What Ferrari and Lamborghini does doesn’t concern me but I’ll keep buying cars with manual transmission for as long I can get one. I wouldn’t buy a new car anyway so that alone gives me atleast 10 extra years. I still refuse to buy smartphones without a headphone jack either. Why? Mostly because of a principle.
Just bought a car with a manual transmission and I love it. Someone mentioned in this thread that they didn’t want the car to do the driving for them and I couldn’t agree more. Having control over the acceleration makes such a difference.
What is the principle for manual cars?
They prefer fondling long shafts.
Same
More fun to drive. Id still have a stick shift if we hadn’t decided to switch to EVs.
I’m sure there’ll be a DLC that will emulate that feeling eventually.
Looks like Toyota is on it. I also saw a guy who basically created a fidget shifter but am too lazy for more than one link right now.
It’s not that I like manuals, it’s that I hate automatics randomly shifting and accelerating/slowing down randomly because of it.
It might not be as big an issue in bigger engines cars though, not driven anything bigger than a 1L engine in over a decade.
Looking forward to a direct drive electric car (with customisable acceleration profiles - even better!)
Don’t these sports cars usually have a mode where you can manually shift gears, but not with a clutch, but via the auto transmission?
High-end has all been sequential for like a decade
Most super-cars are not a sequential. A sequential is usually the type of transmission you find in motorcycles. Most flappy paddle transmissions found in sports cars are either a dual clutch automatic or an automated manual.
Ok that’s the kind I meant, I’d say I’m right of the curve on car knowledge but I don’t like design gearboxes for Ferrari or anything. Genuinely appreciate the correction.
It’s taken me a while, but I’m okay with automatic transmissions on cars now. OTOH, you can have the manual transmission on my motorcycle when you pry that clutch lever from my cold, dead hands. (I have a speed shifter on my motorcycle now, and I barely ever use it.)
Yeah. You can’t buy a ford or chevy pickup in the united states with a manual transmission anymore.
I know they’re not supercars, or anything like that.
Big trucking companies are all going to automatic transmissions in their trucks as well.
I’m a school bus driver - buses with manual transmissions are long gone. The drug use and child molestation filters weed out enough potential drivers as it is.
That escalated quickly…
Ok, so they’re performance focused. Who is making cars that are built for the most engaging driving experience? Are those “drive a slow car fast” type cars all already built?
Porsche continues to sell manuals, but alas did do away with it on the upcoming Carrera 992.2 and gts. They have a 40% overall manual sales per this: https://www.motor1.com/news/705017/manual-transmission-sales-2023/
Bmw and others do have high individual model manual take rates (bmw m2/ct5 blackwing e.g. at 60/50% respectively.)
But they’ll always be the less performance option, though more “engagement”.
I know autos are faster these days but manuals are so much more fun and always will be. It really sucks that they’re going away :(
And propulsion, way funner even if it’s worse.
I would disagree if we were talking about regular cars, but these hypercars should’ve manual transmissions still since they are an experience and I would think people, specially those in europe, actually take them to a track.
I made the mistake of buying an automatic once and i still regret it to this day because I’m still stuck with it.
Manuals only for me since thenI don’t give a shit that autos are faster, i don’t give a shit if they’re more efficient. Manuals are simply more satisfying and enjoyable—and that’s what driving is about.
I wish it were easier to find a manual here. Most people in the States couldn’t drive them if their lives depended on it, so if they’re manufactured at all it’s in very small quantities.
I’ve been driving used BMW Z3s for the last 15+ years. These days they’re way cheaper than even the crappiest normal used cars because nobody can drive a stick any more and nobody wants to have a two-seater as their daily driver. They cost less than a new bicycle (although that’s because modern bicycles have absolutely insane price tags attached to them).
Yeah, but any used BMW is ridiculously expensive to repair. I had a '95 540i for a few years, and while it was fantastic to drive, even very small things cost tons to fix. Like, the windshield wiper motor transmission failed, and the repair was nearly $500 for just the part, and that was from a junkyard.
any used BMW is ridiculously expensive to repair
I mean that’s true, but to be fair they’re pretty reliable and things don’t go wrong on them all that often. The net cost of ownership is still a lot less than any modern new car - and roadsters are a lot of fun for the price.
I am with you here. I have a 2003 BMW Z4, not as expensive as people expect it to be, fun to drive and have had very few problems with it. 114k miles on it.
Though I have not had to do any major fixes on it I do sleep better at night knowing that I have several friends who are car guys that have all the equipment and tools to pretty much fix anything on it, within reason.
