Thoughts on new 9 speed gearbox?

What are peoples thoughts/ experiences on the new auto 9 speed box?

I have 2.5 years of driving experience with a 6 speed auto Evoque in and 5 days so far with the 9 speed. the 9 speed is a lot better, but it isn't perfect. Shifts are for the most part, but not every time, imperceptible and slick. In the 550 miles I have covered so far, 475 miles of them have been motorway cruising at around 70 mph. I have not yet felt the need to rotate the selector round to S or manually downshift to get a bit of speed on, just even a gentle press on the gas pedal is enough for the gearbox to drop 2 or even 3 gears and the car picks up its skirts and gets on with speeding up, I haven't noticed any lag other than when the Stop/Stop restarts the engine. I thought I wouldn't be able to live with the Eco setting on, tripping the engine every time I leave my foot on the brake for 5 seconds, but I find that I am now using it on every town trip. The only time I have used the paddles so far in this car have been to coax it up into 9th gear above 53mph which it does seem reluctant to do of it's own accord, it generally upshifts then and stays there - in the 6 speeder I regularly avoided the kick-down and resorted to either the S or paddles to overtake traffic.

Today I had an experience that I never had in my 6 speeder though - the gear box decided to start in 1st ( I believe it is designed to pull away in 2nd or even 3rd gear) and I had the front wheels chirp and scrabble for a couple of seconds looking for grip on a wet road while the ECU/VC decided where to send the power to. Maybe I was a bit heavy with the right foot after the stop/start had stopped the engine and restarted it, I don't think so though. The benefits though outweight any downsides as on my drive into Stirling even on a cool morning with the seat heater and heated steering wheel on I can get 51mpg whereas in the same conditions with the 6 speeder I wpould have been looking at 28-30mpg and today driving into Glasgow via the northern and western suburbs right into the city centre with loads and loads of red lights I managed to get 43mpg thanks to the stop/start and that would have returned a similar figure of 28-30 maybe stretching to 35 on a warmer day.

So overall I'm impressed and happy with it. It responds very quickly to throttle changes and so far I haven't experienced any of the so called hunting that What Car? magazine reported and it is way way better than the 7 speed auto in my brother's A4 Allroad TFSi which is also a ZF gearbox IIRC and it hunts all over the place and has jerky shifts to boot.

Great account tim, good to get a balanced view, looking forward to trying it out myself now.....roll on may!!

Based on people's experiences so far, the new 9 speed gets slightly better fuel economy but also slows the acceleration, especially 0-60.

My 2013 is rated 20/28 and the 2014 is rated 21/30, it's a trade-off but I would have preferred to have the 9 speed as I drive a lot of highway, but then again, I may really dislike the way it behaves on passing other vehicles or merging onto traffic from a complete stop. Either way, I don't really care either way since it's a 1MPG combined difference and it does have a downside of acceleration.

XFullFatTim,

Did you invoke the tyres chirping on a start from standstill? And if so, was the steering wheel turned?
On another car the only times I managed to fool traction control was doing a quick take-off from start with wheels turned, but the car quickly figured that out once it started moving and kicked in traction control.

Jinzen, a) there is more to life than 0-60 times, I don't drive on a race track so it doesn't worry me that there may be 0.1- 0.5secs of difference. b) It certainly doesn't feel slower. C) I am now very satisfied with the fuel economy - with the Diesel engine I am now getting a lot closer to the Officil EU consumption numbers.
I would recommend that you ask your dealer for a 2104 loaner when you take yours in for a service next. I think the economy of the petrol is less influenced by the changes than the diesel is, however on UK cars we also have a system on the 2014 petrol versions that make the car run as a front wheel driver until it needs to have 4WD at present the diesels don't get the same system.


Biker, I was stopped at traffic lights, stop/start had stopped the enine and the lights changed very rapidly (the amber lamp had failed so they went straight from red to green) I possibly applied a bit too heavy a right foot for the stop/start to re-engage the engine and get everything moving in accordance with the throttle setting. Remember also that mine is a Diesel with a whole lot of very low down torque.

Something else to add to the differences - in my last Evoque I used to drive round with the radio volume set around 22/25................. it is now quite clearly audible and loud enough at the 15-18 setting on the 825w system

XFullFatTim,
Thanks very much for posting your detailed initial experiences with your 2014 Evoque. The improvement in fuel consumption is startling, you are achieving as good as the factory published consumption figures, 37.2, 53.3, 47.1. What do you reckon has been done to the engine to show an improvement in the region of 40%. Top gear is a little longer and it has got stop-start; the former will help a little on long runs whilst the latter is of use in town but surely something more fundamental has been done to the engine or electronics to achieve this excellent result?

Tim, my previous experience over 18 years of Land Rover ownership has been that up to my last Evoque I have always been able to get within 1-2mpg of the official figures, something went wrong with the initial Evoques (massaged official consumptions to get lower CO2 therefore road tax and competitive fuel figures?). I don't know as my driving technique hasn't changed significantly. Since driving my Defender more the fuel consumption on that has dropped too - from 25mpg I'm currently up to 30mpg unless I spend a day in low ratio of road in it.

I've had my SD4 with the new 9 speed box for nearly three weeks, done about 1,000 miles. Its a Pure Tech.

My comparison is with the 6 speed auto Freelander 2 I had before.

I got 45mpg from my first tankful, 46 from the second, but I'm sure it will improve as it loosens up. I used to get just under 40 from the Freelander.

I never have any idea what gear I am in, and I don't care - the changes are virtually imperceptible.

I tried the paddles to check they worked, but don't see the point of trying to outsmart the computer. I have been driving automatics for 20+ years and this is the best gearbox so far.

Overall the ride is firmer than the Freelander (which was on 17in wheels, I now have 18in), but it doesn't roll as much on corners. Much more car-like.

The sound system is not that different sound wise, to the Alpine that was in the Freelander, but much easier to use with iPhone/iPad.

(04-04-2014 12:35am)Jinzen Wrote:  Based on people's experiences so far, the new 9 speed gets slightly better fuel economy but also slows the acceleration, especially 0-60.

Just for curiosity's sake, I'd like to see someone do a 0-60 but using the manual shifting properly, only because in automatic it is likely starting in 2nd which is going to bite into the 0-60 times and in manual shifting you can force it into 1st to start.