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Automotive News & Views The Future Of The Manual Transmission
5785 messages, Last post on Nov 22, 2009 at 11:32 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Got a problem! Yup, major beef here! HUGE Beef! Did I miss a meeting with the transmissions, huh? You can get every trandmission except MANUAL transmissions! They gots Auto, Autostick, SMG, Manumatic, F1. But getting a REAL transmission seems like buying a Bee Gees album. The PT Cruiser for 2005 had a nice price cut. Now you can get the car for a base sticker price of under $14000, with manual transmission! Great! Only one thing. You can only get two options, and YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED to get A/C (Automatic tranny required) What the $%&#!! Now SOME manufacturers will tell you people don't want manuals any more. Might these be the same ones pairing manuals with the weakest engines, the least equipment, the poorest colors, or the fewest choices of trim? Let's face it, manufacturers are MANIPULATING the public into NOT getting the manual. Everyone will point to how low the percentage of manual drivers there are for new cars, but if you put the manuals with better equipped, more powerful cars, they will sell very well! Manuals are cheaper to buy, cheaper to repair, have fewer problems, require less maintainance, perform better (cars are faster, though the gap is shrinking), and are more efficient! In other words, it is THE BEST tranny you can buy! But will you? Anyone else have a bone to pick with the PLANNED OBSOLESENCE of the "Stick"? |
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Well, they should last several decades longer in Europe than here, so there'll always be the option of importing a transmission from there. Except on expensive cars, anyway. Even exotics are starting to lose them. My family has manual transmissions because we've always had to buy old, cheap cars, and automatics start shaking, stuttering, and dying at that age. But now I'll never switch; I could fall asleep in an automatic. It's just no fun at all. And sure, a DSG might be faster (I could shave a couple of seconds off my commute!) but I'm speeding everywhere as it is. The Audi A3 is a car I'd consider, probably for my next car. But I won't be able to get the Quattro version. Among luxury cars, only those with street cred among racers (IS, G35, 3-series) will have luxury transmissions but who knows for how long? The challenge of trying to pull off smooth shifts is rewarding. So's a good heel-and-toe as you barrel into a turn. And of course, the girls seem to like it too. |
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I used to think I'd be the last stick shift driver after going nearly 40 years without ever owning a slushbox car. That changed after I had a stroke in 2000 and I was forced to buy a clutchless car. I'm now on my third juicebox car and I'm grateful that I've been able to get then with manumatic gearboxes (Tiptronic Audis and a Steptronic BMW). These are not as satisfying to operate as a good manual but they do allow you to easily select a gear which may be more appropriate when driving in certain conditions. They're getting better all the time and there's a good chance that my next car will be equipped with a DSG type shifter which allows for very fast race-car type shifts and best of all has no torque converter to soak up the power. I wonder why some high performance cars, notably the new Corvette C6 do not offer a Manumatic type shifter in place of the tradition set it and forget it automatic?
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Replying to: andys120 (Mar 12, 2005 11:05 am) |
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are still the way to go and what's more is I don't think they're going to disappear. I love to control the engine output and transmission manually. I notice that my favorite Kia still offers a new car with manual transmissions(like the new 2005 Kia Sportage)and Scion is big on stick shifts, too. I wouldn't buy a tC with an automatic transmission! No way! I think the carmakers will keep offering them...I don't like the fact that A/C isn't standard on many new cars, including my favorite Kia Motors. If you want the base model you'll get your manual tranny but in most Kia models you have to add A/C as an option. There's no way I would even try to endure a Midwest summer without air conditioning! |
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If I'm interested in a car, and one trim level makes you pay for A/C, I won't even consider that trim. The Mazda3 i is like that. I'm not paying $850 for A/C. Ain't happnin'! DrFill |
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I can't believe a/c is still an option on some cars. Even in in New England where hardly anyone has an airconditioned home it's almost universal in cars. After all a car is a big metal box that heats up quickly and cools down slowly. Back to topic I'm sure we're only about a decade away from a time when only purpose built sports cars will have three pedals and even with those many will have no clutch pedal, like today's Enzo. . |
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| Manual transmissions will be around for a while. At least in Europe. I was talking about cars with one of my friends from Germany, and she thinks automatics are "no fun!" Right on. There isn't anything like a stick. Even though these manumatics are getting better, they're on more expensive cars. Still.... there are a bunch of cars that have manuals. | |
| What irks me are cars that are offered with a manual in other markets, but not here. Like you could get a manual S-class up until 1991! Except in NA, where I believe the last manual S would be a 6cyl 108 c. 1969. | |
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last I checked, the 3-series here in America sold 40% of their cars with manuals! And the lack of a 5-speed really hurt sales of the Lexus IS to their desired market in 2001. DrFill |
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