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posted by Fnord666 on Saturday November 09 2019, @10:21AM   Printer-friendly
from the wave-of-the-future dept.

EVs are now outselling manual transmissions in the US

The manual transmission continues to have a pretty tough time here in America, with buyers avoiding manual-transmission cars in record numbers. Such record numbers that now EV sales have surpassed sales of vehicles with manual transmissions, according to data from J.D. Power and reported recently by Driving.ca.

Why is that important? Well, the venerable stick shift has been around since someone decided that cars needed more than one gear. While its previous popularity has been eclipsed by the automatic transmission for decades, the manual transmission has managed to hang on.

According to J.D. Power, manual transmissions have approximately 1.1% market penetration in America, which for many enthusiasts is a fairly grim figure to see. Comparatively, electric vehicles -- which have really only been commercially available to the public for the last decade or so -- now represent 1.9% of car sales in the US.

A big chunk of the reason for this likely lies in good old-fashioned availability. The manual transmission used to be the cheap transmission of choice. It was what you got when you were buying a small, affordable car and didn't want to shell out several thousand dollars for an automatic.

Now, most of those same small, affordable cars are only sold as automatics. The manual transmission was also traditionally the way you'd go if you wanted to buy a high-performance car because old automatics were often slow to shift and shifted at the wrong time. That's also changed, with many of the most high-performing models from companies offered with either paddle-shifted dual-clutch transmissions or performance-tuned automatics.

It was only a matter of time as fewer and fewer cars with manual transmissions are being manufactured at the same time as more and more electric vehicles are being built. Who here saw this coming so soon?


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Pslytely Psycho on Saturday November 09 2019, @02:00PM (8 children)

    by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Saturday November 09 2019, @02:00PM (#918237)

    A real Apples to Feminine Hygiene Products comparison...

    An better comparison would be what doesn't outsell manual transmissions in the U.S.? Durian fruits perhaps? Haggis maybe? 20 ton decorative rocks?

    And now, for your amusement, some manual transmission stories....

    My manual vehicles vastly outnumber the automatics I've owned, starting with a three on the tree 1959 Rambler. I've had 3,4.5 and 6 speed cars and drove 9, 10 and 13 geared Semi-trucks (lorries to you Europeans.) That means either I'm weird by U.S. standards or the real answer....I'm fuckin' old...In fact, as old as that Rambler I learned to drive in during the winter with two feet of snow. I wanted to learn in winter though, I thought it would (and did) make me a better driver. I was totally ready for the next winter when my friends who learned in the spring were all sliding into fences, other cars and (for one of them) a fire hydrant. I made my kids learn in snow with a manual, just in case they ever needed to be able to drive one in an emergency.

    I've frequently heard the complaint you can't rock a manual out of being stuck in the snow, but yes you can, I've done it many times including a semi at a Pilot truckstop in Maryland. Two tiny Koreans asked me to help but couldn't seem to follow my directions. So against my better judgment I hopped in and rocked it free. Gave the other truckers something to laugh about over the CB when I finished and was being hugged by two very grateful and small drivers in the middle of the parking lot. I'm 6'1" so it looked like a couple of kids latched onto me.

    Another advantage was to not be as embarrassed as my best friend was. He stole a manual Porsche and got caught grinding and lurching his way down the street..made it less than a block before a cop noticed.

    Of course you want to look really dumb, go from never having never driven an automatic and going from a three on the tree 1964 Fairlane to an automatic 1962 Chevrolet Bel Aire that was gifted to me. You can see where this is going I'm sure. Driving it home from my grandfathers house I crammed it into park while dynamiting the brake trying to shift to second gear. Damn near ended up going through the windshield as it had no seat belts (1964 was the first year for optional seat belts in Chevrolet's). Yep, did that when I was 19 and well, I got lucky as it was built like a damn tank and apparently didn't totally destroy it as it was at fairly low speed and the car was still drivable two years later when I sold it. It did however develop a 'clunk' in the front U-joint that I had to replace but other than that it seemed ok.

