The end of the manual transmission?

[RedJoker]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Currently do not own an automatic but even when I commuted, (no longer) I drove a stick, but it was more like "driving", about 45- 55 miles one way

I had a longer commute a while ago. It was about 45 minutes there, but 90 minutes home due to traffic. I was driving a 1990 Mustang 5.0 that had a cable clutch. No easy hydraulic clutch for me. I loved "driving" that car but HATED that "commute" home....

[rllink]

I'm a farm boy and I grew up with a clutch and a shifter, but I have to comment that I get absolutely nothing out of going through the gears. I appreciate that there are people who do and may they always have a stick shift in their hand, but give me an automatic.

[1neeto]

Originally Posted by Mr. Jelly

I think what they mean by heavy traffic is the stop and start inching along type of thing. Where you spend the whole time pushing down the clutch and feathering it to inch along. Sometimes you have to put in neutral to rest your foot. Or you move from stop light to stop light. In a way it's not actual driving.

Yeah it can be a literal pain, but you get used to it, and learn to time it so you’re not constantly engaging, riding and releasing the clutch. It’s part of manual trans life.

[Acousticado]

It does seem that the end of manual transmission cars could soon come to an end.

Over the years, I’ve owned manual transmission cars...and motorcycles. I very much like both. My wife doesn’t like manual transmissions...we’ve always shared the same car, so we haven’t had a stick car since the ‘90s, and I do miss it. Traffic situations never bothered me.

As you might expect, driving a manual transmission car is quite different from a motorcycle. My last bike was a 2011 Harley Road King, now sold. Although the experience is fun with both, I give the fun edge to a bike...I like the control of the hands on the clutch and gas with shift with the left foot on a bike better than feet on the clutch and gas with hand shift in a car.

Although motorcycles are dabbling with electrics, for those of us who like a manual shift, I hope that motorcycles will hang on. I suspect they will. I miss riding a bike, but doubt I’ll own another. My automatic convertible when in Florida will have to do.

[1neeto]

Originally Posted by Acousticado

It does seem that the end of manual transmission cars could soon come to an end.

Over the years, I’ve owned manual transmission cars...and motorcycles. I very much like both. My wife doesn’t like manual transmissions...we’ve always shared the same car, so we haven’t had a stick car since the ‘90s, and I do miss it. Traffic situations never bothered me.

As you might expect, driving a manual transmission car is quite different from a motorcycle. My last bike was a 2011 Harley Road King, now sold. Although the experience is fun with both, I give the fun edge to a bike...I like the control of the hands on the clutch and gas with shift with the left foot on a bike better than feet on the clutch and gas with hand shift in a car.

Although motorcycles are dabbling with electrics, for those of us who like a manual shift, I hope that motorcycles will hang on. I suspect they will. I miss riding a bike, but doubt I’ll own another. My automatic convertible when in Florida will have to do.

Motorcycles will be mostly manual for a very long time. As impractical vehicles, motorcycles are all about the enjoyment of riding them. The man-machine connection of how your own body is part of the machine is what makes motorcycles so much fun. I used to race bikes many years ago, and I’m about to get back in the saddle, and couldn’t be more excited. My wife is about to have an aneurism, but she’ll get over it.

[raysachs]

I never used or owned anything but manual shift cars from when I first learned to drive in 1974 (learner’s permit) until about 2003 when my wife needed a new car, I was driving waaaay less than I ever had (was riding my bike the two miles to work almost every day), and my kids were starting to drive. We sold my ‘92 Nissan Sentra SER (a wolf in sheep’s clothing with 140 hp in a little car) and my wife bought an Accord, leaving me and our daughters the 1998 Honda Odyssey wagon. We didn’t have a manual tranny at that point.

In 2008, our girls had left for college, the Odyssey was bigger than we needed, and I went looking at Honda Fits. I fully intended to buy a manual, but after test driving a couple, I realized I didn’t really want another manual. My one-time love of driving had transitioned from love to an occasionally necessary evil and I was more than happy enough with the automatic in the Fit. And it had paddle shifters and a “sport” mode as a consolation prize. That Fit is still my car, has only about 75,000 miles in the roughly 15 years I’ve owned it, and I’ve probably used the paddle shifters a half dozen times, maybe less.

