Mazda G5M

Mazda's five-speed manual transaxle — and, because Ford and Mazda shared platforms for two decades, in the Ford Escape and Fusion, the Mercury Milan and the Kia Sephia as well as in Mazda's own cars.

That spread is the reason to know its name. An Escape owner researching a manual gearbox fault is researching a Mazda transaxle, and nothing on the car says so; the Kia connection runs the same way, through the Sephia's Mazda-derived platform.

Its recurring complaints are the ones every transverse manual has, in the usual order: the clutch first, then the shift cables and bushings — which produce a vague or notchy change that reads exactly like a worn gearbox — and only then a synchro.

Where this one differs is the input shaft bearing, which is a known wear item and announces itself the same way as on every manual in this catalogue: a whine present in neutral with the clutch pedal out, which goes quiet when the pedal is pressed.