Urban Hacks

If your car didn't have a transmission then it wouldn't move, but what is the difference between a manual transmission, an auto transmission, a gearbox, a dual-clutch transmission, a CVT transmission, a DCT transmission, a tiptronic transmission, a PDK transmission, a DSG transmission, an SMG transmission, an E-CVT transmission, or an AMT transmission? In some cases, not much!There are two basic types of car transmission – manual and automatic. They both make up a key part of the system known as the drivetrain by joining the back of the engine to the differential via a prop shaft. They pass the engine's power to the driving wheels via the diff. But how does a transmission work? A manual transmission uses a clutch to engage drive to the gearbox or transmission, like a switch. The manual is made up of spinning gears, which the driver can select (known as shifting gears) to keep the car accelerating, and these were the primary type of transmission used in cars from the automobile's inception until the 1990s.An automatic, or auto, basically uses fluid to shift its own gears based on engine RPM and how much throttle you're using. These started to become common in the 1950s, but really overtook manuals around 15 years ago.AMT transmissions, refers to an Automatic Manual Transmission and is the semi-official name for tiptronic-type transmissions. These are basically an automatic you can shift manually, either via the gear-shifter or by steering wheel paddles.In the last 20 years car makers started using automatic transmissions which used dual clutches inside them for much faster, smoother gear shits. These are commonly known as dual-clutch transmissions, and you may have heard of them referred to as DCT (BMW), DSG (Volkswagen, Audi), or PDK (Porsche).Dual-clutch transmissions have caused a lot of controversy as they have replaced manual transmissions in driver-oriented performance cars thanks to their lightning-fast changes. This angered traditional car enthusiasts who see them as removing a vital part of the driving experience, and they had significant reliability problems in their early iterations.All transmissions need to be looked after and a transmission service will have to be done on any type of transmission. With manuals, this is normally changing the fluid and sometimes removing the transmission to change the clutch. Automatics can have more transmission problems, particularly if they are overheated or run low on oil.Transmission repair costs depend on the car they're fitted to but modern dual-clutch automatics are normally the most expensive type of transmission to repair, with dual-clutch transmission rebuild costs running up to $15,000.Proper sequential transmissions are really only used in race cars as they are not able to handle the rigours of regular driving over hundreds of thousands of miles. BMW released a transmission called SMG which was a clutchless manual sequential, though it struggled with reliability and feel, and was replaced with the dual-clutch DCT later.There really is no best transmission or worst transmissions in general, as it depends on the car they're fitted to. However, the Porsche PDK is the best dual-clutch transmission I've driven and the BMW E46 M3 CS is the best manual I've driven.

Have you ever been happily tootling down the road when something has gone very wrong, very suddenly?

No, there is no specific legislation that outlaws overtaking more than one car at a time, but there are other road rules (not to mention common sense) that suggest it's a bad idea. Whether you're in a serious rush or just stuck behind a group of Sunday drivers, you sometimes want to pull a The Fast and the Furious-style manoeuvre and zip past a queue of slow-moving cars in one fell swoop. But while there aren't any specific laws prohibiting the move, overtaking more than one car at a time can be hard to pull off without breaking other road rules.Read on for some related laws and guidance around overtaking that are worth knowing about. The ACT government's extensive traffic infringement document says you're looking at a $279 fine and two demerit points if you overtake a vehicle when it's unsafe, or overtake a vehicle too closely. While this rule doesn't strictly apply to overtaking more than one car, there's definitely potential for it to be applied to someone overtaking multiple cars in one manoeuvre.A similar rule applies in Queensland; according to the QLD state government's demerit points schedule, you're looking at two demerit points and a $182 fine for overtaking when it's unsafe to do so. And again in Western Australia, failing to overtake at a safe distance can leave you with a whopping $400 fine and a penalty of four demerit points. While we couldn't find any information about overtaking more than one car in South Australia, SA's MyLicence website has a section on overtaking. This educational section reiterates the importance of being able to see oncoming traffic when you overtake - which could definitely be hindered if you make a decision to overtake multiple cars at once.All in all, wherever you are in Australia - on a main road or in the country - you'd be advised to exercise caution whenever overtaking, especially if you're hoping to overtake more than one car at a time. Perhaps most importantly, speeding is speeding, no matter the circumstances. So if you find yourself exceeding the posted limited in an effort to pass more than one car, you're risking a heavy fine. You should always consult your insurance agreement for specific advice, but as a general guide, getting into a collision while trying to overtake more than one car could affect your insurance coverage if it's deemed a risky or unsafe manoeuvre. Any indication that you've been driving carelessly and were at fault in an accident could jeopardise your coverage. This article is not intended as legal advice. You should check with your local road authority to verify any rules you're unsure of.

