Forested, hilly, and twisty roads are my favorite. They often expose flaws and strengths in a vehicle.

Oddly enough, I chose to buy my Charger after taking it up a connector state route near my home in KY. This over 2 ton sedan somehow came alive on this windy 2-lane road. The transmission kept the engine going strong and acted as my driving partner, not as my enemy. The steering proved trustworthy in exploring the car’s limits and the chassis showed off a little more verve than I expected-and made it very clear when it reached its limits.

This same style of road steered me away from an Acura RDX recently. The transmission wasn’t nearly as flawless as the Charger, which I ultimately bought, on the twisty, hilly roads where you absolutely need your car’s tranny to be in sync with you. The RDX fought me at every elevation change and I did not care for it.

It really depends on the particular transmission and more importantly the tuning.

I like Honda’s 10-speed automatic in the previous generation Accord 2.0t, but don’t like it in the Acura RDX. It shifts more logically in the Accord.

I don’t like Ford’s tuning of the 10-speed they co-developed with GM. It slams into gears so hard that I half expect the transmission to eject onto the road-particularly in the Mustang GT. But it’s a wonderful transmission when bolted into the Chevy Silverado 2500.

It’s amazing what tuning and software can do to the same transmission. But I have to say, my favorite transmission ever is the ZF 8-speed automatic in my Dodge Charger. It always seems to be in the right gear and is so smooth. Shifts are quick too.