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The Disappearing Stick Shift: Less Than 3% of Cars Sold in the U.S. Have Manual Transmissions

posted by martyb on Friday November 18 2016, @01:52AM   Printer-friendly
from the lost-art-of-double-clutching dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

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.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 18 2016, @05:37AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 18 2016, @05:37AM (#428686)

    Most of those, unless they are the 'elite model' of either that particular car, or your brand's model range have horribly sloppy pseudo-manual shifting. I actually got an opportunity to drive a C6 corvette a few years back and it was the most miserable experience ever, in sport mode! While slamming on the throttle would get it revving fast, the shifts between gears were terribly slow in either drive or manual mode, and compared to an actual manual had no place in that particular car. IS250 was the same way, although I read the IS-Fs had their shift times dramatically reduced compared to the rest of the range (I don't remember the exact numbers, but comparable to other more expensive sports cars, or a well build manual with an experienced driver.

    That said, anything 6 gears or above in an automatic nowadays is probably going to be better as a commuter car for everybody except serious drivers. Not much enjoyment to be had, the shift times suck, but they get good fuel economy and keep the average schmuck from polluting by taking away their control of the throttle and gears.

    I'll stick with a manual until they pry it from my cold dead corpse. Which might be sooner than later the way they are ruining both the US, and the World in general.