Most people give little thought to their car’s shifter. According to a recent CR survey, more than 99 percent of CR members reported driving newer cars with an automatic transmission, which requires ...

As the associate director of vehicle technology at CR’s Auto Test Center, Kelly Funkhouser drives a lot of cars and is always on the lookout for issues related to the usability of various automotive ...

The first column shifter in America was introduced in 1938, with the goal of freeing up space in the center console for a larger front bench seat. During that time, manual transmissions usually had ...

Let's try something no enthusiast would ever do and leave manual transmissions out of the picture for a second. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of articles discussing the importance and ...

The BMW i3 was a funky little car that was ahead of its time. From the unusual styling and the half-size rear-hinged rear doors to its then-strange gear selector, the i3 did most things a little ...

As far as a driver is concerned, one new-car manual transmission is pretty much like another. Sure, the transmissions themselves might be different in how they’re oriented in the chassis, and maybe ...

Save for newer Teslas, the shifter is something you use pretty much every single time you get in your car. You use it so often, you probably take it for granted. Whether you drive an automatic or a ...

Engineers and automotive designers have done their best to make sure the complicated machinery we call cars are easy to drive and understand — especially the parts that are important to our driving ...

Sean O’Malley has driven hundreds of cars during his nearly four-decade career as a vehicle tester. But one day a couple of years ago he found himself in the seat of a Hyundai at a loss over how to ...