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I did a simple drain and fill once on the van at ~120,000 miles (that's the one with 150,000 miles now). Don't think I've ever had the Outback's transmission serviced - maybe when it hits 90k I'll think about it.
I never warm my cars up but I do creep along for the first few blocks when I first get in them.
Don't know what you mean by using a gear to change direction? Oh, you mean come to a full stop before putting it into reverse. Yeah, I try to do that.
The cheap crappy manual trans that Toyota put in the first three years of the Matrixes is yet another in a long list of shames from the cost-cutting shoddy decade just ended at that company. And yes, many of those did fail, enough for Toyota to issue a TSB.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
OEM clutches are like OEM brakes and struts - usually it's just adequate inexpensive stuff they tossed in to get it out the door. A $200 clutch vs a $100 one is a drastic difference in most cases.
Since then i have read that there is an important step in re and re clutch - regarding changing plate thickness or if flywheel is refinished vs buying a new one.. it has to do with clearance during operation and the strain on the fingers i think, or might be extra strain in the throw-out bearing...i forget exact details, if u guys have done clutch often then u likely know this caution i'm talking about?
I would refresh my memory on right steps if i ever had to do one, but it would never be on this car (unless I kept it to 700k mi or had a seal fail i suppose and contaminate it. I'd be dead from old age tho is my point on this particular car. Don't like the seat or the road noise) or a new one unless it was a faulty setup like Matrix XRS 6 speeds killing a clutch in 30k mi even with prev very experienced clutch users.
when tranny very cold, don't ask a lot of it till it is up to temp
These two definitely make a big difference, but probably the first habit is the most important.
I have never had an auto transmission fail. I had my '96 Outback to 220,000 miles and it still operated perfectly. My '98 Dodge G Caravan was at 215,000 when I sold it, and it was perfectly fine too. In fact, on that one, the engine was also still solid as a rock, having never been cracked open and still didn't leak a drop of oil (can't say the same thing for the Subaru!).
My family (including parents & siblings) tends to keep their cars a long while, and the only auto in the group that had a failed transmission was a '92 Camry, purchased new by my father, that required a replacement at about 230,000 miles shortly after he sold it to my brother. Apparently, having a wife that is hard on cars and a high-mileage automatic are not a good combination. :P
While I have a lot of manuals, none of them are overly miled up. Hah; I have a 41-year-old Chevrolet C20 with a 4-speed Muncie, and even it still has the original clutch! With only 73,000 miles on it, though, that is not too surprising I suppose.
My '98 Escort, at just over 140,000 miles, is the highest mileage MT car I have. It is on its original clutch. I thought it was slipping earlier this year, but after I put my new winter tires on this Fall I have had no problems, so maybe it was just the old all-seasons slipping? I don't know - I never heard any chirping and don't generally push it very hard, but it is running strong right now. I was planning to replace the clutch in the Spring, but now I am going to see whether it holds through then and will reassess.
Right, sorry it took me so long to reply, missed it first time around i guess.
Park brakes rarely freeze on anymore, but i too remember back in the day.
Here is an excerpt from a post i did for some unappreciative, irritable woman on a dif thread. Some people are hard to help..
Of course I'm guessing u already know this but some readers may not.
*Have you ever seen someone in parking mall bump into the car in front or rear when they park? Well if u don't have your parking brake set, then all that force of the bump, is exerted TOTALLY on that tiny pawl and the slot it fits in.
Have you ever parked on a steep hill or heard someone else as they pull it out of Park after being on steep hill without the parking brake? Have you ever heard that loud clunk? Well that is that tiny pawl slipping out of the slot with all that force exerted on it. As it passes the leading edge of the slot, imagine all that force is now on only a tiny 'edge' of the pawl. It is like taking a file or chisel to the end of it. And guess where the metal bits go? *
And, yes, even *I * have had a car slip out of park once on a hill The parking brake held, but barely.
I remember hearing the tale of one lone Chrysler minivan from the 90s that hadn't needed a transmission replacement yet... thought it was an urban legend, but apparently it was true!!!
Being (kinda) serious, obviously you take care of your vehicles and you know the bad habits that eventually lead to major failures...and then you don't do them! It's astounding to me the number of people who ARE AWARE of the impact their driving behaviors will eventually have on their vehicle, but they still keep doing those same things!!!
