could it be that the tranny is not strong enough for TL-S' power?

Some time ago, Pontiac released a Grand Prix GTP with "only" 240HP and 280 lbs*ft torque. The pre-production prototype, the GTX, easily made 300HP, but Pontiac deliberately resleased the production model with lower HP and torque, knowing that their tranny was only rated for 280 lbs of torque. By doing this they avoided potential early tranny failures.

I think this is also the reason that Chrysler did not put 300HP into 300M, although the engine could produce it.

Now, is there any data showing that the tranny in TL-S is made to higher power specs compared to the tranny in the regular TL?

Or is is the same tranny? If so, what kind of load is it rated for?

 

good question...i'm interested in this topic too...

 

Excellent point...and if this is the case, why wasn't a problem discovered during product development?

 

I bet your right! That's the best logical potential reason I've heard. They slammed in the same tranny from the TL to keep expenses low and the car agressively priced. I'm sure a new tranny design and production would've jacked the sticker up to 35-37k.

 

That would seem like a good explanation, but some people claim their trannys went in regular city driving conditions (max 3500 RPM or so) which is well below the TL-S's real powerband. In that case, then ... well, I guess that's worse, it'd mean the transmission just plain blows