The death of the manual is a self proclaimed prophecy

[J-Groove]

I was reading my Car and Driver this morning where they were talking about how the new Lexus IS series will have no manual option because they sold basically zero if the IS250's with manuals.

Yeah always hear this, and yes I will be the first to agree that those of us who prefer manuals are a rare breed. I am not surprised by the huge sales of auto Corvettes and Porsches over manuals. But I think most automakers are killing their manual sales by being stupid about how they offer it.

I mean think about it.

The majority of manual lovers are also those who like to drive, this market will prefer a performance version of a car over a base model.

So there is your manual target market. The higher end performance version.

But what do automakers do? They offer the manual on the BASE SLOWER models with no available manual on the performance models. Then scratch their head and wonder why manuals don't sell. WTF?!

This has been really bugging me because I am looking at replacing my DD '06 Sonata at the end of this year with something more fun to drive on a daily basis, also the Sonata is hitting 150K miles.

So my requirements, given the cars that are available now, should give me a plethora of awesome choices.

But ONE of my requirements kills a lot of cars off of my list. The one of having a manual trans.

The only companies who get it are; Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Cadillac, Volkswagen, Infinity and Buick.

My car requirements are; fun to drive, manual, gas mileage of 24mpg highway or better, decent sized truck, rear seats fold down, looks good, affordable on the year old used market.

The cars that I would love to look at but fail in offering a manual in the models I would actually want to drive are;

Ford

Fusion 1.6L FWD - Manual Available
Fusion 2.0L AWD - Auto Only

Taurus SHO - Auto Only

Kia and Hyundai

Optima 2.0L Turbo - Auto Only
Sonata 2.0L Turbo - Auto Only

Genesis Sedan 3.8L - Auto Only
Genesis Sedan R 5.0L - Auto Only

Lexus
IS250 2.5L - Used to have a manual available, now only Auto
IS350 3.5L - Auto Only

Chrysler / Dodge
SRT8 Charger - Auto Only
SRT8 300 - Auto Only

Seriously, all of those cars listed would make for a great car, IF there was a manual available.

As is, my top of the list right now is the Buick Regal GS Turbo with a 6 spd manual.

Automakers say that their manual models just sit on the lot, I feel they are offering their manuals in the wrong trims. The stick shift should be an option for the performance trim and not just reserved for their base models.

-John

[Blackmount]

unfortunately its only a matter of time before we have flappy paddle gearboxes only, and auto tragic transmissions, in every car...

Now Paddle Shifters are kool and all but, alot of companies who are trying to offer them in your more everyday cars, have terrible ones that are just very laggy. one on like a track bred Ferrari super car or something is kool where the shifts are instant, downshifts automatically rev match, and if you hold the down shift paddle in some cars the car will continue to downshift as you brake. I've heard the ones in the EVO X are pretty good, but honestly million dollar track car or 30,000 dollar evo, I much prefer your standard, traditional manual gear box....That being said. I learned to drive on a stick, and that is all I have ever owned, and I cannot imagine owning any type of enthusiastic or sporty car that is not manual. Automatic is fine in like a van, or a truck, or something slow and meant for just getting A-B.

There is just so much being robbed from cars when you buy a automatic say Corvette or something, but yanno even your just daily driven A-B cars are fun with a manual.

My old roomate had a little ford festiva that was like 70hp and I think he paid $500 for. That thing was a fricken blast to drive every where, and it had a little 5 speed epic transmission and it was just that much more fun.

[DocWalt]

mmmm bread.

Seriously though, car manufacturers are idiotic, and American people are lazy. I know plenty of people that can drive manuals but they don't because their significant other can't, or they're just too lazy to DD a manual.

[NickS VR4]

Just realized that my kids may never know how to drive a manual, cause they aren't learning on the VR4.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[J-Groove]

unfortunately its only a matter of time before we have flappy paddle gearboxes only, and auto tragic transmissions, in every car...