The Chrysler minivans from the mid to late 90s were pretty (in)famous for transmission failures. Actually, make that basically all Chrysler FWD V6 vehicles from the 1990s went thru transmissions like most people go thru underwear! They were obviously 'fragile' and very few of their owners treated them as such.
My sister had a 1996 Caravan with the 3.8L V6 and 4-speed automatic and it started misbehaving around 110k miles. It would suddenly decide to downshift from 4th to 2nd while she wasy driving at 65mph, then refuse to upshift. She would pull over as quickly as possible, put it in PARK, shut off the engine, swear profusely, then re-start it and it would shift perfectly for as long as three or four months or it might do it all over again the next day! Around 115k miles, it started being very stubborn to go into 4th/OD. It would just linger in 3rd for miles and it might take 20 miles at 70mph before it would suddenly upshift into 4th! Once it started that, it was pemanent, not an intermittent quirk like the other thing.
She and my brother-in-law weren't in any position to buy another car (or to even repair the one she had) so she kept driving it until it had almost 130k miles on it. My parents felt sorry for her (and my mom wanted a new car) so they gave her the '03 Explorer that mom had at the time. I was shocked that it kept going (in one gear or another) for 20k miles after it first started having problems. Most A/T failures progress very quickly from the first sign of a problem...
My parents bought a new Grand Cherokee back in 1995 and it had a horrible reputation for transmission failures! Even one of the mechanics at the Jeep dealer told me that they some days they'd have five or six Grand Cherokees in for transmission replacement under warranty. That was the bright spot for most affected owners- they usually failed in the first 20-30k miles. But it wasn't uncommon for the replacement to fail after another 50 or 60k miles and that wasn't under warranty. Anyway, I was always waiting for my mom's to die on her at any point! It's been 16 years and 210k miles and I'm still waiting....I bought the Jeep from them when mom got her '03 Explorer and it's still going strong. The trade-in value was a joke with the the high mileage (around 175k at that time), so I paid them $4000 for it...I was fond of the old gal, even though I only use it on weekends or when I need to haul something that won't fit in my Mazda3.
It's sort of amusing, the '95 Jeep Grand Cherokee had horrible reliability ratings in Consumer Reports and every magazine or website review devoted at least one full paragraph warning potential buyers to look elsewhere. But it has been the most reliable, trouble-free vehicle that anyone in my immediate family has ever owned! My sister and I alone have owned more than a dozen Hondas and I've had an Acura and now a Mazda- most of them great cars and only two with MAJOR problems...but none as rock-solid reliable at that old Jeep!!! Ironically, the two that had MAJOR problems were mine (of course) and both of them had Consumer Reports' highest ranking for reliability!!! One was my '96 Accord and the other is my '06 Mazda3 that I'm still driving....
One of my neighbors was a carpet salesman so he drove tons of miles, and got Grand Caravans every couple of years or so. Every one of them had transmission issues, yet they were so cheap he just kept buying them, maybe 3 or so.
Back when I got my first minivan, you could actually buy a Caravan with a manual transmission. The good ol' days. Like now with most cars, the MT minivans were hard to find. Doubt that many dealers stock MT Mazda5s.
If this was 1970, I would totally agree with you. Back in those days it was pretty common to have a transmission overhaul around the 80,000 mile mark.
With modern cars, given proper care an automatic transmission can easily go 200,000 miles and more! Our elderly 1993 Explorer's transmission has never been opened and it has 165,000 miles! AND, it's a FORD!
"resale value is horrendous"
Totally incorrect. Our store didn't keep cars with over 100,000 miles but when we appraised one we drove it and made sure the transmission and everything else worked well.
The cars that are hard to sell are cars with manuals. They would sit on our lot unless we got lucky and just happened to find a stick lover.
Now that VW has come up with a solution for this problem we might see an uptick in the rate of decline of manuals but I think the die has been set. Except for trucks and RWD or R/awd sports cars stick shifts are headed for the history books.
Based on your description of your sister's transmission issues, it was likely an electrical problem that first occurred at 110K.
