Hi Scotti
Follow the videos religiously.
I bought a 2021 Sorento with a 8 x DCT and it seems OK after a year. I notice a lot of cars are advertising DCT's. What makes them better than what we now view as a conventional transmission with a torgue converter? Things always go from modern to conventional when something new comes along. On a related question are all the CVT transmissions a disaster or did someone like Toyota or Honda perfect the technology.
They shift faster compared to the traditional single clutch transmission, but as you might already know, they are very complex.
The CVT from Toyota or Honda are better built compared to other manufacturers but still they are weak compared to the traditional automatic transmission. They also need more maintenance as well.
If buying a cvt then I would go with Honda or Toyota; I would trust them a lot more than any other car manufacturer.
From my understanding of DCT's: A dual clutch transmission is supposed to get better performance and better fuel economy than a manual. It's like an automatic since there is no clutch next to the brake pedal but's it's not an automatic at all. One downside of those transmissions is that they are very computerized and when they break, it will cost $$$$.
The way I view a DCT is the best (and worst) of both worlds: manual and automatic.
Got the performance of a manual or better, and the ease of an automatic.
But it also is way more complicated than a manual and automatic.
Funny thing is although DCTs may seem to be a recent development, they're not really new. The 1961 Hillman Minx had a dual-clutch automatic transmission ("Easidrive") using electromagnetic clutches controlled by analog circuitry. It was not reliable and most were ultimately replaced with conventional manual transmissions.
Likewise CVTs appear to many people as a recent development but DAF was using them in their cars in the late 1950s - the Variomatic.)
