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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: 3, Informative) by fliptop on Friday November 18 2016, @04:24PM
The "hand" brake (also called the emergency brake) technique isn't as effective as learning where the clutch starts to engage and timing your right foot switch from the brake to the gas accordingly. The way to learn isn't baptism by fire, it's starting off on a level surface and finding that spot, feeling how the engine starts to loose RPMs, figuring out how much gas to give and how fast to finish the clutch release. Both my daughters learned in the farm truck using this technique. For some time growing up they were the only ones amongst their peers who knew how to drive one.
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