Aisin AWF8F35

Aisin's transverse eight-speed automatic — one gearbox under a great many badges. PSA sells it as the EAT8 in the 208, 308, 2008, 3008 and DS 7; BMW fits it to the front-drive 1 Series, X1 and MINI Clubman; and it is in the Jaguar E-Pace, Lexus RX, Škoda Octavia and VW Jetta.

That is the whole reason to know its name. A Peugeot owner reading about the EAT8 and a BMW owner reading about their automatic are reading about the same unit, and neither is likely to be told so. Establish the gearbox rather than the marque before dismissing what you find.

Its theme is fluid and adaptation rather than hard failure. Complaints cluster on hesitation from rest, a jerk on the change into second when cold, and a reluctance to kick down — behaviour that responds to a fluid service and a relearn far more often than to a component. A gearbox that has never had its fluid changed at 100,000 km is the commonest version of this complaint.

The mechatronic unit is the expensive failure when one arrives, and its symptoms are electrical rather than mechanical: gear selection refused, a limp mode, and a code naming a solenoid rather than a clutch.