Which Cars Use A Nag1 Transmission & How Many Speeds Is It?
The Nag1 transmission is a widely used automatic transmission, which has found itself hooked up to an eclectic variety of models. Everything from supercharged Jaguars through to diesel-powered Jeep Grand Cherokees have given the Nag1 a home, although the transmission was originally designed by Mercedes-Benz. This might seem like an odd gaggle of cars to share a transmission, but as Mercedes-Benz's parent company and owner, Daimler AG, merged with the Chrysler Corporation during the mid 1990s, it makes sense that the individual brands would share components like this.
Although variations of the Nag1 do exist, all of them are five-speed units, with the fifth speed being an overdrive with high-speed ratio. For the most part, the Nag1 was used to replace aging four-speed units, and would have been considered a notable leap forward in technology at the time. While the Nag1 isn't without its faults – such as being susceptible to leaks, and a particular sensitivity to transmission fluid quality — it certainly sports plenty of benefits. One primary strong point of the Nag1 is just how versatile it is, a point which can easily be proven by taking a closer look at the cars which made use of this transmission during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The Nag1 transmission can be found within a wide variety of Mercedes and Chrysler products
Having been designed, engineered, and developed by Mercedes-Benz, it only makes sense that the transmission winds up within a number of the three-pointed-star models. Examples of Mercedes cars which use it are the practical Sprinter vans, in addition to a huge selection of high-performance AMG models. Specifically, the C55, CLS55, E55, G55, and S65 AMG all used the Nag1 — the latter of which sports a twin-turbocharged V12, one of the greatest Mercedes-AMG engines ever made. Mercedes' swanky and then-new SUV effort, the ML430, also gave the Nag1 a home at the time.
Stepping away from the German manufacturer, the Nag1 could also be found in many American models, thanks to the Daimler-Chrysler merger, in addition to some supercharged British luxury cars, too. The latter are, of course, Jaguars — specifically the '98 to '03 XJ and XKR models. In terms of American models, the Nag1 was widely used, cropping up within a variety of Jeep, Chrysler, and even V8-powered Dodge models.
Exploring the Nag1 transmission's unusual name
Nag1 may stand out as an unusual name for Mercedes to use, as generally, the term "nag" comes with fairly negative connotations. However, there is a good reason for it, as Nag1 actually stands for New Automatic Gearbox — Generation 1. That's fairly self-explanatory, but the code names also given to the Nag1, such as WA580, require a little more explanation.
It's worth noting that Nag1 is a catch-all term for these transmissions, whereas codes such as WA580, W5A380, and W5A580, relate to specific iterations of the unit. Here, the W stands for a transmission which uses a hydraulic torque converter, the A stands for automatic, and the 580 — or 380 — denotes the maximum amount of input torque capacity, in Newton meters. With applications ranging from hard-working Ram trucks with impressive towing capacities and ever-spacious Sprinter vans, through to boosted V12 super-sedans and V8-powered muscle cars, it makes sense that a number of Nag1 variations would exist.