Re: My kids

Manual transmissions getting rarer in the US




Associated Press

Published September 11, 2014

When Marlo Dewing went shopping for a car last year, she only had one requirement: a manual transmission.

"Any car that was only available as an automatic was a deal breaker," said Dewing, 44. "I love to drive. I want to know that I am actually driving, that I am in control of the machine."

That made her shopping list a very short one. Only around 10 percent of vehicles made in North America now have manual transmissions, down from 35 percent in 1980. And that number is expected to keep shrinking, according to the consulting firm IHS Automotive.

Improvements in the function and fuel economy of automatic transmissions have essentially killed the manual in the U.S., says Jack Nerad, the senior editor of Kelley Blue Book. Some of the country's best-selling sedans — the Toyota Camry, Nissan Altima and Ford Fusion — don't even offer manual transmissions because so few buyers want them. Even some sporty cars, like the Jaguar F Type, come only with automatics.

Two years ago, Chrysler was burned when it assumed there would be higher demand for manual transmissions in its Dodge Dart compact car. The car sold slowly. This year, when Fiat Chrysler's Alfa Romeo 4C sports car arrives in the U.S., it won't offer a manual transmission.

When a manual enthusiast questioned that decision at a company event in May, Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said U.S. demand for manuals is simply too limited. "It's going to be you and four guys. That's my assessment of our market demand," he said. "I'll buy one too, but then it's only going to be six."

Manual transmissions — which allow the driver to select the gear — were the rule until 1939, when General Motors Co. debuted the automatic transmission in its Oldsmobile brand. Initially, automatics were much more expensive and got poorer fuel economy, so drivers looking to economize tended to stick to manuals.

But in recent years, those gaps have closed, Nerad says.

"The manual transmission has become kind of a dodo bird," he says.

Manuals no longer have a fuel economy advantage. The five-speed manual transmission on the 2014 Honda Civic sedan gets 31 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving, for example, while a Civic with Honda's continuously variable automatic transmission — which moves automatically to the gear most appropriate for the car's situation — gets 33 mpg.

The price gap does remain. A Honda Accord with an automatic transmission costs around $800 more than a manual one, while drivers opting for an automatic transmission on a Chevrolet Corvette Stingray have to pay $1,725 more. But that doesn't seem to have stifled demand.

Driving enthusiasts like Dewing remain manuals' biggest fans, and ensure that some brands will continue to produce them. Dewing eventually settled on a 2012 Volkswagen GTI with a six-speed manual transmission. It's a 210-horsepower hatchback that's popular with enthusiasts; Volkswagen says about half the GTIs it sells in the U.S. are manuals.

Dewing, who has two daughters, says she'll teach them to drive on a manual. But Nerad isn't so sure. He taught one of his daughters to drive on a manual, but may not bother for his other two kids. Manuals are disappearing so quickly that they might not ever drive one, he says.

"Most advanced transmissions shift better than I would do," he says. "It's a natural progression. The Luddites out there are decrying the loss of manuals, but I'm not shedding a tear."

"A mile of highway will take you one mile. A mile of runway will take you anywhere."

Dan Neil's recent WSJ review of the new 911 was very well written, and relevant to the topic (Guenter will enjoy)

Let's face it, it's the software engineers driving our cars for us. Some people only think they're driving because they're sitting in the "driver's seat"

I find the new Lexus commercial sadly funny. They talk about the new accident avoidance system and blind spot / lane safety system which look after everything around you so that you can enjoy the "driving". Really! What driving is there left to do? Turn the wheel when the car tells me to? Grip the wheel tighter when the brakes are automatically applied to avoid a collision? (of course the wheel gripping is the wrong thing to do in a frontal collision).

F1 attendance is dropping and they can't figure out why. I used to love watching the drivers competing. Now it's about teams that can best adjust all the electronics and balances on the car that do best in the races. To add a bit of "excitement", they introduced DRS - if you're less than a second behind a car, you pretty much get an automatic pass. People just don't want to pay big bucks to yawn through a race.