    At least during the zombie apocalypse I will have my choice of vehicles with no limitations!

    --
    Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by hendrikboom on Saturday November 09 2019, @02:37PM (2 children)

    by hendrikboom (1125) Subscriber Badge on Saturday November 09 2019, @02:37PM (#918250) Homepage Journal

    I've frequently heard the complaint you can't rock a manual out of being stuck in the snow, but yes you can

    Good traction (i.e., snow tires) helps.
    But control over the amount of power you use (so you don't spin your wheels and dig yourself in deeper) also helps.

    High gear and low power at low speed. Works wonders.

    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday November 09 2019, @03:40PM (1 child)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Saturday November 09 2019, @03:40PM (#918285) Journal

      IMO, all-weather radials are superior to any snow tire I've ever run. If/when things get too bad for those all-weather treads, it's time to slap on the tire chains, and think about the shortest distance home, or to a motel. I've thought about going to the house while I drove across five or more states, LOL.

      I do like my tire chains though. Aside from the fact that you're illegal without them in many western states, chains can really save the day for you. Bumped a dock in Philadelphia one day, the sun was still shining out from between some low clouds. 45 minutes later, the freezing rain had turned everything into a sheet of ice. I couldn't move away from the dock. Hopped out, put the chains on, and drove out to the interstate, where I removed the chains. Fifteen or twenty minutes putting chains on beats waiting until spring for a thaw, or calling a tow truck that might show up in the next six or seven hours.

      • (Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Monday November 11 2019, @09:02PM

        by hendrikboom (1125) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 11 2019, @09:02PM (#919076) Homepage Journal

        Agree about modern winter tires, which are good on ice. But language has inertia, and here in Montreal we tend still to call them snow tires.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 09 2019, @03:01PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 09 2019, @03:01PM (#918266)

    > 3,4.5 and 6 speed cars
    ----^^^---

    4.5 speed sounds like an interesting transmission, pray tell us some more details!

    • (Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Sunday November 10 2019, @12:22AM

      by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Sunday November 10 2019, @12:22AM (#918465)

      Hahaha, didn't notice my substitution of a period over a comma, even though I previewed it to check for errors. Perhaps a 4.5 is a broken 6 speed with 5th gear missing?

      --
      Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 09 2019, @03:15PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 09 2019, @03:15PM (#918270)

    > ... rock a manual out of being stuck in the snow, but yes you can

    The very best transmission I've experienced for rocking out of the snow was the 3 speed stick on my '66 International Metro (step van). Both reverse and first gear were non-synchromesh (crash box), nothing to keep the shifter from slipping right into gear. And they were lined up on the left side of the H pattern--reverse was lever forward, 1st gear was lever backward.
          To rock, go one way a little (usually up a little ramp of ice), push in clutch before the wheels spin, as the truck stops flip the lever to the other direction (with the right timing, it goes right in), and let out the clutch. Repeat, usually unstuck in a few cycles. The engine had a nice big flywheel, so gentle rocking could be done without much need to work the throttle, fast idle was enough.

  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday November 09 2019, @03:31PM (1 child)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Saturday November 09 2019, @03:31PM (#918280) Journal

    I still climb into automatic vehicles, and stomp a dent in the floorboard where the clutch should have been. I've finally stopped doing it in the Trailblazer, but first time in any truck or truck-like vehicle, I'm on the clutch to start it up. Except, no clutch. Kids just look at me weird when they catch me doing it. "What are you DOING, old man?" The only reasonable response would be, "We grew up kick starting our dinosaurs, before there was dino juice for all these silly cars."

    • (Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Sunday November 10 2019, @12:30AM

      by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Sunday November 10 2019, @12:30AM (#918471)

      I do that as well, I just expect a larger vehicle to be manual. Although I still do it in unfamiliar cars as well.

      "We grew up kick starting our dinosaurs, before there was dino juice for all these silly cars." Best response ever!

      How to fuck with a millennial or later:

      Put them in a "Three on the tree" manual transmission car.
      Give them instructions on how to operate it.
      Make those instructions in CURSIVE!

      --
      Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.