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Visitors to the upcoming Los Angeles Auto Show will see supercars, hoverboards, self-propelling luggage and all manner of new transportation options.
But they'll be hard pressed to find a clutch pedal or a stick shift. Available in nearly half of new models in the U.S. a decade ago, the manual transmission is going the way of the rumble seat, with stick availability falling to about a quarter this year.
Once standard equipment on all motor vehicles, preferred for its dependability, fuel efficiency and sporty characteristics, the four-on-the-floor is disappearing from major car manufacturers' lineups — and subsequently from the sprawling auto show's floors.
Consider, too, that electric vehicles don't even have a transmission.
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The Disappearing Stick Shift: Less Than 3% of Cars Sold in the U.S. Have Manual Transmissions
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(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 18 2016, @05:24AM
A standard front or rear wheel transmission or a locker style 4/awd would be far easier to repair/replace/maintain.
If you start getting into modern manual AWD transmissions, or automatics or any number of variations, the reliability and maintainability go out the window.
One of the things people often overlook is the fluid used in automatics versus that used in true manual transmissions. The former use highly refined low viscosity oils which are fouled easily. The latter use either motor oil or gear oil, just like that used in your transmission or industrial equipment. In the latter's case it will last without fouling pretty much indefinitely (unless you are grinding gears) and while expected to be replaced every 30-60k miles, will probably outlast the life of the transmission. That automatic on the other hand (excepting some modern automatics, notable double-clutched sequentials which are actually computer controlled manuals acting as automatics.) is going to require periodic fluid topoffs (often loses some small amount between the seals.) and full fluid flushes somewhere between 30-100k miles (I'm not sure what the very latest numbers are. Old autos you go 30k and that fluid is BURNT, newer ones often last longer but still fry out, unlike motor oil.)
All-wheel drive systems are even more complicated, since many contain viscious coupling units, which have their own non-user servicable fluid and high temperatures which can break down the surrounding lubricant, oil or atf.)