Plenty can go wrong with a car's transmission — there are a l lot of moving parts, after all. Though transmission problems rearing their metaphorically ugly heads will most likely mean a trip to ...

And now, only about 30 new cars can be bought with a manual transmission in the U.S. The new manual car list has been shrinking for years. We've focused on it before, because, well, it sucks.

With a manual, you’re not simply pulling a paddle and letting the transmission do all the hard work. You’re 100 percent in charge.

Unlike with a manual transmission, a basic understanding of an automatic gearbox's mechanics is not essential to operate the vehicle, which usually has four basic driving modes.