Like you say, though, the transmission is also quite fragile. Abuse put them down quickly and they required relatively frequent fluid changes. I can't recall if the factory spec was 30 or 50K miles, but I think it was 30. Several folks with whom I spoke told me that it should be done every 15,000 "just to be safe!"
I didn't have the van from new, but purchased it from a Chrysler mechanic who claims he had serviced it since new (he bought it from the original owner when she came to the dealership to trade it in). It had 170,000 when I purchased it, with the last 15,000 having been his miles and the rest were from the original owner (who had a 50-mile one-way commute). I changed out the transmission fluid at about 180K, using Amsoil Universal ATF (which worked perfectly, despite all the doomsday prophecies I was told) when I did so due to the superior cold-flow properties versus ATF +4, and I worked that van hard.
About the last thing it did for me before being severely crippled by electrical gremlins was take my family, heavily loaded, on a round-trip journey from Fairbanks, AK, to Erie, PA, and back over the period of about ten weeks in 2009. I think it had about 198,000 when we left, and it had 212,000 when we returned home! :shades:
However, were a manual available on the gen 3, I would have looked long and hard for one! I imagine, though, that I would have had to pass on the AWD to get it. Aside from the AWD, one thing I really appreciate about Subaru (which is our current family car) is the fact that I can get a manual on more than just the base model, even if they have eliminated them from their top-level trim. *sigh*
For my high torque MB, it's a 45K mile or so service. For the fintail, with its weird fluid coupling setup...maybe once a decade.
Still peddling that nonsense? In fact AWD/FWDs are less dangerous for inexperienced drivers, regardless of trans setup since the tyro driver's natural reaction when taking a turn too fast, which is to get off the throttle and brake, will work in a car with FWD or AWD but some RWD vehicles might go into a snap oversteer especially on a slippery road.
How come accident rates have gone down since the widespread adoption of vehicles w driven front wheels?
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
http://www.nhtsa.gov/
Counterintuitively, I have also never gotten 112,300 miles (from crappy 3rd rate) oem tires either . The nexus being: front wheel drive, front transmission , 5 speed MANUAL transmission. I think most to all would agree front wheel drive and front transmission vehicles have their unique issues.
That may well be the result of TC, HYPER-ACTICE TC, being so widely adopted by FWD & F/awd manufacturers. Some credit also to VSC but that applies to both drive types.
Another reason to drive a manual--you need to actually drive rather than talk on the phone and text.
It does happen my son is unusually responsible so far. Here's hoping he can take to a manual when the time comes.
Now, do I teach him on the Accord mt or the Mazda mt? Both are smooth shifting, and so I suppose it doesn't matter much. But the Accord was a loaded c. $26k model, while the Mazda was a more reasonable $15k. I think maybe the Mazda is the ticket....
Oh, and I don't know if I should admit this around here, but Honda replaced my clutch for free on my 08 Accord with c. 35k miles. I do a lot of city driving, but I got the idea there was a secret recall or something. I didn't ask them to replace it, they just did it one day when I went in for an oil change.
Go buy a bolt at Home Depot and then one that's made in the U.S. and test to see how hard it is to break each one. It's quite enlightening when you consider both are supposedly made to the same specification.
In that sentence, would an automatic transmission be one of the consumable parts you're referring to???
You can look at the Honda VFR1200 motorcycle with the option of autoshift...I'm sure it's beautiful but I'll stick to the 6-speed Blackbird or original VFR750...
I kinda like the Ford 500s...i wonder if one could be had in a stick? But being the cheap bastage I am, I'd have to buy a used one a couple of years from now.
The three issues affected the following models-
4-speed automatic in the 1999-2001 Odyssey and 2000-2002 Accord
5-speed automatic- Models recalled- 2002-2004 Odyssey, 2003-2004 Pilot, 2003-2004 Honda Accord V6, 2000-2004 Acura 3.2TL and 2001-2003 Acura 3.2CL. Recall included more than 1.1 million vehicles!
5-speed automatic on 2002-2004 Odyssey and 2003-2004 Pilot
*There were two different issues with the 5-speed automatic and the 2002-2004 Honda Odyssey could be affected by either one or BOTH on certain models.