Now Paddle Shifters are kool and all but, alot of companies who are trying to offer them in your more everyday cars, have terrible ones that are just very laggy. one on like a track bred Ferrari super car or something is kool where the shifts are instant, downshifts automatically rev match, and if you hold the down shift paddle in some cars the car will continue to downshift as you brake. I've heard the ones in the EVO X are pretty good, but honestly million dollar track car or 30,000 dollar evo, I much prefer your standard, traditional manual gear box....That being said. I learned to drive on a stick, and that is all I have ever owned, and I cannot imagine owning any type of enthusiastic or sporty car that is not manual. Automatic is fine in like a van, or a truck, or something slow and meant for just getting A-B.

There is just so much being robbed from cars when you buy a automatic say Corvette or something, but yanno even your just daily driven A-B cars are fun with a manual.

My old roomate had a little ford festiva that was like 70hp and I think he paid $500 for. That thing was a fricken blast to drive every where, and it had a little 5 speed epic transmission and it was just that much more fun.

All good points. I had forgot to mention the Evo X MR.

I have a couple of friends who bought the GSR over the MR just for the manual.

mmmm bread.

Seriously though, car manufacturers are idiotic, and American people are lazy. I know plenty of people that can drive manuals but they don't because their significant other can't, or they're just too lazy to DD a manual.

Haha, I missed that. Fixed.

That is a good point. Tiffany can drive a manual, but she prefers not to. She is one of the auto sport car owners.

Just realized that my kids may never know how to drive a manual, cause they aren't learning on the VR4.

Jaxon will be learning. But the VR-4 will not be what he learns on.

Although I learned in a 3000GT. (I knew the principles from driving a bike from 15 - 18 but never a manual car until I got my 3000 at 18)

-John

[green-lantern]

unfortunately its only a matter of time before we have flappy paddle gearboxes only, and auto tragic transmissions, in every car...

This! This is the reason you are seeing manuals go bye bye. When you can control the gearbox with paddles instead of fooling with a clutch and rowing gears people feel they are getting the best of both worlds. We don’t see shifters in F1 cars anymore.

[Chris@Rvengeperformance]

they are probably tired of warranting syncros and people complaining about clutch problems.

You don't see a model T style transmission anymore either.

[UTRacerX9]

Yeah always hear this, and yes I will be the first to agree that those of us who prefer manuals are a rare breed. I am not surprised by the huge sales of auto Corvettes and Porsches over manuals. But I think most automakers are killing their manual sales by being stupid about how they offer it.

I mean think about it.

The majority of manual lovers are also those who like to drive, this market will prefer a performance version of a car over a base model.

So there is your manual target market. The higher end performance version.

But what do automakers do? They offer the manual on the BASE SLOWER models with no available manual on the performance models. Then scratch their head and wonder why manuals don't sell. WTF?!

-John

In the case of Porsche, they do offer manual and PDK for the 911 Turbo, which is obviously their performance car. I read somewhere that 78% of the latest 991 cars were ordered with the PDK... because it outperforms the manual. It's not even close. Most guys looking to wring the most out of their car are choosing the PDK now. They just came out with a 7 spd manual, but it's too early to see whether people prefer it over the PDK. It's obvious people prefer the PDK over the 6 speed though.

[VR4Rob]

In the case of Porsche, they do offer manual and PDK for the 911 Turbo, which is obviously their performance car. I read somewhere that 78% of the latest 991 cars were ordered with the PDK... because it outperforms the manual. It's not even close. Most guys looking to wring the most out of their car are choosing the PDK now. They just came out with a 7 spd manual, but it's too early to see whether people prefer it over the PDK. It's obvious people prefer the PDK over the 6 speed though.

Something most folks don't get yet is that not all 'auto' or 'flappy paddle' transmissions are created equal. I absolutely love manual transmissions (all 3 of our cars are manuals) but the point where the automated manual is a better choice is here or will be soon. The Porsche PDK is a fantastic transmission and in no way detracts from the enjoyment of driving the car. I can't really explain it farther than that but if you haven't driven a modern dual clutch gearbox made in the last few years, do yourself a favor and try one out.

You make good points though John. At least BMW still makes good cars with manuals

[fullracegt]

i feel like the frs and brz are good car at a reasonable price, aren't those offered in a manual?