Popular articles

Probably every transmission repair specialist was keen on LEGO constructions or at least enjoyed making some minor things with their hands. Here's the game taken to a new level of creativity!

Modern auto industry is full of sophisticated drivetrain technologies which are supposed to make your driving experience even more pleasant and trouble-free. Despite a great abundance of sophisticated technical solutions, it is highly likely that very few people know a transmission solution operating like a manual CVT.

Over recent years engineers developed a lot of gear shifting solutions for different car brands, which may seem a bit unusual for oldtime drivers. In this article we will review the most peculiar gear stick technologies and provide video materials related to these technologies.

Only few people know about transmission concepts which were popular 70-90 years ago. For men of today, these gearboxes may seem very unusual and weird, but even now some gearboxes that date back to those years are quite competitive in comparison with modern transmissions.

Nowadays Extroid CVTs are commonly known as “toroidal” due to the fact that the working surface of driving and driven discs in this transmission has the form of a torus. Extroid CVT is not a V-belt transmission, but a friction drive CVT.

Sale Rates of Manual VW Models are Not So Bad


Sale Rates of Manual VW Models are Not So Bad

We continue analyzing statistics on sales figures of manual models from car manufacturers who still put hopes on manual transmissions. Now it’s VW’s turn to tell us how many admirers of the German carmaker still prefer to use gear sticks. According to media reports, the positions of manual models in the VW product line are still quite strong, at least when compared to the data from other automakers.


Last year, as expected, the most popular manual models from VW were Golf R and GTI with impressive 44% of taking rate. Some may argue that the majority of buyers still gave preference to more comfortable DCT-equipped variant. But it should be taken into account that the dual-clutch transmission offered for these models is really good. Moreover, when you take a look at sales of the Toyota 86, for example, and VW statistics will look even more impressive.





Manual VW GTI model


But the most unexpected news is the success of the manual Sportwagen (including Alltracks) model. Almost 1/3 (28%) of buyers opted for the manual variant. It is a clear evidence of the fact that VW’s fans still are not ready to give up on manual transmissions and enjoy using a gear stick. However, you should not get carried away with these promising statistics on sales of manual models, because when you start analyzing the whole picture on manual model sale rates of a particular brand in comparison with other transmission options, the numbers turn out to be quite low among all automakers.





Manual VW Golf R model


For example, when we have a closer look at sales of regular Golf hatchbacks, Jetta sedans, the share of manuals is not so big (10 and 7% accordingly). Overall, manual VWs accounted only for 5% of company’s sales last year. So it can be concluded that many automakers still continue competing for the manual segment and provide a wide range of models equipped with gear sticks, despite the mounting economic pressure from automatics.

Popular articles

Probably every transmission repair specialist was keen on LEGO constructions or at least enjoyed making some minor things with their hands. Here's the game taken to a new level of creativity!

Modern auto industry is full of sophisticated drivetrain technologies which are supposed to make your driving experience even more pleasant and trouble-free. Despite a great abundance of sophisticated technical solutions, it is highly likely that very few people know a transmission solution operating like a manual CVT.

Over recent years engineers developed a lot of gear shifting solutions for different car brands, which may seem a bit unusual for oldtime drivers. In this article we will review the most peculiar gear stick technologies and provide video materials related to these technologies.

Only few people know about transmission concepts which were popular 70-90 years ago. For men of today, these gearboxes may seem very unusual and weird, but even now some gearboxes that date back to those years are quite competitive in comparison with modern transmissions.

Nowadays Extroid CVTs are commonly known as “toroidal” due to the fact that the working surface of driving and driven discs in this transmission has the form of a torus. Extroid CVT is not a V-belt transmission, but a friction drive CVT.