The ubiquitous photo of a dog travelling in a car, head out the window and tongue lolling in the breeze, is actually pretty far from reality.

Yes, it's illegal to park on the gutter in most states and territories of Australia but the enforcement of fines seems to vary according to council area. Many of us have parked on the gutter (also referred to as the kerb, nature strip, or footpath) before, as a courtesy to other cars coming through a narrow street. But the common practice is actually banned across Australia, although fines are enforced irregularly between state police and councils. VicRoads parking information, the Queensland government's information on parking rules and fines, and SA's MyLicence website all clearly state that you're not allowed to stop, park or leave your vehicle on footpaths or nature strips in Victoria, Queensland or South Australia. But QLD's information also specifies that parking fine enforcement is carried out by police in collaboration with some local councils who enforce and regulate some parking fines. This seems to be true for New South Wales as well, as Randwick City Council's parking FAQ's defer to state legislation: according to their site, as per NSW Road Rule 197, you're risking a fine if you park with two wheels on the gutter. In other states and territories, you're also likely to find information about parking infringements on council websites. City of Hobart's website says that stopping on a footpath, bicycle path, nature strip or painted island isn't allowed as parking even two wheels on a footpath can be a hazard for pedestrians. According to The Examiner, Tasmanians who get fines for parking on nature strips aren't being targeted by authorities. Apparently cars parked on nature strips and footpaths are one of the most common complaints made to councils in Tassie, and councils often fine drivers in response to complaints. There also seems to be haphazard patrolling for cars parked on gutters in Western Australia. According to Perth Now, in WA offences like parking on the gutter are targeted unevenly across different council areas. NT News reported similar concerns from residents of the Northern Territory a couple of years ago, after two workers who contested a fine for parking on a nature strip in the Darwin council area lost their appeal. According to NT News, Darwin council had only recently started enforcing fines for parking behaviour that had been common in the area for a decade - suggesting that, like in other states and territories, whether or not fines are being enforced for parking with two wheels on the gutter could vary council by council. This article is not intended as legal advice. You should check with your local road authority to verify the information written here is suitable to your situation before driving in this manner.

Yes, driving a car in public, where people can see you, while naked from the waist down is illegal due to the risk of obscene exposure. If you're wearing underwear or a swimsuit, you could likely get away with it - but maybe ask yourself why it's essential to leave the house without pants on in the first place.While our research into road safety laws across Australia didn't raise any specific red flags for driving without pants on, we found that laws surrounding public nudity exist in all states and territories of Australia. Driving without pants on isn't really a safety issue - like driving without a horn or driving with one headlight out - so it's not something you can search on a road authority website, but it's definitely addressed in other parts of the law. Specifically, the parts that cover decency. The wording and penalties associated with laws on obscene exposure differ for the different states and territories of Australia, but according to FindLaw Australia, obscene exposure is illegal in all states and territories.Having said that, it's also important to note that intent is required for you to be convicted for obscene exposure; as Armstrong Legal advises, if you can prove that you were nude out of necessity or duress and not with the basic intent of exposing yourself to others in public, then you're not guilty in the eyes of the law. While we couldn't find any clear information on how driving without pants could affect your insurance, it's likely that getting caught with your pants down, or off, or nowhere in sight, could make the process of calling up roadside assistance, or dealing with police at a collision, embarrassing at the very least, and quite suspicious at worst.Unless you're a Calvin Klein model showing off the latest season's briefs, maybe just do yourself and everyone else a favour and chuck some jeans on before dashing out the door. This article is not intended as legal advice. You should check with your local road authority to verify the information written here is suitable to your situation before driving in this manner.

There's no finer way to ruin your day, and throw yourself into a frenzy of frantic self-loathing, than to realise you've lost your car keys.

