As a general rule I believe the statement about 15,000 mile ATF changes making the transmission last forever, well so to speak.

On a Benz this is easy to do. There is a drain plug on the trans and the converter. On most late model domestic cars you can't drain the converter at all and you have to pull the pan to drain the fluid. That means if you change the fluid, you are only draining about half of it. BAD, Bad, bad....

Yes there are some transmissions in low powered cars that aren't driven very much in hot weather except on the highway that can go a long way with the same fluid, but those are the exception.

My solution, just drive a manual transmission and put a clutch in it every few hundred thousand miles.

Have a great day,