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Straight Shift, with the car shift, the podcast that's all about cars, buying, selling, fixing,
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and driving, and sometimes running fast to hear the car shift, now here's he is.
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Hey everyone and welcome back to the Straight Shift, the podcast that slices through the
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spin and calls out all the crap so you can be a smarter car buyer, owner, and driver.
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Today we're tackling one of the most mysterious, least understood, and most expensive parts
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of your car, the transmission.
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When most people are car shopping, they think about the engine, how many cylinders does
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it have, how much power is it a turbo, but almost nobody thinks about the transmission
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beyond does it come in a stick or an automatic, and honestly that hardly matters anymore because
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there are so few manuals left, which makes me very sad.
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But anyway, most buyers don't even realize that there are multiple different kinds of
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automatic transmissions, and each has their own quirks, strengths, and unfortunately headaches.
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But here's the thing, without your transmission, you're not going anywhere, it's the matchmaker
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between the engine and the wheels.
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But if it fails, oh yeah, you're definitely going to notice, usually in the form of a tow
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truck and a repair bill the size of a family vacation.
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So today I'm going to explain the different types of transmissions, how they work, don't
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worry, in layman's terms I promise you're not going to need an engineering degree, which
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ones are the most problematic, and how to get yours to last.
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Before we get into the different types of transmissions, let's back up and talk about
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why we even need a transmission at all.
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Engines are picky little buggers, kind of like my cats at dinner time.
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The job of the engine is to make power, but they only make good power in a certain RPM
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range, that's revolutions per minute.
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If engines spin too slowly, they stall.
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They spin too fast, then they run out of breath.
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This is why you can't just bolt an engine directly to the wheels, you'd either stall it out at
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every stoplight or blow the thing up on the highway.
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This is where the transmission comes in.
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A transmission is a set of gears that keeps the engine spinning in its happy zone all the
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time while letting the wheels spin at whatever speed you need them to go to go the speed
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Let's think of this like riding a bicycle.
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In this scenario, you are the engine.
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If you're climbing a steep hill, you pick a lower gear, right?
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The small sprocket up front, the big one in the back.
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This way you have to pedal a lot, but it feels manageable to get up that hill.
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If you tried to trek up the hill in a higher gear, which means the larger sprockets
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in the front, the smaller ones in the back, yeah, technically you would cover more ground
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with fewer pedal strokes, but it would be so much harder.
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You probably have a heart attack, hence you want to use the lower gear to make it easier
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for you as the engine to get the vehicle, the bicycle up the hill.
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I remember when I was in high school, the summer before my senior year, I had this
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wonderful opportunity to spend several weeks in France and we were biking.
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Went over there and we got these 15 speed road bikes.
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We're not talking Tour de France here, but we were there at the same time as the Tour
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de France and we got passed like we were standing still by all those incredible professional
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We had a lot of hills going through the French countryside in between the different
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youth hostels and little places that we were staying, the villages.
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We always had to make sure we were in the right gear.
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I'd never had a bike that had that many gears before.
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Plus, we were hauling everything we owned for the trip as well as food and water on
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these bikes, so they had extra weight.
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I remember one day we were staying at this really cute little place in a very
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I don't remember what it was, but everybody talked about when you went out of town
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because there was only one road.
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There was this massive hill.
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I'm like, oh, come on.
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It can't be that bad.
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So that night after we'd had some wine at dinner, we walked to the edge of town
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to see this hill and holy cow.
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I thought San Francisco was hilly.
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This was ridiculous.
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It wasn't that long of a hill, but I swear it looked completely vertical as
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we were standing there looking at it.
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While we were standing there, one of these little tiny French cars drove up
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to it, stopped, and then turned around and went the other way.
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They're like, oh, no, I'm not getting up that hill.
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So we had to use the lowest possible gear to haul our bikes and our butts and
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our bags up that hill the next morning.
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I'm glad it was first thing in the morning when we were fresh, but it
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was still a whole lot of work.
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This is why gear ratios matter.
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When you get to flat ground, those higher gears are great.
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They allow you to lay on more speed without having to pedal frantically
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and give yourself a heart attack, you're like a gerbil on math.
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So this is why you have to have a transmission.
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It's basically a whole set of these bicycle gears all packaged into one box so your
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car can always be in the right gear for the job, whether that's creaking
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along in morning traffic or merging onto the freeway like you're being chased
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by a swarm of angry beats.
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And the transmissions don't just help you go, they can also help you to slow down.
