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Is the Manual Transmission Dying Out?

What's the fate of the manual transmission?

  • Production will continue at around the same ratio

    Votes: 20 30.3%

  • Production will decrease slightly

    Votes: 23 34.8%

  • Production will decrease severely

    Votes: 21 31.8%

  • Production will increase

    Votes: 2 3.0%
  • Total voters
    66
#81
Lots of truth from burk. I'm 42, and got my license in 1983. For people my age, manuals started dying largely because many of us in suburbia learned to drive on our moms' late 1970's-early 1980's station wagons, which often became our first cars. Many simply had no need to learn how to drive a stick, so they didn't. I've heard this over and over from people my age who love cars, but can't drive a stick.

I learned from driving a fork-lift at my grandparents' lumber yard in Southern Illinois, and my dad thankfully liked MT and had a couple of stick shift Accords in the 1980's. Otherwise, I'm not sure when I would have learned.
 
#83
warwick.hoy said:
Manuals will decrease. How am I supposed to change my underwear, shave, eat my breakfast, smoke my cigarette and talk on my cell phone if I have to shift gears.

Note that I own a manual and do not own a cell phone
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L-A said:
To those who voted "Production will decrease severely", do you mean for America, or do you include the rest of the world (Europe especially) ?
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See my quoted post and you'll have your answer.

Hey Burke,...My Manual is a wagon,...one of only around 200 CE-1 Manual Accord Wagons sold in the US.

I think it's a good idea to at least know how to drive a manual. Say you are in a situation where the person you may have gotten a ride from; owns a manual and for whatever reason can't drive (too drunk,...emergency situation) and you have to drive. There is a lot less hesitation in your judgment if you know how to operate a clutch.

Hey,...it could happen.
 
#84
megadan said:
One other important aspect of the stick shift to me is the 'true' neutral - I do a lot of coasting with and without the engine on and it's far simply to have the shifter and clutch options for neutral. On our old van you couldn't see the gear selection lights when the engine was off (Old guitarist turned it off on me one day while driving down a twisty country road at speed, as a joke - no gear reference, no power steering or braking in an old minivan - ahh!)
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I think there's laws in the US pertaining to coasting w/o the engine on, like it's illegal. Not only are you really not saving much fuel, but (as you mentioned) you lose your power steering and power brakes, which isn't the safest thing in the world.

Fwiw you can have an automatic set up to freewheel in forward gears. Doing this eliminates engine drag when you let off the gas in gear. Why you would want to do this is beyond me, but it's possible.
 
#85
Nedmundo said:
Lots of truth from burk. I'm 42, and got my license in 1983. For people my age, manuals started dying largely because many of us in suburbia learned to drive on our moms' late 1970's-early 1980's station wagons, which often became our first cars. Many simply had no need to learn how to drive a stick, so they didn't. I've heard this over and over from people my age who love cars, but can't drive a stick.

I learned from driving a fork-lift at my grandparents' lumber yard in Southern Illinois, and my dad thankfully liked MT and had a couple of stick shift Accords in the 1980's. Otherwise, I'm not sure when I would have learned.
Click to expand...

Many of us who grew up in suburbia also didn't know how to make an arrowhead from a piece of flint, or how to make soap from lard.
 
#86
Randall said:
Its dying because of traffic congestion. All my vehicles have manual transmissions but if I had a 1-2 hour commute I would be driving a automatic too. ;)
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+1

I was given a stick shift car by a relative whose left knee started bothering him because of rush hour traffic in Chicago. I learned on a stick, but would choose an automatic today just for the convenience. A stick shift makes me feel like I am in one of those psychology experiments where they see how many times a rat will push a lever in order to receive a pellet of food.
 
#87
OTOH, burk makes some good points. The inventory thing is probably a major issue. If there are two types of anything to choose from, the dealer will eventually be stuck with the type that is in lesser demand, and he will have to cut the price in order to move it off his lot. This is also why it is hard to get options a la carte any more. Options are supplied in packages in order to simplify inventory. Once when I was shopping for a car, I remember that on a particular model, I had to get a sun roof if I wanted anti-lock brakes.
 