How many cars are there in the world? Short answer? Lots. Lots and lots and lots.So many, in fact, that if you were to park them all nose-to-tail, the line would stretch from Sydney to London, then back to Sydney, then back to London, then back to Sydney. Or at least, that's what our rudimentary calculations tell us.So yes, there are lots. Oh, you were hoping for a little more detail? Well then, read on.How many cars in the world?The specific numbers are a little hard to obtain, what with all the different bodies responsible for counting them, but the best estimate put the figure at around 1.32 billion cars, trucks and buses in 2016. That was the number settled on by US auto-industry giant WardsAuto, with the caveat that it didn’t include off-road vehicles or heavy machinery. (Source: Wards Intelliegence)Some industry analysts think the number has already surpassed 1.4 billion in the few years since. And it continues to grow at an astonishing rate. To put that growth into perspective, the world was home to around 670 million vehicles in 1996, and just 342 million vehicles in 1976.If that staggering rate of growth continues, the total doubling every 20 years, then we can expect to see some 2.8 billion vehicles on the planet in 2036.I know what you're thinking; just who is driving all these cars? What percentage of people in the world have a car? Well, according to the most recent estimates, the world’s population is a (quickly growing) 7.6 billion, and with an estimated 1.4 billion cars on the road, that puts the vehicle saturation at around 18 per cent. But that’s before you take into account children, the elderly and anyone else who doesn’t have, or doesn’t want, a vehicle.It’s an uneven spread, or course, with car-per-capita numbers much higher in the west (you might be surprised just how many cars are in the US) than they are in the developing east. But that pendulum will swing the other way in the coming decade, hence the continued boom in our global carpark.What country has the most cars in the world?For the longest time, the answer to that question would have been the USA. And as of 2016, the total American carpark stood at around 268 million vehicles, and was growing at a rate of around 17 million vehicles per year. (Source: Statista)But the times they are a-changing, and China has now overtaken the States, and was home to 300.3 million vehicles as of April 2017. Importantly, China residents are now not only buying more cars per year than America (27.5 million vehicles in 2017 alone), but the per-capita penetration is still much lower. That means that there is still much room to grow, especially given China’s 1.3-billion population. (Source: China's Ministry of Public Scrutiny as reported in the South China Morning Post)According to one report, if per-capita car ownership in China were to equal that of the USA, the country would be home to one billion vehicles alone. But the most sobering statistic, perhaps, is that of the record 90-million-plus vehicles sold globally in 2017, more than 25 per cent of them were sold in China. (Source: China Daily)Everyone else are mere minnows by comparison. Australia, for example, is home to a fleet of just 19.2 million registered vehicles (according to ABS data), while the Philippines, for example, was home to just 9.2 million registered vehicles in 2016, according to data analysts CEIC. (Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics and CEIC)Which country has the most cars per capita?On this the data is much clearer. In fact, the World Health Organisation and World Economic Forum published a study on this very topic (total registered vehicles divided by population) at the end of 2015, and the results might surprise you. (Source: World Economic Forum)Top of the list was Finland, with 1.07 registered vehicles per person (yep, more than one per person), with Andorra a close second with 1.05 vehicles. Rounding out the top five, Italy had 0.84, then the USA wth 0.83 and Malaysia with 0.80.Luxembourg, Malta, Iceland, Austria and Greece held spots six-through-10, with between 0.73 and 0.75 vehicles per person.How many electric cars are there in the world?For this, we turn to the Frost Global Electric Vehicle Market Outlook 2018, a study that tracked EV sales across the globe. The report found interest in EVs is growing, with the 1.2 million electric vehicles sold in 2017 expected to climb to around 1.6 million in 2018, and around two million in 2019. The growth is partly due to the 165 different models now offered globally, as opposed to the sprinkling on offer only a handful of years ago. (Source: Forst Sullivan)The report put the total global EV carpark at 3.28 million vehicles, including full-electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid models. (Source: Forbes)What manufacturer produces the most cars per year?Volkswagen is the world's biggest manufacturer of cars, with 10.7 million vehicles sold in 2017. But wait, you say. how many cars does Toyota make a year? The Japanese giant actually takes second spot, with around 10.35 million vehicles sold last year. (Source: Self-reported global sales from manufacturers)They're the biggest fish, and they dwarf most competitors. You might consider Ford a global giant, for example, but the answer to how many cars does Ford make a year? Well, the blue oval shifted around 6.6 million vehicles in 2017. Plenty, yes, but well off the pace of the top two.Specialist brands recorded but a drop in the vast ocean. Ferrari, for example, shifted 8398 cars, while Lamborghini moved just 3815 vehicles. How many cars does Tesla make a year? In 2017, it reported 101,312 sales, though that was just of Models X and S, with the more pocket-friendly Model 3s adding plenty more in 2018.How many cars are destroyed each year?Another short answer? Not enough. Global figures are hard to come by, but it's estimated some 12 million cars are destroyed each year in America, while around eight million cars are scrapped in Europe. In the USA alone, that means five million more cars are sold than destroyed each year.

Can you name one innovation that was bang-on perfect right out of the gate? I can't either.

AEB is a system that makes your car a better, safer driver than you, basically, which is why it's a shame it's not standard fitment on every new vehicle sold.