Toyota S51 / S54

Toyota's S-series manual transaxle — behind the four-cylinder Camry and Solara.

It is the family fitted where the C- and E-series went in the smaller cars, and the three families are separate designs rather than sizes of one. A listing that says only 5-speed manual on a 1990s Toyota covers all three.

They are very durable and their faults are the faults of age: the third-gear synchro on a fast change, and the shift cables and their bushings, which produce a vague change that reads as a worn gearbox and is a fraction of the cost.

A crunch into every gear is the clutch not releasing — hydraulic, outside the gearbox, and cheaper still.

They take a gear oil to Toyota's specification, not ATF, and a heavier conventional oil makes one notchy when cold. On the same car the automatic takes Type IV — two fluids, two transmissions, one model year.