Car Transmission Types in Kia Cars

Sep 11, 2017

Choosing the right transmission for your needs is important. Let the experts here at Classic Kia in Waukegan, IL help you make your choice an informed one.

The choice in transmissions has become much more preference-driven in the last few years, as under-performing types of transmissions have made greater strides.

A manual transmission involves the driver shifting gears themselves. While this gives the driver much more control, it is also much more work. Moreover, many people don’t actually know how to do it, and learning stick shift can be a process.

In return for your efforts, you’ll enjoy excellent performance, fuel-efficiency, and improved off-road ability thanks to what is known as engine braking. Your mechanic will thank you too as manual transmissions are much easier to fix. That thanks will come in the form of a smaller bill.

A fully-automatic transmission is far more ubiquitous. Instead of having to shift gears manually, the transmission will do it for you. Until recently, this came at the expense of performance, control, and wasted engine energy. These problems have largely been corrected through more and more advanced technology.

Therein lies the rub, however. The more advanced automatic transmissions get, the more complicated they become. The more complicated they become, the harder they are to fix. The harder they are to fix, you guessed it, the more expensive doing so becomes.

With the loss of manual shifting comes the loss of engine breaking, making off-road travel a much more daunting prospect.

Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t have it all though: if you want a blending of the two, the semi-automatic transmission is perfect for you. Keep control of shifting while enjoying a much simpler mechanism, or switch between the two at will with the 2018 Kia Sportage.

Come to Classic Kia for versatile Kia cars with the transmission of your choice!