How many gears are too many gears?

[jaydee]

I remember in the 70's when the 5 speed manual gear box came out, it was a God send to get rid of that over revving the poor engine was doing.
Auto's were just about all 3 speed.

Then autos became a 4 speed (or an overdrive gear), another good step for fuel consumption.

Now in the last few years we have ventured into 6 speed territory, even Kia have a 6 speed manual or auto in their 1.6 litre cars, really, is that necessary in a 1.6?
And Chrysler have just released an 8 speed auto. Thats 8 gears!!!

Where is it going to stop, next it will be 10 speed, so how many gears are too many, is it just more things to go wrong?