Almost every vehicle with an automatic transmission sold today uses letter codes to represent the different gear modes. Each mode is usually self-explanatory, such as “D” for Drive or “R” for Reverse.

Editor’s note: This article was last updated on Aug. 20, 2021. It has been reviewed by Cars.com Senior News Editor Jennifer Harrington and is still accurate. It’s sitting there in your car’s shift ...

No matter if you prefer a manual transmission over an automatic, the progress of self-shifting transmissions has advanced significantly in recent decades. For a manual box, it is standard practice to ...

Automatic transmissions are the transmissions of choice in today's diesel realm. They've come a long way over the last decade, and are now beefier and more complex than ever before. This is an effort ...

The entire reason you drive an automatic transmission instead of a manual one is that it's much easier overall in terms of actual driving and caring for it — not to mention that stick shifts are a ...