The following issues were never acknowledged or addressed by Honda, but the number of problems clearly indicates a major flaw-
2001 and early-2002 Civic
2003 Accord
Center for Auto Safety- from 07/01/10 to 12/31/10
Total of 267 transmission complaints, 169 were Honda/Acura vehicles (63% of total)!!!
In 2006, a class-actions suit was filed by owners of Honda and Acura vehicles with failed automatic transmissions. Models include 2000-2001 Accord, 1999-2001 Odyssey, 2000-2001 Prelude, 1999-2003 Acura 3.2TL, 2001-2003 Acura 3.2CL. This extended the warranty slightly beyond the already-extended 7yrs/100k miles. Honda also had to pay $5.5 million in legal fees.
Thousands of vehicles that had transmission replacements failed again, requiring yet another replacement! At least a few of them even required a fourth replacement!!! Imagine how the owner of a new 3.2TL Type-S felt dealing with repeated transmission failures in their new $35k sports sedan???
Apparently, it's not over yet...here's the link to a story published just yesterday in the New York Times-
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/08/honda-transmission-problems-seem-to-p- ersist/
It changed gears more often than I expected if you left it in 'D'. I find that annoying but that's one of the many reasons that for any car I actually own, there have to be three pedals.....
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
On my 2007 I only select gears manually when I'm driving up a steep hill (to lockout overdrive) or when it's snowing (to lock out 1st gear).
I have driven the previous model quite extensively, and I can report that the auto trans in the new one is very sensitive to any change in gas pedal position - the thing will shift gears all over the map if it thinks you want more acceleration. Indeed, it's totally over the top. More responsive, yes, but better? No. Especially since you can use the shifter to select the gear you want to be in.
But that's why three pedals are the best way.....no computer trying to read your mind and CONSTANTLY getting it wrong.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I will be very happy to get our car back!
We looked at the RAV4 and test drove it with both engines. With the 4-cylinder and automatic transmission, acceleration was barely adequate. The A/T was designed to upshift as soon as possible and, once it gets into 4th gear it doesn't downshift willingly when you need to accelerate quickly. The only way to coax a downshift at 55mph or more was to floor it and wait for a few seconds. It reminds me of my mom's '86 Olds Cutlass Supreme. If you floored the gas at highway speeds, you could hear the 4-barrel carb (sounded like a jet taking off) but it took several seconds for the transmission to give you a lower gear. The noise was instantaneous, but increase in forward velocity took a while.
The RAV4 with V6 has TOO MUCH power, at least in the FWD version. Who needs 269hp in a small SUV??? It was difficult to get moving from a stop without barking the front tires. I can only imagine how fun it would be in the rain!
We also drove a Subaru Forester and it was one of my two favorites. The Hyundai Tuscon was the other. I was surprised to find both of them with manual transmissions on the dealer lots! But the Tuscon is only available with 5MT on the stripped base model. The Forester offered it on a few trim levels and the dealer told me that they sell quite a few with the 5MT. Subaru drivers are a different breed than the average car buyer, and that's a compliment! Most of the ones I know prefer to be involved in the driving process, which translates into preferring a manual. BTW, I was very impressed by the Forester with the 224hp 2.5L turbo, even though it still has the outdated 4-speed automatic instead of a more modern 5- or 6-speed. We also drove a 2.5X Premium with the manual shifter, but she decided that she'd be happier with an automatic!?!?
To my disappointment, she decided that her favorite was the Ford Escape..ugh! She ended up with the Mazda Tribute, a sibling to the Escape and Mariner. The Mazda version saved over $2000...mainly because the dealers just want to get rid of them! The one where we purchased her Tribute told me that it was only the 3rd one they had sold al year (and this was in July).
I checked out the Mazda3 and Mazda6 while we were there. I was pleasantly surprised to find so many of them in-stock with the manual transmission! Mazda and Honda seem to be the only ones who actually stock manual models. The vast majority of other cars that offer a manual transmission must be ordered by the dealer, rather than keeping them in stock.
I find that when it comes to power delivery, it is all about feeling the car, not forcing it.
To diverge a bit, the interior of the RAV4, while spartan, is quite comfortable. My wife liked it immediately more than our Forester for two reasons (and reasons often cited, even though I cannot say I agree): 1. The headrest is not as intrusive (read that PERFECT in my opinion!) as the Forester, and 2. The center console area is narrower, allowing more room for the right leg.