So, if I’m any indication, the manual transmission has outlived its usefulness. And, as others have mentioned, with electric cars taking over in the coming decades, the need for any transmission is going the way of the Dodo. The internal combustion engine will be obsolete in my kids’ lifetime - manual transmissions are practically gone now.

In a lot of ways, REM was not speaking for me when they sang, “it’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine”. There’s much I don’t feel at ALL fine about, but the end of the manual transmission is just fine with me…

-Ray

[hubcapsc]

We traded in our full sized old manual truck on a full sized automatic
old truck so that my wife would have an easier time of it pulling a
horse trailer around... I think it is a lot more fun driving a manual,
though. These new automatic transmissions with nine gears might
always be in the right gear, but regular automatic transmissions on
little cars never seem to be... bleghhh...

-Mike

[Mr. Jelly]

And don't forget getting rubber hitting second gear. Whoa!!!!

[Steve DeRosa]

Heck, I did that all the time with my old (automatic) '02 Z-28 daily driver - ran 13.5's @ 104+ with 2.73 highway gears, no tune, a tankful of 93 octane, 25 PSI in the (stock) rear Goodyears, and some deft toeshifting...

Stickshift??? - we don't need no stinkin' stickshift...

[wvblues]

I think you can buy wranglers with sticks and some sports cars but now that sports cars have launch control I'm sure it'll be phased out.

I had an 18 wrangler with a stick before I went on the road. I miss it sometimes but definitely do not miss the ride.

[1neeto]

Originally Posted by wvblues

I think you can buy wranglers with sticks and some sports cars but now that sports cars have launch control I'm sure it'll be phased out.

I had an 18 wrangler with a stick before I went on the road. I miss it sometimes but definitely do not miss the ride.

American muscle can still be had with a manual. And quite a few cars in the Mazda lineup, the Toyota 86, Subaru WRX and that’s about it.

[FordGT]

Originally Posted by 1neeto

American muscle can still be had with a manual. And quite a few cars in the Mazda lineup, the Toyota 86, Subaru WRX and that’s about it.

Even American muscles days with sticks are numbered. Maybe one generation more but that will be it. The paddle shifts are taking over, and then it will be all EV.
I love a stick, but even on American muscle they will be a nostalgia item soon.

[saxonblue]

My 2012 Subaru Forester & both my bikes (Ducati 803 Desert Sled & Yamaha WRF 250) are 6 spd manuals & I've traditionally enjoyed the experience of driving/riding manuals. As others have said I can't see bikes changing soon (except electrics of course).

I do most of my driving however in a work supplied Isuzu D-Max utility truck which is 5 a spd auto. I'm fine with that most of the time. The only situation I don't like autos doing their own thing is on twisties/steep descents &/or towing a trailer although that's easily overcome by sliding the T-bar to the left & manually tapping the gears up/down which puts me back in control.

[Bridgepin]

I have a 1993 Mustang triple white feature car with a 5 speed. Having a stick shift is part of the fun of driving a performance auto.

[tinnitus]

Early automatics (circa 1960-70s), especially on smaller cars without much "flywheel," tended to be jerky and not very good. Often with only D1, D2, and D3 instead of four speeds. I seem to recall a 62 Nova with a 2-speed auto (yawn...).

The 6-speed auto in my modern Outback is excellent, and I enjoy pondering how a continuously variable transmission accelerates the car at a steady RPM.

Didn't think much of my paddle shifters at first, but now I like them a lot for downshifting a cog or two approaching sudden corners, or on long steep downhills where I don't want to ride the brakes for several minutes.

Don't get me wrong, I still love clutching with a real gearbox and regard it as a fun treat whenever I get the chance. But IMHO, the only real "control" I'm sacrificing with a modern 6-spd auto is the ability to pop-start on a hill if the battery dies.