Dual Clutch Transmission vs. Conventional Automatic

[edyvw]

The 9 speed in the Cherokee is made by ZF? Color me surprised. The one I drove had a terrible tranny. Slow, sloppy shifts, and the upper gears were useless.

But the ZF8 in my Ram is nothing other than excellent. Only way it could be better is with even faster shifts.

Problems with 9 speed were programming ones. Both FCA and Honda had issues with programming that transmission. Also, it pay for play. It ain't ZF8 (longitudinal) and it is made for appliance vehicles. BMW, forever customer of ZF, best ZF8 programming, decided initially to go with Aisin for transverse engines. Now I think BMW moved to ZF9 for those fake BMW's.

 

[Rand]

the zf-9 due to packaging has 2 dog clutches that require "input speed"? matching
this is the source of much of the lag.. iirc its 4-5 and 7-8 but thats just from memory.

and the gear ratios are super wonky. 1-3 is ok 4-5 should be lower and 6-9 should all be much lower (higher ratio numerically)

iirc the 8th gear in zf-8 speed is around .67

in the 9 speed
7th gear is .7
8 is .58
9th is .48

so if you have tiny 24" tires maybe. or they could just shove 5.xx+ diff. gears in the cherokee.