#89
get a subaru. i know you can at least get a stick in the wrx, maybe the other impreza models, or perhaps their entire line.

that said, ive owned two mustangs over the last seven years, both sticks, and i will never ever buy anything that isnt a stick unless i just have to. they are more fun to drive, and i dont see them completely dying out on mid range sports cars (as mentioned a lot of high end stuff goes with automatics that are ridiculously fast at shifting).

i really think it makes you a more attentive driver, and you can get better mileage if you know what youre doing and when to be in a certain gear (comparing two otherwise identical cars).
 
#90
Speaking wrx's I've been eying this one for a little bit. If no one hits the BIN on this one I might put a bid in on it. Its only a 7 hour drive to houston from here. I had never really given a sports wagon any though before I ran across the WRX wagon. No more having to finagle my gear in a 2dr. Crossing my fingers on this one.
 
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#91
Automatic transmisions have been around since WW2, and it's a proven technology. I've never ever had an auto tranny break down on me (knock on wood). I have had to replace clutches on my wife's 1983 Nissan Sentra and my 1991 Mitsubishi Mirage back in the day, and let me tall you, replacing a clutch on a front-wheel drive car is no picnic (if you do the work yourself, which I did). I'll stick with an auto tranny until the time comes for my dirt nap, thankyouverymuch!
 
#92
I have an 87 bmw 535i winter car, and yes, its a 5 speed. i absolutely love driving it.

i hope i never see true manuals die out, but then again we may see the transmission itself die out sometime in the future.

oh, and i tend to shift about 2000-2500 due to how low the power band is... but that depends on the driving style. in rally that tends to move towards 5000
 
#93
The only accident I was ever in, I feel could have been avoided if I had a manual transmission. The driver of an F-350 fell asleep at the wheel and was on a crash course for me at about 20 mph. It was a rainy day so stopping was out of the question, and I opted to mash the gas to get hit in the rear of my El Camino instead of my driver's side door. Well, I stepped on the gas and that thing decided to shift... slowly, leaving me without power while I got hit. I would much rather have a direct linkage between my hand and the transmission than have a computer try to figure out what I want it to do.

Needless to say, my new car is an automatic as well, as I needed to buy quickly and there were no used models with manual transmissions. This one is much better, but I'd still prefer to have a manual.

P.S. Manual transmissions will never die out... are slim to none on motorcycles. If I REALLY want to shift something, I'll jump on my Harley.
 
#95
My old man hated automatic transmissions. As a result I was taught from the beginning how to drive a stick. I share his bias. Better gas mileage, less expensive to fix, and a more connected feel for the road.

My girlfriend can't drive a stick and I keep meaning to teach her, but my car's not an easy one to learn on.

I would personally only buy a manual transmission, so carmakers are going to have to cater to me or lose out on my market demographic.
 
#96
I learned on a manual tranny. In France it is mandatory. Most people drive manual, it's in the culture.

In the States, not the same. You learned on an automatic and get your license on an automatic as well.

I taught my stepson (American) to drive on an automatic and we rode dirt bikes for years before he got his first car, therefore getting a manual was more his thing.

My last pickup truck was an S10 with a manual tranny. Worked good until the clutch wore off, and I decided to sell it instead, with a worn clutch, buyer beware (the buyer got it replaced).

Now I drive an automatic Volvo S60 2.5T and I wish it was a manual S60 R :)
 
#98
All our driver ed cars where automatic.... and we where *strongly* urged to take the drivers test in an auto even if we where more used to a manual. Actually, especially if you are used to a manual.

Almost the first thing they would get you do was turn right from a turn lane onto a four lane road. Ooops, you shifted to second? No taking the hand off the wheel during a turn, automatic demerit. Then they stop on a steep hill.... if you roll backwards at all (even though it allowed in the driving code) or spin the wheels is a demerit.

I took my drivers test in Brockville Ontario Canada.
 
#100
seanm said:
I have a Ford Ranger. If you have two wheel drive, like I do, you need a manual to stop in bad winter weather.
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wow. would you get a point dropped if you used the e break in first to stay put and go up?

i learned on an auto (drove it a year or so [stick for life]), and i had a tail light out, which i didnt know about, so i got points off because my hand signals were rusty (has anyone... EVER... i mean EVER used those?).
 

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