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You've ever downshifted going down a hill or even just let off the throttle in an
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You feel the car drag a little, even though you're not touching the brakes.
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This is called engine braking.
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The resistance of the engine is helping to keep your speed in check.
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You can only do it so much, truckers call this jake braking.
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That term comes from the Jacobs engine brake.
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It was one of the first widely used compression braking systems for heavy duty diesel engines.
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Your car essentially does the same thing.
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It just won't sound nearly as cool blasting through the mountains, but same principle.
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Okay, now that you get the why, let's dig into the different types of transmissions
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and how they each pull off this fancy gear juggling act to get you where you want to go.
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We are of course going to start old school, the stick shift, the manual transmission,
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Anyway, a manual transmission is very much just like riding that bicycle that we just
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In a car, however, you've got three main players involved.
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You've got the clutch, you've got the shifter, and you have you.
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You are responsible for shifting the gears.
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The car is not going to do it for you.
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So you press in the clutch pedal, that disconnects the engine from the transmission.
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Then you move your shifter into gear, and then inside the gearbox, there's this little
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collar that slides over and locks you into a different gear on the output shaft.
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When you let the clutch back out, the engine, the transmission reconnect and you're on
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your way in your new gear.
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And hopefully you do it smoothly.
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This is the trick of learning to drive a manual transmission is to get all that timing exactly
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Otherwise, you're stall.
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But it's so cool because it's simple, it's mechanical, and you get to decide what gear
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Driving purists like me love it because you feel so much more connected to the car.
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You understand more about how it works, what the car is doing.
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My daily driver, Maggie, my little mini, she's a six speed manual and honestly I would not
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have it any other way.
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My dad started teaching me how to drive stick when I was seven years old when he got his
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Mazda RX7 and I have never looked back.
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They are also a little bit cheaper to buy if you can find one and they're usually
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a lot simpler to repair.
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They can technically last forever if you don't abuse them.
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Don't ride the clutch like it's a lazy boy foot rest.
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And you still have to change the oil in the clutch about every 50 to 100,000 miles depending
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on the car and how well you drive it.
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The clutch itself will wear out.
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Maggie finally needs a new clutch after 145,000 miles, including track time.
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I've done really well getting a clutch to go that long, but that is why I'm driving my
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mom's old Corolla right now while I wait for a whole bunch of heavily tariffed parts to
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arrive from Germany.
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Not looking forward to disassembling Maggie to change out the clutch, but it's time.
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The downside to a manual transmission is that driving them in stop and go traffic
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is a royal pain in the butt.
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It's about as fun as a root canal without no vacane, especially those of us who are
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getting older and our knees just really don't want to do that anymore.
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This is why automatics have become so much popular and why the manuals are dying out.
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Most people have never learned how to drive them, but there's nothing like driving a manual.
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Anything else is just aiming and you're not going to budge me on that opinion.
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Let's talk about the automatic transmissions because that's probably what the majority
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of you are driving.
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They're boring, but they are easy to drive.
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Imagine two desk fans facing each other inside a big metal donut filled with fluid.
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One of the fans is hooked to your engine.
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The other is hooked to the transmission.
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When the engine fan spins, it throws fluid at the transmission fan making it spin too.
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That's sort of like a water fight inside a donut.
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That's a torque converter and that is doing the work to replace the clutch.
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Instead of a bunch of collars like an Emanuel, you have what's called a planetary gear set.
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So picture a little tiny solar system with a sun gear in the middle and little planet
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gears all around it and a ring gear around those.
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By locking or releasing different parts, you get different gear ratios.
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The beauty of this is you don't need to understand it.
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You don't need to know what it's doing.
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The computers and the hydraulics, they do all the work.
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So all you do is put it in drive and go.
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It's really easy and when done right, they can be smooth.
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They're super convenient.
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They're great for commuting and stopping go traffic, long highway trips and even
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Your older transmissions had four, five, six gears.
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Today, it's not unusual to see eight, nine, 10 speed automatics.
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Those are designed to help increase fuel efficiency by giving you all these different gears,
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everything you could possibly need to do the job without making the engine work
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too hard and drink too much gas.
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The downside, they're really, really expensive when they break.
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They build up more heat than a manual transmission.
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So this is why you have to take really good care of it.
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The fluid in the transmission is the lifeblood.
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Like the vampire said, blood is life.
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The fluid is life and do not under any circumstances,
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believe this lifetime fluid BS.
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There is no such thing as a lifetime fluid.
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It's only lifetime if you define lifetime as until the transmission dies.
