WK or WK2

[crdv6]

I am looking to upgrade from WH to WK before too long. From various reviews etc I would like the WK2 with 8speed trans. A friend who has a WK 5 speed is of the opinion that the 8 speed is not much advantage for towing, as the higher gears don't come in under 95 km/h or so. But I would have thought that the 8 speed has a broader range of ratios and be better than the 5 speed. If you don't use (overdrive) 7th or 8th you've still got 6 gears below or near to direct drive, instead of 4.
What say you lot with the current model?
And are there any other advantages with the WK2?

[Hanna]

No idea crdv6, but you would think that more ratios means more time for the engine to stay in the ideal section of the power/torque curves, keeping the power available on tap and also saving you fuel.

By the way - shouldn't the models be referred to as WK2 (2011-2013) and WK2 Update/Facelift (2013-present)? This should avoid confusion with the WH, which is referred to as a WK in the States.

[mikey61]

Hello,
I currently tow a 2.5T van with an MY14 laredo diesel with the 8 speed, previous to this I had a WH 5 speed and always towed in 4th which worked extremely well. I have found with the 8 speed I use the sport mode only and found that it will cruise at 90 to 110 k/h in 7th & 8th gear happily and kick down to 6th quickly when needed. I have tried to lock into 6th or 7th gear to avoid going into 8th but unlike the old 5 speed if you slow right down you have to manually up shift the gears. I read through the owners manual and it says to tow in D and let the gearbox work it out as it has a strategy for towing. So far so good. The economy is far better than the old WH, towing the same rig. I have been told that the 1:1 drive is 6th gear.
Hope this helps.
regards
MikeY

[Bomber]

Originally Posted by Hanna

Snip

By the way - shouldn't the models be referred to as WK2 (2011-2013) and WK2 Update/Facelift (2013-present)? This should avoid confusion with the WH, which is referred to as a WK in the States.

Yes, WK2 across all years, no update just MY12, MY13 ... MY15 etc as appropriate.

8 speed box apparently improves economy by about 10%. I've driven both, can't feel difference in smoothness. I deliberately chose a 5 speed Trailhawk over an 8 speed Laredo, some electronics problems with early 8 speeds helped me justify my decision afterwards but these seem to be resolved now (love my Trailhawk any way). As it's a model year thing 5 speeds will be older and cheaper!

[Benn0]

I've seen some refer to the MY14 as a WK2.5, but yeah, model year is the best way to identify it.

I've read of one or two failures on the 5 speed in the wk2, the 8 speed seems pretty solid, it did have some rough shifting issues at low speed, but seems to be mostly ironed out now.

[Jasman]

I had a 5 speed petrol and now an eight speed diesel, the eight speed is a much smoother shifter in my opinion, it's amasing. Just towed my Jayco Hawk (1500kg odd) on a 1,000km road trip, sat in eighth gear most of the time, would drop back to sixth on the bigger hills and it was a dream.

[crdv6]

Found this list of gear ratios:


Re the WK or WK2 title, I was just following the heading of this forum, which says, WH,WK,WK2