These anecdotes, what they are suggesting to me is that these factory transmissions were not "properly engineered".
They're engineered perfectly for their purpose: to maximize fuel economy on the EPA drive cycle. It's the same reason we've got 8-9-10 speed automatics instead of 3 speeds. Go back to the Corvette that had the solenoid that kicked the 1-2 shift to fourth gear in very specific circumstances, those being exactly how the EPA fuel economy test is run. VW took it a step too far when they changed the engine parameters when the computer sensed the EPA cycle in progress. The fact that nobody in the real world drives the way the drive cycle works means they seem crazy to those us that live and drive in the real world.
