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Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by mikestew on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @05:02PM (#17963348)
You know why automatics are sealed these days? They don't expect them to need service. Here in the U. S., I actually had to call around to find someone that would do a clutch. When I was a Firestone mechanic lo those twenty some years ago, we'd drop a tranny and throw clutch plates in all the time (book time paid more time than it took me to do it). Neither of the local Firestones would touch it when I called.

Point is, automatics are pretty sturdy these days, and there are fewer shops in the U. S. that will work on manuals anymore.

Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by kenhwang on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @05:33PM (#17963561)
Most modern DCTs are wet clutch which should last more or less forever. Ford/Volvo's dry clutch DCTs probably still require regular clutch plate replacements. Torque converters pretty much last forever on infrequent fluid changes or the whole unit fails.
Re:How America lost its love for the stick shift by opencl on Tuesday September 11, 2018 @06:57PM (#17964153)
Ford's dry clutch DCT (used only in the Focus and Fiesta, all of the other Ford/Volvo models are wet clutch) is total junk and you're lucky if the clutch lasts more than 30k miles. They lost a class action lawsuit over it.