For automatic transmissions, how do you find shift qualities compares across different transmission brands? Which brands shift better? Which brands give a better driving experience?
And of course, how would your rank transmission in terms of longevity and resilience?
I would say for longevity Asin and Allison are the way to go.
Aisin
Allision
ZF
others
Jatco
in terms of longevity
in terms of shifting, though I haven't test one I would say ZF would top, Aisin and Allision in between, and Jatco last. But all modern transmissions shift better than before.
They all shift nicely until they start to wear out, with a few exceptions:
The GETRAG Ford Powershift is known to stutter on take off and have very rough shifts, people have even called the Ford Focus Powershift underivable.
another exception would be the AISIN TG-81SC, has an annoying slight vibration at low speeds and shift about 7 times when accelerating from when going from 0-50 mph.
Another terrible shifting gearbox is the Toyota (not Aisin) C50A, this gearbox is an automated manual and oh boy. The gearbox has extremely odd gear changes with no acceleration through during the long 1.5-2.5 second shift sequence.
basically, they all shift well until the start to experience issues or unless they’re a flawed design.
I’ve always wanted To try the automated manual. Not that I would buy one, just curious how it would drive.
It depends a lot.
Some are a pleasure some are a nightmare.
On one hand, the automated manual in the old generation Citroën C4 Picasso is actually great. The 1-2 shift feels very slow and labored but other then that it’s a pretty good reliable tranny.
On the other hand, the automated manual on the Citroën C1 (same unit as in the old Toyota Corolla) is absolute trash. Shifts are long and slow, going into gear comes with a terrible crunching (terrible shifts wear out the mechanicals in a matter of 30-40k miles), and with no hill-start-assist or feedback this transmission is unreliable and terrible to drive.
Personally I’d avoid any MMT because they do wear out their clutch no matter the model or make and they will never achieve the shift smoothed of an automatic.
For longevity, and it varies by make/model, but generally I’d say Aisin/Allison are at the top. For shifting, it really depends on make/model again, but right now the ZF 8-speed (we just discussed this) has the best shifting (esp. for spirited driving). But for me personally, and assuming it’s not a truck, I prefer to have the longitudinal Aisin transmission (no more than 8 gears please) just for longevity. If I wanted a truck esp. towing very heavy, I would want the longitudinal Allison. For a vehicle I want to toss around at the track and/or spirited driving in the mountain roads and maybe willing to sacrifice a little longevity, give me the longitudinal ZF 8-speed.
Strictly talking shifting, ZF is best. Longevity, I'd say ZF and Aisin. You have to remember that the "Allison" transmissions GM uses are NOT actually Allison transmissions. They just cut a deal to be able to slap the name on their in house transmissions. Scotty covered that a few videos ago.
