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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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QOTD:
"My life is a soap opera, but who gets the movie rights?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 18 2016, @05:31AM
People don't like CVTs because of the unnatural-seeming (really just different) behavior. If you accelerate, the engine goes straight to its power peak and stays there while the gear ratio slowly gets taller as the car accelerates. Even though this is the most effective way to accelerate, for whatever reason, people don't like it. I guess they like to listen to the engine sound to tell how fast they are accelerating. Of course, the early CVTs weren't very reliable either, and that has improved quite a bit.
The issue with CVTs now is that they are still quite limited in the amount of power they can handle. With basically every midsize and larger car now having over 200HP, they are relegated to the smallest cars.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday November 18 2016, @05:47AM
"I guess they like to listen to the engine sound"
Yep. I'm a dinosaur who learned to drive in a six cylinder chevy pickup, three on the tree. The pickup wasn't noisy, but I could hear it. You could hear when it was time to shift. Big trucks, ditto, whether they were 5-speed or 18-speed. Listen to the engine, and you know when to up-shift or down-shift. I like the sound of the engine, it tells you everything you really need to know about how the truck is running. If the engine is sick, you can hear it, and either fix it, or find someone who can fix it. I don't like excessively noisy engines or motors, but I don't like them to quiet, either. (Excessive noise is the sign of a bad exhaust system, which is bad for the engine and/or the driver in a number of ways.)
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday November 18 2016, @03:16PM
I guess they like to listen to the engine sound to tell how fast they are accelerating. Of course, the early CVTs weren't very reliable either, and that has improved quite a bit.
Heh. That's actually the reason I didn't buy one car the last time I was in the market. I wanted a manual, just for fun really, having spent the early years after getting my license mostly driving one, and one of the 4 manuals on an entire bigass used car lot had an engine that was so quiet I could barely hear it even with no music on.
Yeah, you should be able to drive manuals just by feel, but the audio cues help, too.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday November 18 2016, @05:15PM
Whether it's on the highway in 5th (I badly need a sixth), or in the canyon in 3rd, the noise of the engine tells me how fast I'm going, so I don't need to look down at the tach.
I also have actual physical (cheap-plastic) controls, so I can set anything while keeping my eyes on the road, even when it's bumpy or twisty.
Unlike most, I have a friendly commute where I can play with the limited capabilities of my car (having a fancy powerful car would cost me my license in a matter of days).
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday November 18 2016, @06:05PM
Whether it's on the highway in 5th (I badly need a sixth)
Isn't top gear just overdrive? So you're saying you'd like an extra gear from 50-60 that isn't overdrive? I'm afraid I don't follow.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday November 18 2016, @06:33PM
I drive a subcompact (nissan Versa). The gear ratio in 5th is about 20MPH per thousand RPM. For long distance, having a longer 6th to let the engine run around 2500rpm would be a lot less noisy than my current 3500rpm, and would reduce wear and tear and gas mileage (not complaining about almost 40, but I'll take any improvement). I would have to drop back to 5th on hills, given the torque, but that's not a major sacrifice.
Quite a few recent econoboxes got a 6-gear box so they can feel peppy despite small engines, and still have decent mileage/comfort on the highway. Mine isn't one of those.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 18 2016, @07:02PM
If you ever wear out a set of tires on your Versa, switch to somewhat larger diameter tires. Will move all your gears up a little bit. Every little bit helps...and there are a lot of choices in tire size.
Years ago with a chain drive motorcycle, I installed a larger front sprocket. The result was that 4th became an overdrive. Thus it went about the same top speed in both 3rd and 4th gears (about 110 mph), but much more relaxed cruising in 4th/high gear. I sacrificed some acceleration in 1st gear, but there was still plenty so that wasn't a problem for me.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday November 18 2016, @08:41PM
I tried when I finally got rid of the original tires (don't expect to need new ones for a while). Even figured out the right tires to not have to buy new rims.
The problem is that legitimate shops in California all told me that they are not supposed to put tires over 3% bigger than stock, and actually did the math to be sure. I would guess it's for tachometer calibration reasons. So I still have tiny 14" ones and just try to ignore the engine noise.