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So change that fluid typically every 40 to 60,000 miles, again,
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depending on the car and how you drive it.
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If you use the car to tow or if it's a Volkswagen or an Audi,
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you may need to change it every 30,000 miles.
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And you want to keep your automatic transmission cool as much as possible.
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Avoid overloading the vehicle.
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Try to reduce extended idling.
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I know that's really hard in stopping go traffic,
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but use proper driving habits like downshifting on the inclines
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to minimize that heat build up because they do give you some lower gears.
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But overheating and dirty fluids are what kill most automatics.
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And unless it's a Christ of product like our old Dodge Grand Caravan,
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in which case the planetary gears could just explode
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like the Big Bang Theory for no reason despite proper care and maintenance.
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That's, again, another story.
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Again, keep the fluids changed.
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So that is the key to keeping your automatic transmission working properly.
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All right, now let's stir the pot a little bit.
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The CVT, that stands for Continuously Variable Transmission.
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So how that works is instead of gears,
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you have two cone shaped pulleys with a steel belt that runs between them.
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And by moving those cones closer together or further apart,
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the belt rides higher or lower, which change your gear ratios.
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This, in theory, gives you an infinite number of gear ratios
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instead of a fixed set like 7, 8, 9, 10.
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You get this infinite theoretical range.
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It would be like pedaling a bicycle with this magical chain
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that can just stretch and shrink at will,
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giving you the exact perfect gear ratio for whatever you need.
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Sounds awesome, right?
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They can be super fuel efficient.
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They can be very smooth.
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And they can keep your engine in that sweet spot,
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both for acceleration or fuel efficiency.
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On the flip side, it can feel weird to drive
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because there are no distinct gear shifts.
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We're kind of used to feeling when the car shifts.
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Less so now because automatics are getting smoother,
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but at least those of us purists are used to feeling our gear shifts.
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The other challenge is when you floor it, the engine revs up
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and then it kind of sits there, buzzing like a weed whacker
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waiting for the rest of the car to catch up.
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It's this infamous rubber band effect.
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And it also really depends on how it is programmed
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because, yes, it is controlled by computers.
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Some manufacturers program to maximize fuel efficiency
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at the expense of oomph.
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That's the technical term for acceleration.
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I had a rental Honda Civic many, many years ago.
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It was like maybe a 2014, somewhere in there.
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I think it was a ninth gen Civic.
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And that poor rental car, it had a CBT transmission.
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It gave you like eco mode, normal mode, and sport mode.
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I could not find a mode that worked.
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That poor car was never in the right gear
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for what I needed it to do.
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It was probably not programmed for my style of driving,
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but I have never been so miserable in a rental car,
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including that PT Cruiser that I had in San Diego,
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which was at least fun.
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Some manufacturers do it a lot better than that.
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Like Subaru, they tend to do a good job with theirs.
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They give you enough oomph because Subaru,
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without sacrificing too much fuel efficiency,
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But the CBT in general is just very boring.
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It has a little bit of a droning noise
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that can drive people nuts,
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and it's about as fun as driving a Blender.
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But it can be very fuel efficient
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and more and more cars are going to the CBTs.
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Unfortunately, they're not always the most durable,
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especially the earlier ones, Nissan.
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Nissan CBTs tended to fail,
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especially in the early years due to a combination of things,
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design flaws, manufacturing issues, poor maintenance,
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because remember that whole lifetime fluid BS, yeah.
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That led to overheating problems, fluid breakdown,
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premature wear of the belt and pulley systems,
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inadequate cooling, they'd start to shudder,
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then they'd lose power,
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and you'd end up having to replace it.
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And it's very expensive to do so.
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Nissan has a reputation
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for being very forward thinking with their engineering,
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they're not afraid to try things,
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and they have some epic failures
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that go along with their engineering boldness,
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but their CBTs have gotten a lot better.
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Just beware if you're looking
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at buying an older Nissan that has a CBT,
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you're taking a big risk.
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So again, to take care of a CBT transmission,
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There's no such thing as a lifetime fluid.
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I don't care if they tell you it's a closed system,
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it's not designed to be changed.
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Bullshit, pardon my French.
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Fortunately, most manufacturers now have figured out
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that yeah, you really do need to service the fluid,
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so they have included that service
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in their maintenance schedules.
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But if you're buying a vehicle
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that has a CBT transmission before you buy it,
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look at the owner's manual,
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look at the manufacturer's maintenance schedule.
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Does it tell you to service the transmission?
