Favorite transmission you’ve driven?

Put me down for Honda motorcycle sequential box.  Back during my 10 year reunion, a friend of mine had a Yamaha FZR 600 and a Honda CBR F2.  On the way to the welcome social, I rode the FZR, and was amazed at how clunky the whole bike was, especially for less than 5,000 miles.  I had a Suzuki Katana 750 at the time, with 22,000 miles, and the Yamaha didn't even come close in feel and quality.

On the ride back, I rode the F2, and it was amazing compared to the FZR, and as much as I hated to admit, better than my Katana.  The gearbox in that F2 was magic.

The 5 speed in my 1980 TR7 was awesome, much better than either of my Miatae.

PDK, hands down. I've never driven anything else that even comes close to it. 

The transmission that I miss the most was the three-on-the-tree in my 1964 C10 with the 230 straight six.

It was absolute garbage, but damn, I miss shifting that thing. If I ever build a hotrod, I'll probably put that combo in it. 

All of my Hondas always had good shifters. But while I love my manuals, the best experience was the 430 Scuderia F1 transmission. Drove it on a track, was pretty much perfect, can definitely see how these took over F1 racing. Lighting fast, complete control, what is not to like?

The 4 speed in my '76 Corvette. Not sure if it was a Muncie M22 or BW T10. It was smooth, fast, precise.  The throws were longer than most new cars, but I like that and could feel everything the Trans was doing.

Another vote for motorcycle sequential transmission; there is just something so satisfying about nailing lightning-quick clutchless shifts with perfect throttle coordination!

For cars, I really like the six-speed Aisin transmission in my FR-S, a close tie with the related Aisin six-speed JDM Toyota Altezza transmission that was in my old AE86 Corolla.

Threads like this are kinda worthless because no one knows what the baseline is or what people are comparing their "favorite" to. I mean, "terrible" would be a favorite in comparison to "worse." About the best qualified would be someone like the Stig from TG, who has obviously driving a crap ton of cars, and really can say what "favorite" means to him. For any of us here, probably not so much. Case in point, I really liked the Datsun Competition middle-close ratio transmission I put in my Datsun 1200 - but no one knows what I'm comparing it to, so it's sort of meaningless.

My favorite was a push-button transmission on my 1963 Chrysler Newport. Just because it was so unique.

In reply to kb58 :

That is what makes it interesting to me.  It is not about the transmissions' merits so much as peoples' predilections.

Any transmission that requires the use of my left leg to facilitate a gear change. Some are fun because they are so smooth, like the Hurst competition plus that was in my first car and some are fun because of the feeling of accomplishment you get when you successfully navigate the gears on an old dogleg Porsche 911 901 box.

A side-shifter 901 from a 914. Very long and deliberate yet very satisfying.

kb58 said:

 I really liked the Datsun Competition middle-close ratio transmission I put in my Datsun 1200 - but no one knows what I'm comparing it to, so it's sort of meaningless.

Annnnnnd you would be wrong........you should have at least remembered I was on here and said "almost no one knows"

APEowner said:

NA Miata transmissions are good but it's too easy to get the wrong gear for them to be my favorite.  I'm sure it's never an issue on the street but if you're trying to make a shift while hopping a curb and/or sliding the car around a corner it's easy to get the wrong gear.  Second to fifth is just annoying but fourth to first instead of third is dangerous and potentially expensive.

Sounds like a motor mount problem to me. When your shifter is right in the trans, excessive motor movement means the gates move when the engine unloads, and if your timing is right you will find a different gate than you expect. Given the number of Miatas that see track use and the lack of money shift engine fatalities, I think it's been proven pretty well not to be a real problem over the years. Only the 2-5 is really known, although I haven't done one of those in a couple of decades.

My favorite? The reversed Subaru trans in my Vanagon. The shifter literally and audibly snicks into gear. It would be fun even without knowing what a massive upgrade it is over the stock shift "feel" and the big hole that used to live between 3 and 4.

2008 VW GTI with the DSG, watching the tach needle bounce with each nearly instantaneous shift.

2010 Fusion Sport 3.5L with the 6 speed automatic. Fabulous, always had the right gear for climbing a mountain pass

Any truck with a Fuller 13 speed, double clutch or no clutch, gear jamming with a 8V-92 hauling the mail.

2012 Boss 302 6 speed, MGW shifter and 7500 RPM shifts, glorious sounds

F150 SuperCrew 4x4 3.5L Ecoboost 10 speed trans, pulling 9,000 camper, always has a gear to either cruise or get up on the pipe to pass or climb mountains.

2015 Cadillac ATS4 2.5 Turbo 4 AWD and a six speed always up for what ever no matter the weather.

Why it took these morons at the auto and truck manufacturers so long to give us decent transmissions is beyond me.

Close ratio 3 rail Ford out of a Mk 1 Twin Cam Escort, I had it behind a 2l Pinto motor until I peeled all the teeth off 3rd gear - this was the one they called the Bullet box ...

The 6 speed in my Mk 1 Focus ST was pretty good as was the 6 speed in my Subaru Outback.

Keith Tanner said:

APEowner said:

NA Miata transmissions are good but it's too easy to get the wrong gear for them to be my favorite.  I'm sure it's never an issue on the street but if you're trying to make a shift while hopping a curb and/or sliding the car around a corner it's easy to get the wrong gear.  Second to fifth is just annoying but fourth to first instead of third is dangerous and potentially expensive.