Also, lots of enthusiasts for those cars out there, plenty of forums with 20+ years worth of documentation from people fixing their own roadster and helping others fix theirs. Small car, physical buttons and controls, well engineered, fast, fun and reliable.
I’ve been thinking about getting a used Z4 next when my current Z3 dies. Early 00s Z4s are barely more expensive than Z3s these days and they are unquestionably superior driving machines - I particularly like that they don’t use the same rear suspension as WWII-era Soviet trucks like the Z3 does. I honestly don’t think they’re as attractive, though.
Is that what driving is about? For me driving is about that I don’t live in the supermarket and I need the shit they have in there.
No, driving is about keeping the Saudi wealth faucet working.
Driving is about butt-chuggig 50 years of american propaganda to the point you can’t even differentiate you own opinion from a Facebook minions meme.
But yeah have fun filling yours and the rest of our bloodstreams with micro plastics cause vroom is more important
Jesus Christ. Breathe.
Man I’m trying to but its 35° and my city is drowning in CO
I’m not sure how me driving to work with an automatic vs manual transmission affects that but okay buddy
It’s about the whole driving experience stuff. Cars are utilitary and they made us believe it’s about passion.
I wrecked my car 3 years ago and we decided to not buy a new one. We’re doing just fine without a car. We need one from time to time but car sharing has proven to ve really cheap. It seems like we have spent over 600 Euros a mont on our car before. Now we just spend a fraction of that.
Riding for pleasure is something for the tracks, I suppose.
Well when your customer base is mostly geriatric…
I would guess that there’s more demand for manuals from older people than from younger people. Younger people can’t be nostalgic about stick shifting.
I think there’s a word for it, but essentially false nostalgia. Gen. Z absolutely has a lot of nostalgia for things people say were great despite never experiencing it themselves.
Plenty of brands stopped offering manual variants of plenty of models. IIRC BMW practically begged people to stop asking for manual variants, saying it just does not make any sense to mess with the supply chain and the production line and the car itself just to put an objectively inferior transmission inside it.
On the contrary, it makes no sense to put automatic transmissions into sports cars.
On public roads, you’re not gonna be able to drive them as fast as they can go anyway.
An automatic transmission may offer better performance, but you have 5x as much of that as you can use already.
What a manual transmission offers is the feeling of being in full control.
It’s simply more fun and engaging to drive.But apparently, cars aren’t made to offer the best experience possible anymore.
Auto transmissions are now cheaper and anyone can drive them, so the potential market is bigger. And that’s what matters, even up to the Lamborghini price bracket.What a manual transmission offers is the feeling of being in full control.
Being able to maintain a gear selection and being able to directly control the clutch are huge advantages in specific conditions like extreme weather or some off road terrain. A surprise shift during a curve in icy conditions makes me nervous every time for example.
If an automatic system allowed for direct control of gears and the ability to disengage and reingage the clutch on demand it would cover those scenarios.
EVs don’t do any shifting and usually have a low center of gravity, even better for suspect road conditions!
I thought I would never possibly want an EV, but the acceleration of the Teslas is impressive enough to tempt me. The guy I know who has one accelerates hard enough to push me back into my seat during city driving. As in, he’s stopped at a red light and then he’s going 30 the moment it turns green. His Tesla goes from 0 to 60 in 3 seconds, as opposed to over 6 in my '08 328i. The M series BMWs can match a Tesla’s acceleration, but the BMWs cost a lot more.
I mean, I’m still not getting an EV. But now I am tempted… Maybe if they had real, physical dials instead of a computer screen?
I mean, I’m still not getting an EV. But now I am tempted… Maybe if they had real, physical dials instead of a computer screen?
That, unfortunately, is the tendency for the entire auto industry. It’s not an EV-specific thing, although admittedly Tesla is the worst offender
The M series cars still have manual as an option, although IIRC the automatic versions have better performance. They’re a bit outside of my price range, so I’m trying to keep my old manual 328i running as long as I can.
They also offer it on the Z4 with the Handschalter package. Pretty sure this will be the last year of the Z4 tho.
I got my license in the early 80’s, and at that time the cheapest cars were older american beaters with utterly terrible 2 and 3-speed slushbox automatics. The alternative were Japanese cars like Honda Civics, small, reliable, manual transmission cars that got great gas mileage and were way more fun to drive. All these years later I’m still driving a manual, currently a 2021 Toyota Corolla. It’s paid for, it gets around 35 mpg, and with regular maintenance it will run until the end of time.
I know American cars have improved a lot since the malaise era but you generally can’t get them with manual transmissions, so I’ll stick with the imports for now.
80’s
'80s
