There are lots of cars with massive engine horsepower but the experience of driving the car can sometimes feel disappointing. It is due to the power output but how the transmission affects how the power is transmitted to the road. Getting a suitable and well matched transmission can literally make a car very responsive and fun to drive or feel dull and slow.
Mercedes introduced their A45 AMG which is an absolute cracker of a car because of the amazing AMG engine with over 370hp. The problem with this car is the transmission, it feels slow to respond. Pressing the pedal shift lever one would expect near instant gear shifts but it fails miserably with an almost 1 second delay. This delay cause the car to rev higher than the driver would expect. Unlike the VW DSG which has near instant response the transmission unit in the Mercedes seems to have a mind of its own.
Lexus also seems to have a problem with their transmission but the problem is different from Mercedes. The Lexus transmission appears to have wrong ratios. the LC500 and the RC500 have 10 gears (way too many!) which is aimed at better fuel economy but having 5 cruising gears is just down right stupid! The 1st and 2nd gears are so long that you literally can hit 120km/h in 2nd gear!! The engine has 471hp and if it was geared correctly would be an absolute monster to drive. Instead with the current long gear ratios the car feel lethargic and slow.
In terms of common cars with moderate power, having well match transmission also impacts the overall driving experience. Toyota failed miserably with the 2005 Camry with pathetic 4 speed automatic when competitors were all using 6 speed automatics. The 4 speed left the car neither responsive nor economical to drive. In comparison the Honda Accord had 5 speed automatic and when driven back to back the Honda was anytime a better car. The CVT made things worse for most of the Japanese car makers. Anyone who enjoyed driving would spit at the CVT transmission. CVT transmission is by far one of the worst things created for the car. It ruined the driving experience despite it being smooth, any car fitted with a CVT was dull to drive. Flooring the accelerator did nothing for the car's acceleration, all you hear was a transmission sound with little to no difference in acceleration!
Car companies with very well matched transmissions are Porsche with its PDK, VW DSG (wet clutch) and BMW. These 3 companies do not use the retarded CVT and have properly matched ratios and have very responsive transmissions that shift very quickly with no hesitation. The engine power is well utilised and the car doesn't feel sluggish or unresponsive.
Electric cars are likely to fit multi gear transmissions soon. Currently all electric cars have only 1 gear since the electric motors have a lot of torque and the car doesn't need multiple gears for the car to accelerate to high speed, however in order to achieve a higher top speed it would make sense for an electric car to have more than 1 gear to allow the car to high a higher top speed without the motor spinning higher than it needs to. The example in Formula E race car with more than 1 gear allowed some of the teams to set the car up for higher top speed for high speed race tracks where top speed is critical.
Apart from just developing the engine car companies need to spend more time to match a suitable transmission for their cars. Slapping just any transmission will not cut it in this highly competitive industry.
