Instead, we thought this time, we’d take a look at some of the more esoteric advances in transmission technology and more specifically at a transmission that appears to have descended from heaven in a little wicker basket, delivered by armour-plated amazons who have an obsession with horned helmets and opera.

Yes, it’s the new transmission tech stuff from Germany and specifically from Mercedes Benz – the 7G TRONIC.

At one time in my motoring career, I would have scoffed at the thought of an extra coupla cogs – five gears should be enough for anyone right? But having driven a few of the latest Mercs, I’m beginning to see the light, and indeed the purpose of a seven-speeder.

It’s not about having the most gears in order to compensate for the size of your, umm hand length, it actually has a great deal to do with fuel economy, faster acceleration and intermediate sprints and above all else, comfort on the part of the driver when it comes to shifting.

Let’s take a look at those in order.

First up - economy. Mercedes reckons that savings of up to 0.6 litres per 100km can be achieved with a 7G TRONIC transmission, depending on the car.

The seven gear ratios of the 7G TRONIC allow the automatic transmission to retain the small increases in engine speed and at the same time offer a larger ratio spread between the lowest and highest gear.

This gives the electronic control unit more flexibility to adjust shifting in such a way as to keep fuel consumption low and the transmission’s reactions fast.

What’s more, it also lowers the average engine speed – a clear plus point in terms of both cutting fuel consumption.

What about faster acceleration? Yeah, this bit’s cool.

When the driver switches down rapidly through the gears (kickdown), the new transmission does not always select the individual gears in strict order.

Instead, 7G-TRONIC will miss out a particular gear if necessary, switching from seventh gear straight down to fifth, for example, and from there directly to third.

In this situation, only two gear changes are actually required – instead of the normal four – in order to accelerate quickly using kickdown.

That’s hard to do with a five speed. Oh, and if you want the figures from the back of the box, MB says you can shave off 0.3 seconds of the 0 to 100km/h time which translates to a quicker acceleration in that passing lane zone of 60 to 100 mumble mumble.

Shift comfort? Can’t clearly explain that for you folks, but let’s put it this way – if you’re paying upwards of $100k for your car, it damn well should be comfortable to shift shouldn’t it? And from my recent experiences in the 7G TRONIC equipped Mercs, yes, they are smooth shifts, hence my heavenly comments earlier.

Now let’s get technical: One outstanding feature of the new seven-speed automatic transmission is a lockup clutch in the hydrodynamic torque converter. In many situations, this system largely eliminates slip between the pump and turbine rotor.

It does this by establishing a virtually fixed connection wherever possible between the engine shaft and transmission shaft, creating an extremely effective barrier to output loss.

In contrast to conventional automatic transmissions, where torque converter lockup is only possible in higher gears, the lockup clutch in the new seven-speed automatic transmission from Mercedes-Benz is active from the first gear up.

Oh yes, one thing I almost forgot – the 7G-TRONIC automatic transmission has a magnesium transmission casing which offsets the weight of the extra bits and pieces and makes the 7-speeder comparable in weight to the currently used five-speeds which you will still find in top end AMG Mercedes Benz cars.

Mercedes claims this to be a world first, just as it claims the seven speed readily available in passenger cars as a first for the brand. l