I guess I'll always be one of the luddites who enjoys actually driving the car, not riding around in it. I want to feel what the car is doing, make the decisions when to shift, steer, brake and hit the throttle. It's the only way that I can get into the Zen of driving. When I get to the point where I can't enjoy that anymore, it will be time for me to start taking my PDK equipped walker.

I recall when manuals were not called manuals, and instead called starndards because the automotic was an option and the manual was the standard option as far as transmission, hence the term standard. Over time, it morphed to manual because the automatic became the new standard.

[www.corvetteforum.com]

The new tranny on the 2015 C7 model will have an 8spd design; hopefully it will be able to cope with the stresses of track events better than the older model.

Regarding the PDK--I've seen a few reports of overheating (limp mode) at the track but not a lot of them.
Pedro--is there a consensus from from the peopke you talk to that the PDK is up to doing track events on a regular basis without overheating problems or worse? A PDK failure out of warranty would seem to be --given the tranny complexity--a very expensive repair.

It's amazing to me that GM is still using torque converters (like the the crappy old 'tiptronic') even for the 'new' 8 speed, and has not yet 'shifted' to a PDK-like twin clutch architecture. All that wasted heat in a torque converter is also wasted energy / mileage / efficiency, guessing it's a cost issue...

OTOH, I'd be amazed if a PDK were truly 'overheating', in any more sense than a plain old manual would be prone to overheating. Road & Track did 50 consecutive launches in a 2014 Turbo S without any issues. And, yes, I want that guy's job...

- JohnL
Boston
'01 986S

Growing up in the UK, if you took your driving test in a car with an automatic transmission you were not permitted or licensed to drive a standard transmission car. On the other hand if you took your driving test in a manual shift car you were licensed for both. The feeling was that driving a standard transmission required more skill and required a more skillful driver. I still love the buttery smooth shift of my 13 year old 986. It just increases the pleasure driving for me.

35 and 40 have never driven a stick shift. My wife hasn't for 40+ years. By the time the kids got to driving, the city had become so congested I no longer drove one and so they learned on autos. I know of no one their age who has a stick. And just a few old timers who have toy cars that still do.

My 17 year old daughter just learned to drive, and insisted on learning stick on my BMW as a prelude to my Boxster. She's very proud of her new skill, even her friends think its 'cool'...

I taught my sister in a Volvo PV544 stick. Trauma to me and the clutch/gearbox. When it came time to teach my kids, I figured one less thing to worry about with an auto. And times had changed and it wasn't lightly used roads like I learned on but crowded roads where defensive driving was a constant need. My constant query was "where is your escape route, where is the danger liable to be coming from..anticipate". I think it might have helped with learning the important things to not be worried about shifting.

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jlegelis
My 17 year old daughter just learned to drive, and insisted on learning stick on my BMW as prelude to my Boxster. She's very proud of her new skill, even her friends think its 'cool'...

Both of my kids ..now in their early 20ties 1st learned and got their license on a Lexus RX330 with the availability of a Honda Civic 5 speed coupe. At first they loved the Lexus..I think it was the key in and go. It was the vehicle of choice as they both struggled in parking lots with dear old Dad (that's me). Until they "got it" and now they want to drive "Rhonda the Honda" exclusively.

The automatic will take over entirely in the next coming years, however there will be nothing to replace the joy and empowerment of a "got it" with a manual transmission...so sad for the future generation of tagalong drivers

MIKELLIG

it won't be that long until the cars are driving themselves and we can just sit there and text to our heart's content.

--
MY 2000 S, Ocean Blue, Metropol Blue, Savanah Beige.
Bought June 2000 - Sold May 2010

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frogster
it won't be that long until the cars are driving themselves and we can just sit there and text to our heart's content.

On I-95 in SoFL you'd think were there already

"A mile of highway will take you one mile. A mile of runway will take you anywhere."

yes, i noticed that when i was there visiting you guys!

--
MY 2000 S, Ocean Blue, Metropol Blue, Savanah Beige.
Bought June 2000 - Sold May 2010