Friday, September 13, 2013

Transmission manufacturers

Call me ignorant, but I had always assumed that car manufacturers built their own transmissions in-house. Sure, there are Getrag and ZF, but those sold in small numbers and only supplied higher end vehicles. I was wrong.

I was doing my daily search for a used Volvo V50 when I came upon a Craigslist ad for an automatic transmission that is compatible with the V50. The Aisin AW55-50SN is used in a surprising and diverse number of cars, including:
2006-- Pontiac Torrent (GM code M09 (FWD), M45 (AWD))
2004-- Chevrolet Equinox (GM code M09 (FWD), M45 (AWD))
2004 Saturn Ion (GM code M43)
2003--2005(?) Volvo XC90 2.5T engine only
2002--2008 Lancia Thesis
2002--2008 Opel Vectra C and Opel Signum
2002--2003 Saturn Vue V6
2003-2007 Saab 9-3 (GM code M09)
2004-2006 Nissan Maxima, Nissan Quest, Nissan Altima under Nissan part number RE5F22A, built by Aisin
2001-2007 Renault Laguna V6 and 2.2dci (code SU1)
2001-2005(?) Volvo S60
2004 Volvo S80 (2.5T)
2006-- Volvo C30
2006 Volvo S40
2006 Volvo V50 (T5)
2000 Volvo V70
2007-2008 Suzuki XL7

I had no idea. In fact, Aisin, a Japanese company, used to just supply RWD trannies for Toyota. Now, it supplies transmissions to 55 car manufacturers around the world.


In the car search front, cars are popping up on my search. This one on eBay is pretty much what I want. It has low miles (relatively), the turbocharged engine, a manual, and is front-wheel drive. Unfortunately, it is in Florida. No offense to F1Outsider, but used cars in Florida have a bad reputation of unclean titles. Many salvaged vehicles, often due to flooding, end up in Florida with clean titles. The seller of this Volvo seems legit, as it only sells Volvos (and a lot of them). 

4 comments:

  1. very cool video!

    i believe my mazdaspeed3 has an aisin 6-speed. i would say that it is "okay." this car was my first manual gearbox, so i don't have a lot of datapoints and i'm far from an expert. but i need to double-clutch once in a while (like today) to get it into first, and overall there are times when it's finicky.

    good luck with the hunt!

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  2. No offense on the Florida reference... I hate this state too!

    @Augie

    I had a Mazdaspeed6 which I believe has the same transmission as the MSP3.

    It really isn't the best transmission. Especially when you know that Mazda can build a car with a proper transmission (i.e. RX8).

    But you're really not supposed to downshift into 1st on those cars unless you're coming to a full stop. Even then I would sometimes shift too early into first and it would jerk a bit.

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  3. That might be worth taking a chance on, looks like a really nice car.

    Interesting stuff about Aisin.

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