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Because if it doesn't,
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then the dealer's probably not gonna do it,
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and you're gonna have to find a mechanic
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that is willing to do it and knows how to do it
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because the car is not gonna last
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if you don't change that fluid.
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And you have to be sure to use the right fluid.
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Don't cheap out and get the wrong stuff
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because each manufacturer has very specific requirements
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for the fluids that work
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in their specific CBT transmissions.
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If you feel your transmission shuddering
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or slipping, it just doesn't feel right,
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They don't get better on their own.
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It'll only get worse,
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and it will cost you more to fix it.
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Now for the mysterious gearhead favorite,
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the dual clutch transmission.
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Imagine two manual transmissions
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living together in one box
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and working together as a team.
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Kind of like a marriage.
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One handles the odd number of gears
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and the other handles the even number of gears
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and they each have their own clutch.
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When you're in one gear,
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the computer preloads the next gear on the other side
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with the other transmission, the other clutch.
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When it's time to shift,
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one clutch opens and the other one closes
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in a fraction of a second.
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It's like passing a baton in the Olympic relay race.
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Smooth, instant, wicked fast.
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This is why high performance cars
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and their drivers absolutely love them.
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if it doesn't have a proper manual transmission.
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The Audi R8, the Nissan GTR,
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some of the supercars like Ferrari and McLaren
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use dual clutch transmissions.
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It's really the best thing next to a true manual
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Why McLaren's are not reliable
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even though they're amazing.
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When it's not done well,
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they can be very jerky at low speeds and in traffic,
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kind of like a caffeinated teenager
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learning to drive stick for the first time.
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And repairs are ridiculously expensive.
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There's this thing called the mechatronics unit.
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It's just a fancy name for the brain.
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And that's a common failing point.
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Hyundai unfortunately is notorious
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for their dual clutch transmissions
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and the issues that go along with them,
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including premature clutch wear and overheating
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and some weird programming issues.
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Thank goodness for that 10 year 100,000 mile
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powertrain warranty.
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But it's been so problematic
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in the newest generation of the Santa Fe
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is the new really boxy ones that they're canning it.
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So for 2026, the Santa Fe's are going back
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to their traditional eight speed automatic
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that is currently in the hybrid model of the Santa Fe
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which works just fine.
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So if you're looking between the Hyundai Santa Fe
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and the Santa Fe hybrid,
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be aware they have different transmissions right now.
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But as soon as the 26 models come out,
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they'll both have the eight speed automatic.
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So this is why it matters what kind of transmission
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the car has when you are doing your research
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to buy a car, because they're not all the same.
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Even within a specific car like the Hyundai Elantra,
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the end model, the more high performance model
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uses a dual clutch.
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So it's important to understand the type of transmission
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the car has and then research, okay,
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what problems has this had?
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Transmission problems are one of the biggest problems.
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In some ways they are more difficult
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than engine problems because when they fail,
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I mean, you just gotta get a new one.
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So yeah, definitely get one that's under warranty.
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Again, you want to stick
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to your fluid change intervals religiously.
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Don't creep along in traffic for hours if you can avoid it
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because that's what makes the clutch packs overheat,
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especially in the dual clutch transmissions.
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Again, if it feels jerky, it feels hesitant,
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go directly to the dealership.
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Do not wait until it leaves you stranded.
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All right, now let's look at electric vehicles.
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You don't really think about electric vehicles
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having a transmission because they just work
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so differently because they don't have an engine.
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They have an electric motor.
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So EVs don't need gears in the traditional sense
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that regular gas cars do.
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Electric motors, they make full torque from zero RPMs
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and they can spin up to just these ridiculous speeds
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like 10,000, 15,000 RPMs.
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That's why the acceleration in an electric vehicle
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can be just ridiculously fantastic.
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And instead of trying to juggle gears,
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most EVs use what's called a single speed reduction gear.
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It takes all that speed that the motor makes
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and they gear it down just once to be safe
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to send it all to the wheels.
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It's an awful lot of torque.
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So they do have to kind of taper it a little bit
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to send it to the wheels.
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Some of your high performance EVs, like the Porsche Tacan,
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they add a two speed gearbox to give you
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better acceleration and efficiency,
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but most of your regular EVs
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that the average person can afford.
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One gear is all that's needed.
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It's great because it's fewer moving parts.
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They are incredibly smooth.
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Did I mention that ridiculous acceleration?
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And there's almost no maintenance.
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However, if something does fail, it's fairly spectacular.
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The car will lose power, come to a stop
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and your wallet will spontaneously combust.
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So that's the downside.
