Instead of stepped gears like a conventional transmission, it has a fixed planetary gear, and changes engine speed by adjusting the generator electric load.

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As such, it's a lot like driving a manual transmission stuck in second gear and using engine braking to slow down.

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It bought Birfield, a British rival with better technology, and later extended its control over Uni-Cardan, a German-based maker of transmission gear for carmakers in continental Europe.

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While it works well and includes a manual gear-select mode, a proper manual gearbox or a quicker-shifting dual-clutch automated manual transmission would afford livelier performance.

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With the car transferring power to the ground through a single-clutch mid-rear transaxle, the Vanquish doesn't cycle through gear ratios with quite as much impact as a car with a dual-clutch automatic manual transmission, the Ferrari V12, for instance, which also enjoys a 165-hp advantage.

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Also, the six-speed automatic transmission in my test car (no manuals available in the U.S.) was a little bit fussy, and there were occasions when the engine-transmission software was momentarily stymied as to which gear to jump to.

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