Sounds like a motor mount problem to me. When your shifter is right in the trans, excessive motor movement means the gates move when the engine unloads, and if your timing is right you will find a different gate than you expect. Given the number of Miatas that see track use and the lack of money shift engine fatalities, I think it's been proven pretty well not to be a real problem over the years. Only the 2-5 is really known, although I haven't done one of those in a couple of decades.

I don't know if Mazda did any changes to the shift fingers for the Miata flavor of the trans, but in its original use in RX-7s there were two different shift rod locations and thus two different sets of shift fingers, and with both geometries it is very easy to get the main shift rod wedged between 1 and 3 when trying to upshift.  I am 90% sure it is because the shift forks and the shift fingers are held to the shift rods with roll pins and this allows for some springiness.

Nissan FS5R30A

I've only driven one in a MKIII XJ6, but I have one about to go into my W116. Smooth, direct, positive. Perfect amount of effort and feel.

Runner up is a Tremec TR3650 in a 2004 Mach 1. Little more effort than I prefer but very crisp and fast.

GRM secret answer is Volvo M40. Hnnnggggggg

In order:

2000

Miata 5 speed

E46 ZHP manual trans

My 2022 Civic Si and 2019 Civic Type R are pretty close.  Both are fantastic!

I'm jumping on the motorcycle bandwagon.  Even the cheap, E36 M3ty motorcycles I've ridden have had really pleasant transmissions.  Down shifting on a motorcycle and getting it just right is really rewarding.

Keith Tanner said:

APEowner said:

NA Miata transmissions are good but it's too easy to get the wrong gear for them to be my favorite.  I'm sure it's never an issue on the street but if you're trying to make a shift while hopping a curb and/or sliding the car around a corner it's easy to get the wrong gear.  Second to fifth is just annoying but fourth to first instead of third is dangerous and potentially expensive.

Sounds like a motor mount problem to me. When your shifter is right in the trans, excessive motor movement means the gates move when the engine unloads, and if your timing is right you will find a different gate than you expect. Given the number of Miatas that see track use and the lack of money shift engine fatalities, I think it's been proven pretty well not to be a real problem over the years. Only the 2-5 is really known, although I haven't done one of those in a couple of decades.

Square left in 50 caution ocean! - Author of How To Build a High Performance Mazda Miata

To be clear, I'm not saying that they're bad transmissions.  Just that they're not my favorite.

Motor mounts definitely make this worse as do tired transmissions.

The fourth into first shifts that I've seen including the one I did are probably driver error and probably shouldn't be blamed on the transmission.  Although, a Miata is the only car I've ever done that in.  Fortunately Miata engines are pretty durable and a money shift doesn't necessarily result in having to spend money.  I've seen half a dozen Miata drivers do that without engine failure.

The 2-5 thing is a thing however.  I don't know a single Spec Miata driver who haven't experienced that.  It's not a problem all the time but if you're trying to grab third mid-left hand corner it's easy to do, especially if you're hitting the rumble strip.  Spec Miatas get shifted mid corner a lot.

Again, I'm not saying that they're bad, just that to be a favorite of mine they'd have to be harder to get into fifth gear.  That would likely be annoying in a street car and therefore remove them from some  other peoples favorite transmission list.

And I'm just saying is that you're describing bad motor mounts, not a basic transmission problem :) 

2-5 happens, but not that commonly. Everybody does it at some point, probably, but it's pretty rare. Any transmission with a narrow gate and a direct shifter is going to be prone to hitting the wrong gate if the engine/trans moves significantly while you're in the middle of a fast shift though. I've not come across the money shift myself, for that to happen the shifter is being moved with some side load instead of straight (driver unfamiliarity?). The motor/trans movement mid-shift would actually be helping you in this case.

Worst transmission I've ever driven? A Honda transmission in an Ariel Atom. I don't know what it was, but I think it had a K series attached to it and it was definitely a cable shift. I eventually found third gear and just left it there because there was no chance I'd ever find it again. That was very likely the fault of the shifter setup.

I like the T5 but my favourite transmission is one that many will think I am crazy for liking.

The stock BMC trans used in the B series powered cars (MGA/MGB, various sedans)  can be criticized on several points - synchros that wear too quickly, ratios thar are wide,, non-synchro first gear etc., but when you install the competition close ratio gear set, it transforms it and becomes one of the slickest racing boxes I have run.

First gear? Forget about it - never need it after the start.  It snicks into each gear neatly and smoothly and the ratios are perfectly chosen.  Couple it with a lower diff ratio and the performance enhancement is amazing.   Just using this box on the street, with a 4.55 diff in place of the stock 4.3 cuts a full second off the 1/4 mile time on a stock engined car and more on the track.  High speed cruising?  Solved by fitting a Laycock OD unit so that it is an ultra close ratio 6 speed box (I only use it in 4th OD on the track).

Not for everyone (face it, just about 'everyone' wants an automatic today), but for a sports car driver this particular transmission has the best feel to me.

I have driven ZFs in my street cars but they feel heavy in comparison and the Alfa long spindly shift levers never endeared themselves to me