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Some EVs still have fluid in that reduction gear
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that does need changing, usually only over 100,000 miles.
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But otherwise, they're fairly maintenance free.
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At least until the battery of the motor goes quick.
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Then you're totally screwed,
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but that's a whole nother issue.
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I hope this explanation of the different types
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of transmissions has been helpful to you
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whether you are looking to buy a car
24:18
or just trying to keep the one
24:20
that you have going for a long time.
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Because no matter what you drive,
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there are a few universal truths
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thanks to the laws of physics.
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One is that heat kills.
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Overheating cooks the fluid and fries the transmission.
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So do your best to keep it cool.
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Fluid is blood, blood is life.
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Different transmissions need different fluids,
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but they all need fluids.
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Manuals, automatic CVTs, dual clutch,
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they all use their own types of fluids,
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their own special blends.
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So be sure to use the fluid that is specified
24:56
by the manufacturer in your owner's manual.
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If you feel your transmission is slipping,
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if it's whining, God forbid if it's grinding,
25:07
or you smell burning smells, none of these things are good.
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Don't ignore them and hope they'll go away.
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They will not, they will only get worse.
25:15
So have it looked at right away.
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You may be getting bad news from your mechanic
25:21
at that point, but it's better than it leaving you stranded
25:25
in the middle of the highway.
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And don't overload your vehicle more
25:29
than it is capable of handling.
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So if you use your vehicle for towing,
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trying to tow more than the car's rated for,
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it's like asking a toddler to deadlift 200 pounds.
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It's not gonna happen.
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Something's gonna break.
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And it's not just the engine that may break.
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Very likely it is the transmission that will give out.
25:49
So be religious about your maintenance.
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$200 transmission fluid change
25:54
or flush every 50,000 miles somewhere in there.
25:57
That really beats a $5,000 transmission.
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Rebuild any day of the week.
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So to wrap this up, manual transmission,
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three pedals, the only real transmission in my opinion,
26:10
but fun, relatively cheap, tough,
26:13
but sadly quickly going extinct.
26:16
Automatics, they're everywhere, they're smooth,
26:19
but they're pricey to fix
26:20
and change that fluid religiously.
26:23
CVTs very fuel efficient,
26:26
but can be problematic, especially the older ones
26:29
before anyone knew to change the fluid.
26:31
So again, change the fluid, dual clutch transmissions,
26:36
sporty, quick, super fun, but a little more high maintenance.
26:40
Not every manufacturer programs them correctly
26:42
or gets them right.
26:44
So be wary of those EVs, no gears, no fuss,
26:48
almost no maintenance, but super expensive if they fail.
26:52
At the end of the day, the best transmission for you to have
26:55
is one that you understand, know how to take care of,
26:58
and that works for your lifestyle,
27:00
especially if you do a lot of driving, a lot of commuting.
27:04
So next time your mechanic says,
27:07
hey, you need a transmission flush,
27:09
you're gonna know what they're talking about
27:10
and why just make sure that your car actually needs it
27:13
and you're doing it on a schedule
27:15
that makes sense for the type of driving that you do.
27:19
The more stop and go driving that you do,
27:22
the more towing that you do,
27:24
the more frequently that fluid needs to be changed.
27:26
That's what's called the extreme schedule
27:29
in your owner's manual.
27:31
You may not think your driving is extreme
27:33
because we think extreme like racing or deserts
27:36
or freezing temperatures, but it's not.
27:39
Extreme simply means more heat building up in the car
27:43
without it being able to cool.
27:45
And that's what happens in stop and go commuter traffic.
27:49
Thank you so much for listening to The Straight Shift.
27:51
If you've got a transmission horror story,
27:54
I'd love to hear it.
27:55
So hit me up on my website or on social media.
27:58
And if you're shopping for a car,
28:00
check out my online car buying course,
28:02
The No BS Guide to Buying a Car,
28:04
or if you just don't wanna deal
28:05
with the car buying process yourself at all,
28:08
you can hit me up for a free car chat.
28:10
Both of those things you can book
28:12
at thecarchick.com.
28:14
That way you don't accidentally
28:16
buy a ticking transmission time bomb.
28:19
Until next time, folks, drive safely.
28:21
And for the love of all that is holy,
28:23
if you have a manual, don't ride the clutch.
28:28
The Straight Shift podcast is copyright
28:31
Lee Ann Shattuck, The Car Chick.
28:32
All views expressed by guests and or co-hosts
28:35
are those of the guests and or co-hosts,
28:38
and not necessarily those of Lee Ann Shattuck
