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A transmission shop's experience...(click to read all)

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What vehicle has the "best" automatic transmission?

This is a question that I get asked over and over, but, it very hard to answer, because there is quite a bit of personal preference that weighs heavily on what is "best". For those of you shopping for a "new" vehicle, I will attempt to answer this question, based upon my personal experience, in a transmission shop. These opinions are just that; Opinions, and I am sure that there will be many that disagree with me, but, my opinions are formed, primarily, by the frequency of automatic transmission failures I see, from a particular model. While this is not "scientific", I believe that when I see many failing transmissions, of a particular transmission model, while the vehicle has very low mileage, I can assume that the transmission has problems. These opinions are not based on a particular case, but, rather, problems that I consitently see, day to day, that I base these opinions. There will be many exceptions to the rules I have stated here, so just because you may have gotten more, or less mileage, out of your transmission, than I have stated here, does not invalidate the "norm".

First off, it is impossible to answer this question without determining what type of vehicle you are asking about, so I will answer this question, in many parts, that include many of the different type of vehicles that a person may consider. The first section will discuss "cars", such as 2 and 4 door vehicles, and station wagons. The second section will include information about small pickups, minivans and sport utility vehicles. The third section will include information about full-sized pickups and 4 wheel drives.

Section 1: 2 and 4-door Cars and Station Wagons

Summary
It is my opinion, in terms of transmission reliability, the Hondas, Acuras, Lexus', Toyotas, etc. have a much better record, and I would consider these types of cars, if you do not want to have transmission trouble, than any of the U.S.-made vehicles on the market today. I have found that although the Isuzus, Mazdas, Nissans, etc. tend to also have good transmission reliability, that a person is better to stick with more of a "name brand", such as Honda, Toyota, etc., because they command a higher resale value, in the U.S. I, personally, bought a '96 Honda Accord Wagon, for my wife, because I work on cars 40-hours a week, and do not want to work on my own, when I get home.

Section 2: Small Pickups, Minivans, and Sport Utility Vehicles

Summary
It is my opinion that, in terms of automatic transmission reliability, the Toyota minitruck and fourrunner line is the way to go, with the Honda Passport also being a good choice. Again, as in the "car section", I would avoid the more obscure vehicles, like Izusu, Mazda, Nissan, etc. because, although they seem to have a better reliability record than the U.S. made minitrucks, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, they suffer from a low resale value, as compared to the Toyotas, and Hondas.

Section 3: Full-sized trucks, vans, and sport utility vehicles

Summary
Again, if I needed a full-sized sport utitlity vehicle, I would choose the LandCruiser/Lexus, over the Chevy Blazer, Tahoe, or Suburban, although they can be reasonably reliable too. I would choose a GM full-sized truck, before a Ford or a Chrysler, and would choose a 3/4 ton GM truck if I were planning on towing, at all. I believe that the engineers may have a good sense of humor when they set "towing capacities" on their 1/2 ton trucks, and would not consider towing any trailer over 1000 lbs. with any 1/2 ton GM truck, because I do not believe that the 4L60E is designed for it; this is not a heat problem, but rather a "hard part" problem when the 4L60E fails, so I do not believe that a cooler will help in this case. If you are set on buying a Ford, or Chrysler full-sized truck, I suggest buying a used one, because with all of the transmission problems they have had, you should be able to find plenty of people willing to give you a "good deal" on a relatively new truck, because of the problems they have already experienced.