Long live the 4-speed conventional automatic.
When it comes to transmissions, we all know that the manual gearbox has gone the way of the dinosaur, with just a few surviving options available in the market like the “rahmah” Axia (mostly for driving school use), the base model Proton Saga and at the other end of the extreme, performance cars like the Honda Civic Type R. So, the world has more or less moved on to automatic gearboxes. While many mass market automatic options today use either a continuously variable transmission or a dual-clutch transmission, there are still plenty that use some variation of the ‘conventional’ planetary gear style automatic. What may surprise you is just how dominant the most basic 4-speed conventional auto still is in 2024.
Judging by the numbers from data.gov.my, there are still PLENTY of new cars registered in 2024 that use 4-speed conventional automatics. The three most popular appear to be the Perodua Bezza, the Proton Saga and the Perodua Aruz. There are of course a few others like the Toyota Rush (an Aruz cousin, and the Suzuki Jimny just to name the passenger cars that still feature 4-speed autos.
Is There Any Surprise?
Actually it is a bit of an anomaly. Perodua by right has transitioned most of their vehicles to their D-CVT automatic including the Myvi and the new generation Axia. However the bezza retains a 4-speed conventional automatic from the first generation Axia, from which it derives most of its engineering under the hood. So, the Bezza is the only front-wheel driven Perodua vehicle that has a 4-speed auto and is simultaneously the best selling model for the company as many Malaysians use it to do ride hailing for supplementary income.
A similar story is found on Proton’s side of things with the Saga. The same 1.3L VVT engine is found in the Iriz but the Iriz and Persona have both been using CVTs since their inception. In fact the Saga used to be paired to a CVT, but Proton switched over to a Hyundai derived 4-speed automatic after the Geely partnership and this has increased the appeal of the product as Proton’s CVT has been criticized for its poor behaviour and spotty reliability. The switch over to a 4-speed automatic for the Saga is the ‘exception’ for the Proton brand as its other models have pushed towards DCTs or retaining CVTs.
As for the remaining 4-speed autos on the Aruz, Rush and Jimny vehicles – these are all pretty basic ladder-frame SUVs that were designed for robust, simple gearboxes. They don’t sell in droves but the appeal is mostly for those looking for a durable vehicle that can serve on rough roads for decades and decades.
Is It That Bad?
4-speed automatics tend to serve really well for workhorse vehicles and that’s what the Saga and Bezza are. They require minimal maintenance and can last hundreds of thousands of kilometers as long as the gearbox is not abused or neglected. Maintenance with a simple oil change every 50,000km should be enough to keep things going for years.
The downside however is that 4-speed automatics are not as fuel efficient as CVTs and DCTs. They also don’t provide optimum power delivery and can feel a little lazy at times. Personally I would pick this type of transmission on an older car or workhorse. In fact, I’ve owned 2 vehicles with 4-speed automatics and 1 vehicle with a 3-speed automatic.
The ‘issue’ is the perception of the 4-speed automatic being sold in a brand new vehicle in 2024. Even though Malaysia has an impressive total industry volume, a large chunk of that volume still belongs to cars with technology that dates back to the 1980s and 1990s.
