do we need tat muc???
Only good in short journey with traffic jam. if at high speed you have to wait more as the gear gets higher.
Still a long way to go to reach semi truck number of ratios if one were to factor in low and high ratios !
Leaving the 9 speed box alone, this facelift was done simply to make it current with Mercedes’ latest models. This model’s original design was so angular and now they tried to fluid it unsuccessfully.
Look at the front grille! OMG!
I being among the rare few that share your view on the facelift. It looks odd having certain parts(headlight, air inlets) being curvy and fluid, while the window and the lines on the side profile still being angular. I stil prefer the pre-facelift design over this, but thats purely subjective.
wow…would love to watch the test drive review.
Being so many gear in a gearbox. I would prefer to have cvt. Why not they make the cvt to very uncvt like which eliminates all the rubberband feel and sluggishness? Cvt can go unlimited ratio
Baru 9?
CVT sudah infiniti… heheh
Why Mercedes like to make odd number of gears ? why no 8G-Tronic or 6G-Tronic
Because they already have 7 now, making a 6 would make them go backwards.
And 8 is mainstream now (BMW, Lexus, Audi, Jaguar), so in order to show that they are on the leading edge, they need one extra gear.
I thought somebody was targeting 10 speeds (was it Hyundai??). But seriously, car companies are trying to market cars like they’re mobile phones, by going bigger/more is better. Just because it has 2 more gears than the competition does not necessarily make it better. Imagine how complex it is (maintenance could be problematic), and probably heavier too, compared to the competition with less gears. Not saying we should not advance, but there comes a time when it gets too much. Rather than going the numbers game, why not try to make the existing (7G-tronic, etc etc) even smoother or make it shift quicker or to make it more compact and reduce weight, which in turn improves weight distribution and handling? Imagine downshifting for a corner from 9th gear to say 3rd. Thats a lot of furious paddle tapping, though its still far easier than heel and toeing a manual gearbox.
“Rather than going the numbers game, why not try to make the existing (7G-tronic, etc etc) even smoother or make it shift quicker or to make it more compact and reduce weight, which in turn improves weight distribution and handling?”
Ans: They already did so with the 7G-DCT.
now merc diesel car driver can feel similar like lorry driver without playing clutch between gears..