ManualTransmissionIt’snosecretthatcarswithmanualtransmissionsareusuallymorefuntodrivethantheautomatic-equippedcounterparts
Ifyouhaveevenapassinginterestintheactofdriving,thenchancesareyoualsoappreciateafine-shiftingmanualgearbox
Buthowdoesamanualtransmissionactuallywork
Ahistoryhowsthatmanualtransmissionsprecededautomaticsbyseveraldecades
Infact,upuntilGeneralMotorsofferedanautomaticin1938,allcarswereoftheshift-it-yourselfvariety
Whileit’slogicalformanytypesoftoday’svehiclestobeequippedwithanautomatic――suchasafull-sizesedan,SUVorpickup――thefactremainsthatnothingismoreofathrilltodrivethanatautlysuspendedsportsedan,snortcoupeortwo-sealerequippedwithaprecise-shiftingfive-orsix-speedgearbox.Weknowwhicntypesorcarshavemanualtrannies
Nowlet’stakealookathowtheywork
Fromthemostbasicfour-speed