RicerX

I'll weigh in on the 9 speed thing as I have personal experience with it.

I had a 2017 Titan Pro4X that got "lemoned" (not technically lemon law action, but a negotiation with Nissan due to my experience with it) and moved into a 2018 Pro4X. My 2017 was a hot pile of garbage. In all the Nissans I owned, it was the only one I had significant trouble with. The transmission was replaced at 2000 miles and that was only the start of my issues with that truck, but I digress.

My 2018 was simply passable. The transmission and gearing in that truck was just not great. The 5.6L is a wonderful engine, but that truck felt half asleep no matter what I was doing, but it did the job. I towed with it (most I towed was probably 6,000 pounds), hauled with it, went on long road trips, and it was mostly fine. Nothing exciting - it was a truck and I'm a Z guy without a Z.

Enter being bored and curious during COVID, and I went and drove a 2020 Pro4X with the new 9 speed. Long story short, I took advantage of inflated used car pricing due to low inventory and available factory incentives and I drove two hours to a dealer that had what I wanted and bought it.

You cannot draw a straight line between the 7AT in the 17-19 Titan and the 9AT in the 2020+ Titan. Not only is my real world fuel economy for my typical everyday drives averaging about 2.3 mpg better (significant in a 15mpg rated half ton with a 23 gallon tank), the responsiveness of my truck at any speed with any kind of throttle input absolutely demolishes the responsiveness in the 15 Q50S 3.7L Sport I had. It downshifts when asked, it doesn't early upshift constantly to keep the engine at idle speeds, and doesn't lug between gears. They paired a better final drive gear with the new 9 speed and the 10 hp increase (when running premium) truly feels like 100hp difference when compared to the old truck.

Gearing is SO important in cars. They make so much power, but the usability of it is all in the transmission. It's why CVTs suck balls. Want to neuter a VQ V6? Pair a CVT to it. Want to completely botch a product like the QX50 that should sell like beer at Oktoberfest? Pair a CVT to it (and a continuously variable engine that's like mechanical sudoku. The QX50 drives like a "choose your own ending" novel that doesn't let you choose the good ending, but alludes that it's there somewhere as long as you keep trying, but again I digress).

If I can make a new Z work in my life, and the 9AT is available, I would have to at least drive it. If it's that good in a 4x4 half ton truck, it should be absolutely monstrous in a sports car application. I know ZF is the gold standard (I own one of those too in a 2020 Audi Q7, and it's very very good), but this new Jatco 9 speed is right up there with it. Many of the truck guys on youtube compare it very favorably to the ZF 8 speed that's in the Ram 1500s right now.

I would wager that you'd just be splitting hairs between that and a DCT, and a DCT would probably price you out of the market with this car if Nissan were to actually build one.

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