Hyundai A8LR1 / A8TR1

Hyundai's own longitudinal eight-speed — in the Genesis G70, G80 and G90, the Genesis Coupé, the Kia Stinger and the Mohave.

Its significance is that Hyundai designed and built it in-house, at a point when almost every manufacturer at this level bought a ZF 8HP. So advice written for the ZF does not apply, and a reader who finds a great deal about eight-speed automatics and very little about this one has usually found the wrong gearbox.

The two designations are torque ratings rather than designs. The A8LR1 takes the higher-output engines — the 3.3 twin-turbo and the 5.0 — and the A8TR1 the rest. They are not interchangeable, and the model and engine decide which is fitted rather than the year.

It is a well-regarded transmission with a small number of specific complaints, most of them about behaviour: a hesitation from rest in the Stinger and G70, and a firm engagement when cold. Both are adaptation rather than damage, and both respond to a relearn.

The valve body and its solenoids are where genuine faults appear, and — the recurring theme of every modern automatic on this site — the fluid is not lifetime whatever the handbook implies, and it is the first thing that wears the solenoids it lubricates.