Why? Because its cheaper for them and for 90 percent of car buyers it's the right choice.
And what about the other 10 percent? Well. Here's what they're going to give up:
1. High redlines. This has always been a weakness for torque converters. Witness the 197 hp Mazda RX-8, that thing got a 30 hp nerf with the auto thanks to making its power so high up in the rev range. Or take a look at the S55 vs the S58 (7200 RPM vs 7600 RPM, guess which one is hooked up to the ZF8 and which one is mated to DCTs)
2. Consistent downshifts. Torque converters are getting really good at upshifting with lightning quickness! But the downshifts....well. They tend to take quite a bit longer and often times there's a lot of reluctance to drop a gear. All of that's really only a problem if you like twisty roads or race tracks though. If you just want to get arrested for going 130 in a 40 mph zone, a torque converter auto will do you just fine.
3. Consistent operation. This can probably be solved by proper cooling, but torque converter automatics can overheat with too much shifting (especially high-rpm downshifts.) Again, not a problem if you're just going to drag race your car for 10 seconds. A bigger problem on a race track or a twisty road. But like I said, this can be solved with proper transmission cooling so as long as you trust car manufacturers to not cheap out (wait...why are talking about this again? oh yeah because manufacturers cheaped out and didn't want to use DCT's anymore) we should be fine.
I'd be pretty angry at this general trend if I were a DCT enthusiast. A bunch of casuals just descended on the performance cars we love in such great numbers, that they basically killed a big part of what makes them special with their calls for civility, usability and smoothness.
But of course, i'm not a DCT enthisiast. I'm a manual enthusiast, so instead I'm just gonna sit here like a smug little asshole and be like "Yeah? You don't like it when a bunch of filthy casuals ruin your cars by demanding that they be easier to drive and more livable??? WOW. THAT MUST SUCK, CAN'T IMAGINE WHAT THAT'S LIKE....."
(but also, just so we're clear, i'm mostly just joking around here. A car is way too expensive of a purchase to not buy it exactly as you want it, so i don't REALLY blame anyone for just getting what they like. Even if they like different stuff than me)
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I can smell a manual vs AT derailing this thread, its only a matter of time
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I'm here to get shit started, don't worry!