In terms of purchasing, though, we didn't seriously consider the Forester's competition simply because the drivetrain of the Subaru is so vastly superior. It is the kind of car in which my wife can feel comfortable driving our children to school in the midst of an ice storm (well, she might not be comfortable, but she'd still be willing to do it), and I can turn around and not hesitate to plop them in the back seat for a light off-roading adventure on some snowmachine/dog-sled trails.
Have any of you seen that episode of Alaska State Troopers on National Geographic where the Trooper makes a visit to the "Fairbanks Ice Track?" Well, I spun that car around the track a time or two, then took it over the dike and ran some trails on the other side. I just don't see that RAV4 doing either of those things very well.
Steering is numb and artificially heavy on mine, too. Haven't sampled the new 6 speed, though. Mine has the 5 speed auto.
And that one also had the very intrusive head restraints. I think you will find that this is more of an issue if people sit with the seat back more upright than others. Also, tall people will find it less of an issue cuz as you raise the restraint it goes back with the angle of the seatback.
I like the seatback fairly upright (not all the way tho) cuz of my ruptured disc in my back. I can touch my toes, but forget about leaning back more than a couple of degrees.
Snowmobilers especially hate ATVr's here for some reason. And because the trail is frozen, it is not like the ATV's can gouge the trail...it makes no sense. I guess tho after a fresh snowfall they can leave some mark if they are aggressive. We all seem to be our own worst enemy all the time..
As for Subes, my only comparo experience regarding AWD and autos...the only AWD i had that had the most trouble with my hill if i stopped and tried to take off in the middle of it, was my XT6. It was an auto and Subaru does not manage torque to the rear wheels the same as the 50/50 split with their manuals. I have had all the AWD's over the years, and the very best was your typical viscous coupling set up, and of course a truck type 4x4 setup were you lock the fr hubs and then have 2 to 3 to 2 WD. The absolute best AWD I ever had, and wish i had bought that car new, was an 88 Camry 4 cyl, stick 4x4, viscous coupling which had an optional-use locking centre dif sw on the dash. Amazingly I only had to lock it once and it was after it had turned mild and i was pushing through 4" of slush-type dense wet packy snow, that before it had turned mild, was hardpacked frozen highway-like road base. ANd the most amazing thing about the Camry, was it had worst tires for winter I have ever had since living here...summer oriented quiet, smooth type all seasons.
When my wife and I purchased our first car as a couple back in 2000, I was looking for a 4x4 Camry or Corolla (1991ish), but they were a scarce commodity. We found a couple that were thoroughly trashed, but no more. So, we went with our 1996 Outback (auto - the wife wouldn't consider a manual at the time).
Regarding the snow trails, all the trails I use in the winter are 4x4 / logging trails in the summer, so I don't see how they can really gripe about the multi-use. Share and share alike, I say....
If there had been a cop around I would have eased up to the door and gone in for a coffee. As it was, I just whipped back out the other driveway and continued down the road like I intended to do that.
My wife lost it at the same intersection about 6 weeks ago going in the other direction. There's good plowing here and that spot is well sanded. I was hoping to get through the winter on my Avid T4s (5 years old, 24k), but maybe I need to rethink.
I hear you on hitting the clutch in a pinch - it sure is nice to be able to instantly freewheel. Another advantage of a stick in the snow and ice. Also being able to instantly cut and add power really helps when you are trying to rock to get out of a rut - much better than an automatic.
I'm having trouble remembering now. I think I can rock the car easier with the AT that I could with the manual when I get stuck in snow. The last time I got stuck in my 5 speed FWD Tercel, I had to crawl under and kludge the chains on. It was just a little ol' bitty ditch that I couldn't rock out of.
Of course, rocking didn't help a few weeks back when I got stuck on the shoulder making a U turn. Had to shovel each of the wheels out about 3'. I suspect that digging is easier on either transmission.
The heck with the transmission type, it's the tires (ok, maybe a little bit the driver
With the AT you do have to shift gears because the car is still going when you let off of the gas. So if you are comparing shifting gears in both, then AT may be a tad faster in some cases depending on the configuration of the shifter.