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There is a difference between durability (the Japanese are good at this) and innovativeness (U.S./EU are good at this) of transmissions.

One way to think of that: The former can save you a lot of money over the long term. The latter is nifty, but you may well end up paying more money over the long term.

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An example that comes to mind is that few think it's an accident that the most legendarily reliable automaker, Toyota, has almost completely stayed away from turbocharged engines (aka one of the flashiest "advances" in powertrains in recent years). As this newest generation of turbocharged engines reaches 100,000 miles, mechanics are seeing a lot of failures and performance issues. Some innovations compromise reliability.

Scotty also advises that frugal people avoid turbos.

Aren't turbos getting more popular because of regulations regarding emissions though?

They are. And will be inevitable, across the board, apart from low-end engines or very large displacement naturally aspirated engines.

Different approaches. Toyota has been taking the non-turbo + electric assist (hybrid) route, while others which aren't that heavily invested in hybrids have been taking the "let's put turbos across all our engines" route.

Gradually they are converging towards similar solutions.

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