My prediction for 2010 production 4G TL's will be a 6AT.

It's a hunch but Honda/Acura have always been slow to advance their AT gears. In 1980 the Honda introduced a 3AT (if you ever drove a Honda Civic or Accord 2AT they were quite the buzzbox's on the highway!), 4AT came soon after in 1983. Took a long time to 5AT in 2000 which has also damaged Honda/Acura's household name reputation for quality/dependability. If you've ever read the shop manuals you will know that Honda has always followed their own design ideas and concepts for the majority of their AT's.

None the less my guess is there are currently 6AT equiped road mules in Ohio and Japan driving around now working on long term testing.

The market space this car is in literally requires a 6AT. Somehow I doubt they will jump two gears like MB (5At to 7AT) and Chevy (went from 4 to 6 on the new malibu) did.

So I'll lay my prediction of a 6AT box in 2010 for the 4G TL's probably also quickly transitioned into the rest of the line with may exception of older products (ie 2G RL)

 

i think 2010 is too early, it would probably come later in the MMC.

 

My hope is that in the next generation, Acura develops a dual-clutch transmission like the one Audi has in their lineup. That would be real sweet!

 

I agree, I think the MMC is more likely. However, that's not until MY 2012, which is a long time from now. Acura would be foolish to wait that long to pull even with the competition. It should've been available from the get go.

 

6 (or 7) speed DSG in a SHAWD TSX (or tl) with more power (type s) is my wet dream.
(not really but u get my drift)

 

In 1999 the 2G TL debuted with a 4 speed auto, selling beyond expectations on value alone. In 2000 it got the 5AT. Of course, this was the tranny that ended up having all the problems so maybe this was rushed out? Who knows? Anyway, there is a precedent for a new tranny in a year.

 

The 2G TL went from 4AT to 5AT in it's second year (2000) so I think it's irreverent to MMC (MMC for 2G was 2002). But I'll have to come back in 3Q of 2009 and see what happensbrings.

The multi-shaft non-planetary gear approach which Honda/Acura uses today (and changed to 25 years ago) should be a evolution from the 5AT. However I wonder if the amount of width left for gears in the transfer case is tight for engine/transaxle packaging.

 

My guess is that they will use 6AT for 2012 SH-AWD Type-S and 7AT for SH-AWD MT with 330hp for both.

 

http://wardsautoworld.com/ar/auto_honda_falls_behind/

 

Good find! I'd rather them be towards "the end" of 6AT development, but by the same token, I don't want a repeat of the 5AT fiasco. I'm sure the 5AT problems set the 6AT program back by a year or two.

 

We are lucky that they found resorces to project MT for 2009 TL SH-AWD! Really appreciated coz they could ignore such enthusiast as we are and make faster 6AT.